Funding decisions made at all levels of government are driving Aborigines off their traditional lands, to the detriment of their well being.

This report highlights the struggle of Aboriginal Peoples to remain on their homelands inthe face of policies that have the effect of drawing them away from their ancestral landsinto larger communities and urban areas.  
The report focuses on the Aboriginal Peoples of Utopia; it describes the policy initiatives that remove financial and infrastructure support for Aboriginal homelands in the Northern Territory and that direct the majority of support to 21 ‘growth towns’. The report outlines Australia’s international obligations under relevant human rights instruments and how current government policies in relation to homelands contravene the rights of Indigenous Peoples to land, consultation and informed consent. The report further outlines the egregious state of housing in the Utopia homelands demonstrating the impact of years of under investment. The result is significantly overcrowded houses that are poorly constructed and badly maintained. The situation is likely to get worse with the policy decision to refuse funding for new and replacement housing on homelands in the NorthernTerritory. The report sets out Amnesty International’s recommendations to the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments of Australia.