ABORIGINES should not be forced to trade their country for housing and education, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says.

The Northern Territory will likely be the home of Australia's first national nuclear waste disposal site.

Last week it was revealed the Howard Government had signed a contract with the Ngapa clan to volunteer their land at Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of tennant Creek, for $12 million.

A million dollars of the money earmarked for education is understood to have been put in a trust fund overseen by the Northern Land Council (NLC) and will not be released until scientific and environmental assessment processes are complete. This figure is expected to be renegotiated as the process continues.

Senator Ludlam, who attended a community meeting about the dump in Tennant Creek last night, said not one of the 100-plus people who attended the gathering expressed support for the nuclear waste dump.

"One of the points made last night was that housing is a human right, it's a citizenship entitlement and people shouldn't be forced or compelled to trade country or culture away for housing," he told AAP today.

"The Government is dangling a very small amount of money in the scheme of things to trade off their country - it's completely inappropriate.

"It's extremely sad and the Government is exploiting (Aborigines) as they've done in the Territory and around the country for years to split families apart from each other, offering small cash handouts and housing."

While the Australian Conservation Foundation claims several traditional owners from the Ngapa clan are among many Aborigines who signed a petition opposing the dump, the NLC and a number of Ngapa people met with Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson in Darwin yesterday to again convey their support for the project.

Muckaty Station Ngapa traditional owner Amy Lauder said yesterday the Ngapa clan was united in its decision to volunteer the land as a potential site.

Mr Ferguson said he was legally obliged to consider Muckaty Station, because it was the only site volunteered to date.

NLC chief executive officer Kim Hill said the Ngapa clan would push for more funding from the Federal Government as assessment of the site progressed.

Five different clan groups lay claim over various dreaming sites on Muckaty Station but the four square kilometre parcel of land that has been volunteered for the dump belongs to the Ngapa people.