Aboriginal town camp residents in central Australia say they are in a state of "utmost despair" and are calling on government to review failures in public housing.
The board of directors of the Tangentyere Council travelled to Darwin on Wednesday seeking an independent review of housing in the Northern Territory.
They say five years after signing 40-year subleases with the NT and Commonwealth to properly establish Aboriginal town camps around Alice Springs to improve living conditions, nothing has changed.
"We want to take back control of our own housing, do our own tenancy, sort out our own mob in our own way," said Barbara Shaw from Mt Nancy camp.
"Public housing has failed us."
The council is also calling for an inquiry into how the NT government came to award a tender worth $702,000 for tenancy management of the camps in Central Australia to Alice Springs-based Zodiac Business Services instead of to Aboriginal-run local councils.
"Not only does taking this ... mean residents have even less involvement and voice ... it effectively means a real cut in service delivery to people already living in conditions of overcrowding and disrepair," said Tangentyere CEO Walter Shaw.
He told reporters the state of public housing in central Australia was "of the utmost despair" and residents did not trust Zodiac to manage their tenancies.
On Monday, Chief Minister Adam Giles said the government's Aboriginal Affairs Strategy aimed to return control of education, health and housing to local communities.
Awarding the tenancy contract to a non-Aboriginal business "is a slap in the face", Mr Shaw said.
The council's call comes with three-quarters of the residents of the remote central Australian community of Santa Teresa pursuing legal proceedings against the NT government to force the repairs of more than 600 faults.
Tangentyere Council hopes to follow soon with a legal suit of its own, Mr Shaw said.
Housing Minister Bess Price has been contacted for comment.
Ms Price told Parliament that 86 upgrades has been completed this year across the NT.
"We do care about the bush, remote housing, remote people," she said.
