First published in The Australian

A second indigenous minister in the Northern Territory has demanded an explanation from his government on how $800million in public funds for Aboriginal housing will be spent.

The Territory's Minister for Central Australia, Karl Hampton, has backed the concerns of Indigenous Affairs Minister Alison Anderson, who last week labelled Labor's handling of the program as a "big farce".

Mr Hampton told The Australian yesterday he was "not happy" when briefed that the $672m Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program may deliver as few as 300 houses, rather than the 750 promised by the Rudd government.

He was particularly disturbed when told during the same briefing by the consultant heading SIHIP, Jim Davidson, that no new houses would be built under a $125m package for Alice Springs town camps.

Mr Anderson last week threatened to quit the government over its management of Aboriginal housing.

Chief Minister Paul Henderson has since moved to quell Ms Anderson's concerns, blaming Mr Davidson for delivering "inaccurate" figures and assuring the public that 88 per cent of SIHIP funds would go towards new housing and upgrades on 15 Aboriginal communities.

But Mr Hampton said yesterday he was not yet satisfied the government was spending public funds earmarked for Aboriginal housing properly.

"I am yet to get another briefing," he said. "I'm working with our government to try to

find out exactly what has been delivered.

"I was not happy with the information that I was given in the briefing (by Mr Davidson), along with Alison. I certainly stand with Alison in her concerns.

"I am particularly concerned about the town camps, the fact that there was not going to be any new houses built on the town camps. I was very concerned about that, and I'll be seeking a closer detailed explanation of the breakdown."

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and Mr Henderson moved late last week to appoint two senior bureaucrats to oversee and analyse spending under SIHIP. They will also scrutinise the spending of $125m offered by the federal government to acquire Alice Springs' town camps.

Ms Macklin, who has said 85per cent of SIHIP funds will go towards building and upgrading houses, said on Friday the package of funding for town camps would be for the construction of new houses, as well as the rebuilding of existing houses in poor condition.

But Mr Hampton's comments show Aboriginal MPs have not yet fully accepted the claims of the Henderson government that the figures provided by Mr Davidson during the briefing were simply "inaccurate".

Despite blaming Mr Davidson for creating a "misleading impression" of how the $672m package was being spent, Housing Minister Rob Knight defended the consultant's performance, saying he had a "great deal of credibility in the building industry".

Mr Davidson, a former Labor candidate for the federal NT seat of Solomon, is believed to be being paid close to $300,000 as head of SIHIP.

Mr Knight explained away the contents of Mr Davidson's briefing -- which suggested only 30per cent of SIHIP funding would be spent on the direct costs of housing construction -- by saying he was new in his job.

Asked to pin down exactly how much would be spent on direct costs under SIHIP, Mr Knight said the training element of the program, extensive consultation requirements and increased costs of providing labour and materials to remote locations meant providing Aboriginal housing was relatively expensive.

"In Darwin, you don't really have to consult with anybody," Mr Knight told the ABC's NT Stateline. "But on the communities you've actually got to negotiate where buildings should go, and what the type of buildings they need to be."