On the outskirts of Alice Springs are 17 communities, known as town camps, populated by 1050 permanent residents across multi-generational Aboriginal families.
The alleged murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby at Old Timers camp in April has renewed calls for better infrastructure and employment opportunities.
A complex system of subleasing and housing management agreements involving local groups and the federal and Northern Territory governments make it difficult for meaningful economic gains to be made by communities, a Senate estimates committee has heard.
Executive director of township leasing Pennie Weadon said her team had made repeated recommendations to the Northern Territory government for better economic opportunities in the camps.
"We have suggested that they review the legislative instrument to allow for subdivision and also to look at the permitted uses," she said in response to questions from Liberal NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation, made up of 15 housing associations, manages the town camps and is responsible for their social and infrastructure services.
But making money in the communities, outside of government funding, is difficult. The last census showed each household averaged four people with a collective median income of $757 each week.
The permitted uses of the land are limited; in most cases, only communal living, residential housing and cultural activities are allowed.
Many of the camps heavily rely on one-off government grants to get by and changes to that system were recommended as far back as 2017.
"Investing in growth in town camps that offer impossible economic integration realities will only continue to proliferate the current problems," the report said, referring to limited opportunities for work within the camps.
Residents called on the Northern Territory government in April to return the camps to community control following Kumanjayi Little Baby's death.
Most of those residents need to shop at major supermarkets or local stores, where produce and takeaway are expensive relative to city prices, according to a Deloitte report, commissioned by the Northern Territory government a decade ago.
The camps, officially recognised in the 1970s, were established while elements of the White Australia Policy were still in place. Aboriginal people were barred from entering Alice Springs at the time.
They have a fluctuating population as many remote Aboriginal families enter for healthcare services before returning to their land, putting increased strain on services.
