Third world Aboriginal dirt camps to become suburbs
13 Mar 2007 06:31:03 GMT Source: Reuters
By Michael Perry SYDNEY, March 13 (Reuters) - The Australian government will spend A$70 million (US$55 million) upgrading third world aboriginal camps in the outback town of Alice Springs, the nation's Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said on Tuesday. The bush camps around Alice Springs in the Northern Territory where Aborigines live in squalor have been described as third world by aid groups and the Australian government. Aborigines in the camps stagger around like zombies either drunk or high after sniffing petrol, many sleep in the dirt, and domestic and sexual violence riddles the communities. The camps are no-go zones for white Australians living in Alice Springs, where the local prosecutor says a culture of violence has led to endemic sexual abuse of aboriginal women. Brough said the government allocated A$10 million for camp improvements in 2006, but had now decided to spend an additional A$50 million on the camps. The camps, home to some 2,500 people, would be turned into "normal suburbs" with work starting within three months, he said. "This is for a massive investment ... in Alice Springs," Brough said. "The upgrades to the town camps will not be second-rate. Normal town standards will apply and they will operate under normal local government arrangements." An initial 150 demountable homes would be erected at two camps as temporary accommodation on a user-pays basis. "They will be screened and landscaped and alcohol free," Brough said. "The establishment of temporary visitor accommodation is an important aspect of the government's commitment to address social issues in Alice Springs," Northern Territory Lands and Planning Minister Delia Lawrie told reporters. When permanent housing is complete Aborigines will have the opportunity to purchase their homes. Aborigines have one of the lowest home ownership rates in Australia. "I want these people to have the opportunity to buy their houses if they choose, like most Australians can," Brough said. Inadequate housing, along with a lack of clean water, poor nutrition, obesity, smoking and alcohol and drug abuse, are the main contributors to Aborigine's poor life expectancy. Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up two percent of the 20 million population. They have consistently been the nation's most disadvantaged group under conservative and Labor governments, with a life expectancy 17 years less than white Australians. Black infant mortality is twice the national average and many Aborigines live in poverty, with far higher rates of unemployment and alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence. Australia's conservative Prime Minister John Howard has been demonised by Aborigines for a decade, but his tough practical approach to improving aboriginal living standards is now winning support among black leaders. Howard believes Aborigines must focus on programmes to improve opportunities, rather than symbolic debates, such as land rights and sovereignty over Australia before European settlers arrived in 1788. ($1=$1.27)
