• Natasha Robinson

05 July 2010Two Aboriginal communities have taken the reins in major building projects, writes Natasha Robinson in the Australian

AMID criticism of the nation's largest Aboriginal housing program, a policy shift is becoming clear. Two commercially progressive Indigenous communities have quietly secured a piece of the biggest Aboriginal infrastructure project the Northern Territory has had.

In Wadeye, 420km southwest of Darwin, the Aboriginal-owned Thamarrurr Development Corporation has been subcontracted to build 52 houses. Although construction in Wadeye began only six months ago, 12 of houses are already complete, with seven handed to their tenants. Under a program that has been running for 18 months across several NT communities, with 21 houses so far completed in total, Wadeye's progress is extraordinary.

On Groote and Bickerton islands, to the east, two Indigenous companies are about to sign an agreement that will see them in charge of $12 million in refurbishments in the communities. As a bitter battle is played out in Darwin between the Territory government and…

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Photo: Keith Binns/ iStockphoto