Protest in Alice Springs over town camps

Aboriginal groups in Alice Springs are protesting against the Northern Territory government's decision to hand the management of town camps to a non-Aboriginal business.

Zodiac Business Services, which has an Aboriginal employment rate of more than 50 per cent, has won the tenancy management tender for the camps, the NT government says.

Aboriginal-owned not-for-profit Central Australian Affordable Housing Company held the contract for about five years, according to the Tangentyere Council.

"The public housing system is failing town campers, remote community residents and people in urban areas and the NT government is refusing to listen to the evidence," chief executive Walter Shaw said ahead of the rally on Wednesday.

But the government said Zodiac Business Services had extensive experience in managing tenancy in remote Central Australian communities.

It also said Aboriginal-owned Tangentyere Constructions received a property maintenance contract for 270 council-owned houses.