A/HRC/15/37/Add.4 assistance programmes, such as Job Services Australia and the Indigenous Employment Programme, and has not been eliminated altogether. 40. The Special Rapporteur would also like to emphasize that increasing indigenous peoples’ control over their lands and resources, self-determination and self-government is an essential component of advancing economic development and employment opportunities. E. Housing 41. In 2006, the former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context visited Australia and noted that indigenous peoples face a “severe housing crisis, evidenced by the lack of affordable and culturally appropriate housing, the lack of appropriate support services, the significant levels of poverty and the underlying discrimination”.16 Such problems persist and contribute to overcrowded living conditions and homelessness in indigenous communities at rates exceeding those of the mainstream population. 42. Primarily through its National Partnership on Remote Indigenous Housing, the Closing the Gap campaign promises to address the key issues of overcrowding, homelessness, poor housing conditions and severe housing shortages. However, the new policy envisages the indigenous communities handing over control of their community lands to the Government for housing to be provided and managed. Long-term leases, arranged with indigenous landowners or traditional owners, are becoming a precondition for delivering housing and upgrade services. These leases grant the Government access to and control over the indigenous land for a term of at least 40 years. Tenancy management is to be undertaken by state and territory housing authorities, thus removing tenancy management from indigenous control. The Government argues that this leasing arrangement ensures clear ownership of fixed assets and therefore responsibility to maintain those assets for the benefit of residents. It further asserts that lease agreements are voluntary, although it will not provide housing without an agreement. 43. Almost everywhere, the Special Rapporteur heard concerns about the Government’s approach. Numerous indigenous people, especially community leaders, expressed that they felt pressured or even “bribed” into handing over ownership and control of their lands to the Government in exchange for much-needed housing services. The Special Rapporteur heard these concerns even in communities that have negotiated leases with the Government, such as in the Groote Eylandt communities of Angurugu, Umbakumba and Milyakburra. In addition, the Special Rapporteur heard concerns that housing construction and upgrade services have, by and large, been delivered in a manner that bypasses locally run Aboriginal construction companies, missing the opportunity to provide jobs and training to indigenous peoples for the delivery of these services, although it is worth noting that under the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, 20 per cent of “local employment” is required for all new housing construction. 44. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this leasing scheme, in conjunction with other initiatives such as the 2006 amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) 1976 (referenced in paragraph 22), promotes individual land tenure to the detriment of traditional indigenous communal land tenure and diminishes indigenous control over lands that traditionally have been held collectively. In this regard, the 16 12 A/HRC/4/18/Add.2, para 80. GE.10-13887