Rally for more Aboriginal housing

By Sally Mitchell DARWIN — On October 12, Aboriginal people from four town camps in Katherine travelled to Darwin in a bus convoy to protest about housing shortages. Four new camps are urgently required to house 71 families now living with minimal shelter. The present camps, Wallaby and Redgum, are considered illegal even though residents have lived there for many years. The other two, Kalano and Warlpiri, are overcrowded. The action was sparked by the decision of Northern Territory lands minister, Mike Reed, to evict people from Wallaby and Redgum and shift them to Kalano and Warlpiri, forcing different language groups to live in the same camp. The Country Liberal Party (CLP) government has no plans to increase housing in these already overcrowded camps to accommodate the new occupants. About 50 Darwin supporters joined Katherine community members in spirited march to State Square. Placards demanded, "No more living in the long grass" and "Release crown land for housing". A makeshift shelter of corrugated iron and tarpaulin was constructed beside parliament house to contrast government expenditure on the $120 million building and most Aboriginal housing. Nicki Kilgour, acting director of Wardaman Aboriginal Association, Peter Miller of the Katherine Combined Aboriginal Organisations (KCAO), and Maurice Rioli from the Northern Lands Council, all spoke of the government's neglect of the housing needs of Aboriginal people. Labor MPs Brian Ede and Claire Martin attacked CLP policy. John Havnen, executive director of the Jawoyn Community Council, which is part of the KCAO, called Reed's attempt to combine different linguistic groups in existing town camps, "a blatant denial of Aboriginal cultural requirements". "Aboriginal people are denied appropriate housing in Katherine because they are Aboriginal", he added. "It is racism at its ugliest because when people are without housing and shelter, the most basic of life's necessities, you are denying them the foundation to address other problems such as health, unemployment, education and alcoholism." Reed refused to address the crowd, so a delegation from the Katherine community met with him inside. After 40 minutes, the delegation emerged disappointed. The minister had agreed to reconvene a town camp working party but would not agree to anything more permanent. Leo Morris, elder of Redgum community camp, told Green Left, "We've come all the way from Katherine and we live 'round the long grass and we got no decent house. We just find it hard. The Housing Commission, I don't know what they're going to do about it, but we're still going to live on our long grass. We've only got a camp. Some of them get wet and we've just got a bit of a fire. We've got no stove". The demonstrators say that, in spite of the undesirable state of the town camps, they will refuse to leave their land.