Australian PM flags changes to land rights

CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister John Howard has raised the prospect of a major change to aboriginal land rights to alleviate appalling black living conditions, replacing an ancient communal system with private ownership.

Visiting an impoverished outback aboriginal community on Wednesday, where up to 17 Aborigines are forced to live in one house, Howard said every Australian, black and white, should be able to own their own home as a symbol of a person's worth.

"I believe there's a case for reviewing the whole issue of aboriginal land title in the sense of looking more towards private recognition," Howard told reporters.

"We have to work through the details of how that might occur and we haven't reached that point yet. But I certainly believe that all Australians should be able to aspire towards owning their own home," Howard said.

"I'm not talking here about reducing the opportunities for indigenous people, I'm talking about giving them the same opportunities as the rest of their fellow Australians."

But Australia's powerful aboriginal land councils which control black lands were wary of any changes to land rights.

"This could be detrimental to aboriginal people throughout the Northern Territory," said David Ross, director of the Central Land Council in the Northern Territory.

The small Greens political party said the Howard government could not be trusted to manage land rights in Australia.

"The Greens are concerned that the government will use this push for individual indigenous land ownership to roll back the hard-won battles achieved by the land rights movement in this country," Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said.

Australia's 450,000 Aborigines are the most disadvantaged group in Australia's 20 million population. Aborigines die about 20 years younger than other Australians and suffer higher rates of imprisonment, unemployment and alcohol and drug abuse.

Many aboriginal leaders say Aborigines have become welfare dependent and need to regain economic independence.

Under aboriginal culture, the land is owned by communities, not individuals, and black leaders have fought hard for land rights, with Howard one of their major opponents.

Only Aborigines in the Northern Territory have land rights, granted in 1976, which gives them community freehold ownership of about 42 percent of the territory.

Aborigines in the rest of Australia are able to claim "native title" if they can prove a continuous usage of the land dating back before white settlement in 1788. Howard opposed native title and has introduced laws making it very hard to claim.

Aborigines who met Howard at the remote Wadeye community in the Northern Territory welcomed the suggestion of private land ownership.

Black leaders in Wadeye, accessible only by air for six months of the year due to the tropical rains, said if they could buy land they could gain home loans to build their own houses and improve the living standards of the 2,500-strong community.

"We want to own our own property. We made that point to him," community deputy chief executive Dale Seaniger told Reuters by telephone from Wadeye.

Howard has taken a tough approach to aboriginal affairs in recent years, with indigenous funding focused on practical results to improve employment, education and health over issues such as apologies for past discrimination policies.

The approach has split the aboriginal leadership, with some suggesting it is paternalistic and others embracing the approach as a turning point in aboriginal affairs.

- REUTERS