From rxpgnews.com
Australia's Aborigines become first-time homeowners
By DPA,
May 10, 2007 - 8:32:43 AM
Sydney, May 10 - Residents of the Northern Territory town of Nguiu will become the first Aborigines to own their own homes under a ground-breaking agreement reached between the Australian government and traditional landowners.
The Mantiyupwi tribe members have agreed to lease their land to the government for 99 years in return for ownership of the government-built houses they live in.
'We hope to see homes lasting not 10 years, but the same as they last in the rest of the country - 30, 40, 50 years,' Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said in Canberra.
Andrew Tipungwuti, from the Tiwi Land Council, said it was an important day for the Tiwi people.
'It is a way forward for the Tiwi people that own the area,' he told Australia's AAP news agency.
'It's there for future generations to come and there will be income and there will be jobs created through subleases and so forth. I think it's very significant.'
Brough said he hopes the agreement is the first of many and will end the communal ownership of property, which he considers an obstacle to progress in remote areas.
A report commissioned by the government and prepared by Price Waterhouse Coopers recommended a radical rethink of housing policies.
'While billions of dollars have been invested in indigenous housing, there is too little to show for it,' Brough said on receiving the report. 'We've been chasing our tail and not seeing any significant progress in overcoming the indigenous housing problem in remote Australia particularly.'
Around 500,000 of the 20 million Australians identify themselves as Aborigines.
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