The great fly-over problem
A new report has drawn fresh attention to Australia's great fly-over problem: the condition of Aborigines living in indigenous communities. Since reporting from the Northern Territory earlier in the year, the closest that I have come to an Aboriginal community is 30,000 feet, and this geographic remoteness partly explains why indigenous affairs are so easy to push to the fringes of the national consciousness.
Were this an urban or suburban problem, it would surely have received more political and public attention. And since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis, Aboriginal leaders have felt that they have been swept even further to the fringes.
Another oft-heard complaint is that the reconciliation process, of which Kevin Rudd's national apology was the central component, is intended primarily to assuage white guilt - it is a "whitefella's project". But would not indigenous groups have felt even more aggrieved had the prime minister not said sorry? That, after all, was always one of the chief complaints against John Howard.
The inventory of statistics comparing life for indigenous and non-indigenous Australians has always made for grim reading, and the latest findings of the Productivity Commission are no exception. Compiled every two years, the report measures indicators of disadvantage in 50 separate areas. There's been no improvement in 80% of them.
Perhaps the most disturbing finding is that cases of child abuse among indigenous children have more than doubled from 16 per 1000 children in 1990-2000 to 35 per 1000 in 2007-2008. Indigenous children are six times as likely to be abused as non-indigenous children.
The report is not unremittingly gloomy. It suggest that the life expectancy gap is closer than previously thought. In 2002, the gap was estimated at 20 years for men. For 2005-2007, it seems to be 12 years. But the common-held view is that this report chronicles decades of policy failure.
Kevin Rudd has described the report as "devastating". Many thought that the soothing words of his historic apology to Aborigines for past injustices could hardly have been more eloquent. But everyone knew that formulating a policy response would be much more difficult than drafting a parliamentary address.
As part of its Closing the Gap initiative, the Rudd government had pledged some $A4.6 billion towards indigenous communities over the next six years.
Tony Koch, a reporter with The Australian who has probably done as much as any mainstream reporter in bringing these kind of issues to the attention of the nation, has this to say of the new report:
"Governments throughout Australia have been aware of the horrific statistics for many years, and have done little to save children from continued abuse. A royal commission - where witnesses are protected, where perpetrators are identified, charged and removed from the communities - is a necessary starting point. But no Labor government has the courage to do that because it would upset its leftist supporters who contend that 'white interference' is culturally inappropriate."
His comment seems like a good place to start the debate.....
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Good on Kevin Rudd for pledging an enormous amount of money towards the Indigenous population.
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It is hard to know what to say other than what has been said already, and hard to know what should be done.
Cultural change doesn't happen overnight. When I started teaching in 1973, corporal punishment was the norm in NSW schools. When my daughters were young, the majority of responsible parents would smack their children. Watching Mad Men on SBS has reminded me how work cultures have changed-years ago everyone smoked at work, and almost everywhere else. Sexist jokes and behaviour were widespread in the workplace. When I was in high school it was both legal and regarded as normal for senior students and junior teachers to date. They were often separated by only about three years in age. These days it is illegal.
With the remote Aboriginal communities, we are basically looking about accelerating a change in some negative aspects of the prevailing culture while retaining other aspects of it. Most people I know with experience in the field believe the impetus for change must come from the community itself.
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This is probably the hardest issue to tackle in Australia. It is a problem that money can't fix, as successive governments have contributed large amounts of money to the issue. All government departments have teams of people focusing on aboriginal issues - I used to work alongside one.
For those living in Central Australia, the remoteness is definately an issue. It just doesn't make sense to build a hospital in the middle of no where. Which creates a problem about providing adequate health care. Education is also an issue - teachers are usually unwilling to go and work in remote communities. The WA government has a scheme to attract teachers to remote communities, giving them large grants and even paying their HECS bills if they agree to go. Sadly many places are not taken up. Also teachers tend to go for only a short period meaning students have little consistency in their learning.
Also, there is not one indigenous community. They run the full spectrum from being totally intergrated into general society to living traditionally. This makes government policies difficult to implement.
Things are changing but it is a slow process. I was at the NSW Justice awards a few years ago and an award was given to an Aboriginal community support officer from Bourke. He told a story about how as a teenager he was taken to the Bourke police station and beaten badly by the officers, for no apparent reason. 20 years later on his first day of work as a community support officer he is taken to his new office - only to find it is the same room he was beaten in 20 years before! His message was to move on. He is now working to try and break down the mistrust of the police force in indigenous communities.
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I am an Englishman, a resident of Western Australia for some twenty years and I am shocked at the level of racism directed toward the Aborigines.
Aborigines are hardly to be seen participating in day-to-day life within the general population and are almost totally unrepresented in the media, be it television, radio, or the press, except in paternalistic, patronising or stereotypical terms, and that representation nearly always given by those of European descent rather than themselves. Exceptions to this are few. Aborigines are almost strangers in their own country.
Some, perhaps many, English migrants left England to get away from the 'blacks' who invaded their mother country. Ironically they now think that Australia is theirs and they harbour the same prejudices here as they did back 'home'. Little wonder that Aborigines have such a tough life - unable to express themselves or exercise the right to do as they please in their own country. In short Aborigines are living under extreme oppression; second class citizens in their own land.
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Having visited my brother in Perth WA several times I must say how shocked I am at the treatment of the Aborigines by the vast numbers of ordinary people in Australia, typical example is when having a riverside picnic with 30 or so white Australians and a few UK ex-pats, then after a few hours of drinking and eating the party was very much in full swing when a group of about 7 Aborigines came and sat under a tree about 100 feet away and were having a drinking session of their own. The mood in the party instantly changed as mobile phones were brandished and calls were made to the local constabulary to come and move the group along. After we the English questioned the need as we saw the Aboriginal group were only doing what our own group were doing yet in a much more sedate manner!! I dont think a group consisting of English people in same social positions ie most of the group were teachers, medical professionals, and senior management would have instantly called the police if a group of black people happened to sit in the same park as they did and were causing no problems.
What was a worse indictment I think was that within ten minutes two police cars actually turned up and moved the group of Aborigines from the spot from which they were sitting! A Police officer then walked over to our group and upon further discussion requested we call them back if the group or any other aboriginal groups were spotted in the park disturbing peoples afternoons. I took the officer to task requesting him to explain why they even felt the need to turn up. These people were not causing a nuisance other than the fact they were doing the same as we were, i got the response that they were not welcome in this park and made the place look untidy!
The Australians within the group couldnt understand why i wasnt happy about the situation. Again i think its a shame in the 21st century that this kind of blatant harassment and bullying of an indigenous group can systematically and institutionally be carried out in what is considered a Western society. I felt i was in 1970s South Africa. It will take a long long time before these people get the help they deserve
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#7 I am 100% behind you in what you saw.I visted perth a few years ago on business and saw aboriginal people sitting in a park under a tree,drinking and eating.As i was walking past,all i could here was white australians complaining that they shouldnt be allowed to do that.That it spoils the park and no one can go in and use it because they will cause trouble if they see us walk in.My god,they were sitting in a park,on a sunny day,under a tree,having a drink and eating,causing no harm.Yet within 45 minutes the police turned up and moved them on exactly as you have described.Virtually where ever i went,everytime you saw an aborigine,white australians would glare at them as though,what are you doing here.There is all forms of racism all throught he world including here in the uk,but we have nothing compared to what goes on in australia.I visit australia on business upto 10 times per year and there is not one time in the last 12 yrs that i have not seen or heard a bad comment about aborigines.I used to say that australia in some respects was 20 years ahead of us,but that has gone,its a country that is now 30 years behind us and as long as the ordinary white australian contiunues this behaviour,then the problem will never be resolved
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There is only so much that can be done. Handouts do little in my eyes, other than merely re-inforcing the victim mentality.
They need to want to help themselves first and foremost.
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Regarding teachers, the answer is to have aboriginal staff preferrably from the same geographical area but reward them in line with all other teachers.
As for the 'Park and Drinking' problem, most Australians would feel threatened when in close proximity to a group of Aboriginals drinking, not that they had ever witnessed any violence, but they had seen on TV or heard about such events.
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I agree that most Australians care very little about indigenous issues, because they don't see much evidence of them. But I am not sure if that is the main issue.
There are other countries with very similar problems in certain ethnic groups that are far less remote. A good example are the black communities in South Africa (who you really can't miss because they make up 85% of the population).
A bigger problem is the clash between 'white' and 'indigenous' culture. In the past it was totally acceptable to declare the aboriginals 'savages' and it was seen as an act of kindness to educate them in the ways of the higher European culture. Those days are fortunately behind us, and Kevin Rudd did well to apologise for that and show respect for the indigenous culture.
But respect for someone's culture does not make it perfect. Very few aboriginals today live the same life as their ancestors 300 years ago. And most of them wouldn't want to. Cars, fridges and modern hospitals do have their advantages. And I guess life expectancy in pre-Cook Australia wasn't that great either.
The reality is that indigenous and white Australians live in the same country under the same set of laws, and it is the duty of the government to uphold those laws and promote the well-being of all its citizens. And if it has to intervene in certain communities to achieve that, so be it. Cultural issues or not. No one can claim that child abuse, illiteracy, acoholism and a low life expectancy are good things.
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Isn't the answer lying about 1200 miles southeast of Australia? There, an Australian type society embraces its indigenous people and allows them to act as partners in a first world economy rather than pushing them to the fringes.
The place is New Zealand- which has a founding document treaty that enshrines a working partnership. No one would suggest that it is a perfect society and economic diffrences certainly exist between the indigenous and settler populations but nowhere near the yawning gap in Australia.
NZ has achieved things unthinkable in Australia- it has had Maori governor generals and acting prime ministers, has substantial Maori representation in parliament and large succesful tribal enterprises involved in the capitalist economy. MAori have had the vote since the 1860s, there was no stolen generation or terra nullis laws. European Kiwis proudly learn the Maori language, wear Maori pendants, and cheer the national rugby team performing the Haka.
Can't the Aussies just humbly ask their Kiwi neighbours what they have done right for the last 150 years - and then implement the same policies?
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StickJackal - Please think about your comment. If only there was a simple way of fixing things, as you suggest. Do you really think Australia should just adopt the policies of New Zealand because they obviously work, as shown in your various examples?
In order to do that wouldnt we need a Time Machine? You see the Maori have this little thing called the treaty of Waitangi that they fought and bled for. In New Zealand the Maori fought you Brits and eventually forced you to sign the treaty. Now for a while the Maori were humoured, not really treated properly, but the awareness of the treaty never went away. From the start of White settlement in NZ there has been a very strong organised, militant native population, determined to hold on to what is theirs.
In Australia there was no organised opposition great enough to effect white settlement. You Brits even proclaimed the place Terra Nullus! From the very start of White Settlement you Brits have been ignoring aboriginals and have treated them as, well, Fauna. That's it. You simply wiped out thousands and thousands! Whole nations and peoples ceased to exist. When we became a (white)nation, we simply did what Mum had taught us, and continued UK policy towards aboriginals.
That's the massive difference between Australia and New Zealand. The UK forged ahead, for over 110 years, then The Commonwealth of Australia for over 60 years, where native issues were barely even noticed, let alone discussed or even seen as a white mans problem.
The situation in New Zealand is different because of the Maori wars. Native issues remained a prominent, if ignored by colonial governments, issue for years. Much more native culture was taken up by the white people in New Zealand, than native culture taken up by white men in Australia. Maori also make up a significantly larger proportion of the NZ population as well.
It's chalk and cheese my fiend.
I've also noticed the level of racism in Perth is insane compared to the rest of the country, even sleepy conservative Adelaide isn't so bad (it's not good though). Maybe the high level of UK and S.A. white ex-pats has something to do with that?
Australia still needs to confront the underlying offensive attitude of, "Aboriginals (ad a second "b" then delete everything after the "o" and that is how it is pronounced in almost all of Oz - pejorative) are no good bludgers who just get welfare then waste it." It is a theme constantly bombarding Australians through various sensationalist, news outlets and Current Affairs programs
No body wants to give aboriginals a break. Most White Australians wouldn't even know that the majority of aboriginals are quite integrated into white Australia, or quite competent at managing their lives like everyone else. Most simply believe that all aboriginals live in the outback doing nothing but....taking our tax money and wasting it sniffing petrol and drinking alcohol.
It is a sad, sad state of affairs.
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Hello Nick. Maybe it would help if your readers knew something about Australians. I am a fifth generation Aussie, my roots go back to the Irish immigration from the potato famine days in the 1840. I have one ex British relative in that line, the rest are Australians. And I am rare.
Most Aussies today were either born overseas...and usually Britain...or one of their parents were.
The stories that most migrants coming to our country hear, concerning our indigenous peoples, is that our progressive governments have given them handouts but have not seriously bothered to find out how best to help them.
Now take note of out immigration policy, to come to our country you have to have an ability to add to our wealth, either by working, or investing in our income.
Our Indigenous people find it very difficult to assimilate into mainstream society, either because of mistrust of them by white Aussies, or because they are still traditional, and live in isolated communities. To a wealthy European, or a hard working one, it is very difficult to understand how Indigenous Aussies can't 'add their bit to the collective."
But when is an Indigenous person not Indigenous?
When migrants first encounter indigenous Aussies, they find a mixed race of people who are as diversified as any mixed race. Many work on farms, in mines, around docks and shipping, railways and various other places. Some are very wealthy, some are very poor. But sadly, if they have a dark skin, they're labelled 'blacks'.
The riots at Bondi some year back involved Lebanese youths and 'Aussies'...but interestingly enough, most of the 'Aussies' were wearing Union Jacks and were not necessarily Aussie citizens....they just looked Aussie.
Consider a visitor to your country referring to you not as British, but as Caucasian. Those of you with Roman, Celtic, or Germanic blood as half cast Caucasians. That's what is happening in this country. If a person is white, as I am, it is assumed there is no aboriginality, but if there is any sign of colour in the skin of an Aussie, they are referred to as half casts, or part cast Aborigines.
I have bothered, as very few other had done, to ask the commentator making such assertions, where they were born, or where their families were born and the majority were born in Britain.
Nick, you would do a great service to Australians and British migrants alike if you were to do a survey yourself, in any major Australian city, where the person were born, and where their parents were born. Racism is not something that was here as strongly prior to the Second World War, we have imported that racism, and I am sad to say, it has come primarily from the country that still thinks India should have remained a British Colony....and where the term half cast originated.
Please help us help our Indigenous peoples by educating your would-be migrants to our sunburnt land. Thank you.
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Geeze Nick, is this really the pot calling the kettle black, pardon the pun?
I think you'll find that much of todays issues stem from the many atrocities committed against the Australian indigenous population by the English Government and early settlers.
On the 17th April 1816, Governor Macquarie ordered troops to attack Aboriginal people for the first time since colonisation. 14 men, women and children where either shot or trampled by soldiers on horses and an undetermined amount were forced over a cliff at Appin in NSW.
On 10 June 1838 a group of white settlers murdered 28 Aboriginal men, women and children near Myall Creek Station in northern New South Wales, near Bingara. Seven of the killers were tried and hanged.
The Myall Creek Massacre now serves as both a harrowing reminder of Australia's colonial violence towards Aboriginal people and an example of modern-day reconciliation.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg, try checking out massacres of Indigenous Australians at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
After years of abuse at the hands of these colonists, Aboriginals have lost their way of life, their land was taken and their lives destroyed. Yes Indigenous children are six times as likely to be abused as non-indigenous children, but did you know that it's them who are abusing themselves. White Australians do not live in their remote communities.
Modern day Australians have been left with this mess with no way of solving it, the problem goes much deeper than just a simple apology and bag full of money.
Your article is disappointing case of sloppy and slack journalism. The closest that you have come to an Aboriginal community is 30,000 feet? There are real jounos reporting from combat zones, maybe you could go and take a leaf out of their books and try reporting from the source?
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"Kyofu01 wrote:
Geeze Nick, is this really the pot calling the kettle black, pardon the pun?"
Well, isn't it so typical to find this defensive attitude toward those who dare suggest that Australia has a problem dealing with the major social issue of Aboriginal welfare? The defensiveness is all the more apparent when it is a Brit who dares raise the subject. Then the ad hominem arguments ensue.
So, Nick Bryant, who may or may not have visited Aboriginal communities (Nick's allusion to this was ambiguous)is being hypocritical if he raises these issues for discussion because he supposedly hasn't intimate knowledge of the people? Yet surely this is a symptom of the underlying problem which he is bringing to the fore: few of European descent do have contact with Aboriginals and this is at the heart of what Nick is trying to convey:
"and this geographic remoteness partly explains why indigenous affairs are so easy to push to the fringes of the national consciousness."
I find it interesting how Nick's blog occasionally draws out this insecurity and parochialism which seems to be a deeply deeply entrenched in Australian thought.
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Australians already know that Australia has a problem dealing with the major social issue of Aboriginal welfare. What point is there in reminding people about it, particularly when little or no research has been conducted on the topic (by Nick)?
How about some constructive criticism? What benefit is there in highlighting facts about abused children and reports chronicling failure? Everybody who lives here already knows the problems, we hear about them each evening on the news.
Its flimsy remarks by people such as TotallyBaffled which add to the problem of how to resolve this mess. To suggest that Australians are racist serves no purpose other that to inflame the situation. TotallyBaffled are you out in the indigenous community helping these people, building their homes, assisting them financially, or providing them legal or medical support? Do you employ any? Probably not.
Aborigines live under extreme oppression? Free education (some even get paid to go to school), free housing, free medical, low doc loans with no time limits, job allocation, this hardly sounds like oppression, in fact I find myself laughing at such an incredulous remark.
As for being unable to exercise their right to do what they want, what evidence do you have of this? You cant just make these remarks without some sort of evidence or examples.
I find it interesting how Nick's blog occasionally draws out this insecurity and parochialism which seems to be a deeply deeply entrenched in the thoughts of those who bludge in Australia for over 20 years.
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Kyofu01: "Its flimsy remarks by people such as TotallyBaffled which add to the problem of how to resolve this mess."
Well Kyofu01, I am flattered that you regard my "flimsy remarks" as having such influence that they can "add to the problem..."
"TotallyBaffled are you out in the indigenous community helping these people, building their homes, assisting them financially, or providing them legal or medical support? Do you employ any?"
Here we go again, the penchant to find fault with the character of those who wish to bring the racism into the open rather than look at the root causes of the aboriginal/white population divide. At the heart of the matter is one of attitude and acceptance.
How many Aboriginal people are in Parliament? How many do you you see on commercial television, speaking for themselves or involved in the making and presentation of programs? Compare this with the presence of black people on British or American television in drama and current affairs.
"Aborigines live under extreme oppression?" "what evidence do you have of this? You cant just make these remarks without some sort of evidence or examples."
You hadn't noticed? I think the example cited above of the police complying with racist's calls to have the Aboriginals moved on is probably the sort of thing you should take note of.
Oh, did you see the Four Corners broadcast on 15th June 2009? '... the shocking story of a well respected community leader in outback Western Australia who was locked in a metal cell in the back of a prison van and driven through the desert in the searing heat. Four hours later he was dead.'
How many examples do you want? How quickly do you suppose your community would recover had it been the subject of the forced removal of children as happened during the long period of the 'stolen generations'?
At the heart of the matter is the entrenched racism which is harboured by many people and institutions against black races. As I said previously, much of the racism here comes from British immigrants.
Two typical examples from my experience: a young female primary school teacher, a friend of my wife, returned to England for a holiday. When we asked how she had found it she said in horror that there were "blacks everywhere". Pity any black children in her classes.
Just recently a couple who were strangers to us were taking a stroll up our road and stopped for a chat. The man was an English immigrant and said laughingly and gratuitously that he could send a group of Aboriginals to smash up our house if we wanted him to. I was left speechless. His female companion later tried to apologise to my wife.
At the heart of the matter is ignorance and bigotry. Building houses and providing health support for Aboriginals will not address the underlying issue.
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"Perhaps the most disturbing finding is that cases of child abuse among indigenous children have more than doubled from 16 per 1000 children in 1990-2000 to 35 per 1000 in 2007-2008. Indigenous children are six times as likely to be abused as non-indigenous children."
Could the doubling of this statistic be more an issue of it now being reported more thanks to Government measures since the intervention under the previous government which has continued under Rudd? It seems a lot of media have not even asked this.
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TotallyBaffled At the heart of the matter is ignorance and bigotry. This must be about the most intelligent statement that you have stumbled across. Its a pity youre describing yourself.
The trouble is that you continue to perpetuate the current situation with your ignorance and bigotry. Bringing racism into the open? You have done nothing but display behaviour of an ignorant, bigoted, and racist nature.
If you had done your research you would have know that there have been prominent Aboriginals in athletics, Parliament and well respected government positions, including those of the legal branches and the military. Have you seen Samson and Delilah by Warwick Thornton? He was in Cannes to receive the Camera D'or for best film by a first-time director. Here Ill give you another link to the history of Indigenous movies seeing as you show an indifference to doing any research:
http://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/indigenous-film-timeline.html
Im betting you havent seen any of these films?
So you sat down and watched an episode of Four Corners nearly a month ago? Good for you. You are quoting reference from the same media that you previously labelled as paternalistic, patronising or stereotypical. There is no question that this was a terrible thing to happen and one which I would not wish on anyone but do you have any statistics on non-indigenous deaths in custody? I suppose not because your paternalistic, patronising or stereotypical media has not reported any.
Like I said before, everybody who lives here already knows the problems, we hear about them each evening on the news. People are aware of what is going on and we have to put our faith in our judicial system to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
Do you even know what the missing generation is about? Much of what happened then is still going on now being carried out by DOCS to people of all creeds. I dont even want to go down the path of teaching you African American history because I dont think you could comprehend it.
William Rowe a 49-year-old farmer from Western Australia's mid-west died and his son required 30 stitches to his face, after a brawl at a Geraldton beach for failing to hand over their drinks to a group of nearby Aboriginals. The death in the van may have been a terrible accident but this was just plain murder. So the police officer did not have time to explain the risk of alcohol combined with over 200 years of pent up rage due to oppression to an English tourist. Would you expose your family and friends to this risk?
People like your wifes friend and your neighbour make me cringe. But so do people at the other end of the spectrum like you. Youre not out to help, youre a child throwing stones, spewing hate and picking at an already festering wound.
If people like you spent more time doing research and providing constructive assistance, rather than spitting and foaming their unfounded hate on forums, Australia and the Indigenous cause may have a better hope. For you own sake please go off and do some soul seeking before returning with more diatribe. There is no place in this world for hate.
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Kyofu0, I seem to be provoking you to a state of apoplexy so I'll ease off a little but I feel I must just address the one or two less emotive and condescending points you have made.
"If you had done your research you would have know that there have been prominent Aboriginals in athletics, Parliament and well respected government positions, including those of the legal branches and the military"
Well, just how well represented are Aboriginals in Parliament?
Sport:
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission:
It is clear that incidents of racial abuse and vilification are prevalent across all major sporting codes, involving professional sportspeople, amateurs, coaches and spectators. The fear of racism in Australian sport is also a major barrier to participation for Indigenous people and those from various ethnic and cultural groups, said Commissioner Calma.
"If people like you spent more time doing research and providing constructive assistance, rather than spitting and foaming their unfounded hate on forums"
Borrowing from your previous remark:
Geeze Kyofu0, is this really the pot calling the kettle black, pardon the pun?
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Dear Kyofu01,
So Nick is British and therefore ignorant. Totally Baffled is british and therefore ignorant.
Stop the waffle and just state your simplistic view that you think that because they aren't Australian, therefore their opinion doesn't matter.
But I'm Australian.
And your opinions are the quintessential city slicker rhetoric that gets us nowhere. You've provided not a single way forward. Indeed you stated this about the 'problems': "we hear about them each evening on the news". (each evening would be a delight, where the truth is that aboriginal affairs are buried in the news cycle)
Yep, i live close to the "troubles". Yep, i think you are just another Aussie who loves to defend Australia's record and give big analysis but your fellow Australians need and deserve more than you brow beating a few posters and a BBC journalist.
I've read Nick Bryant's biography at the top of the page. I also remember his blog recently that did report from an Aboriginal Community. He has lived a bit of history. As have quite a few of the regular contributors to this blog.
But I'm deeply sceptical that you've done more than watch TV news, read the odd book and engage in some deeply ad hominem arguments via your keyboard.
If your passionate, get involved. But please stop screaming from the sidelines, you're giving me a digital headache.
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Nick,
Tony Koch's changing opinions over time would be a great metaphor for the mainstream media.
you start with idealism, you move to comprehension and patience, and then you start to be impatient and desiring strong action, and finally you just throw your hands up and claim its all too hard.
I think Tony is nearing the final stage. I have always appreciated his commentary, and its often forwarded around amoungst my friends, but i think that just as Australia is starting to get bloody serious about the topic Tony might be nearing the end of his teether.
I hope he hangs on, because Rudd is not following Keating in seeking political capital from the Aboriginal issues, rather he looks to be the first PM to really want to leave Aboriginals closer on any given scale to fellow Australians.
Hang On Tony!
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As I said in my last posting, there is no such thing as 'aboriginal' anymore than there is such a thing as Cauocasian, when referring to a race of people. To explain better what I mean, a poster above mentioned 'aboriginality' in context of the Howard Governments 'Intervention' of Aboriginal communities. The inferrence being that ALL aborigines came under the intervention. They don't, any more than saying all Caucasians are 'white'. Racism is when we identify physical differences, such as colour, accent, type of perceived breed.
Here is a true story: Recently on my visit to the Townsville area of Queensland, I stayed with my friends who are of Indian and Aboriginal descent. That is the woman's mother was Indian from Fiji and her father was of British/aboriginal decent. The male friend's family on all sides was aboriginal, who has lived in the Bowen, Ayre of Queensland. Both my friends have worked all his life, as do their older children. They have four children, the youngest being very dark in skin colour, while the other three are quite light....you could easily mistake the eldest as being of Greek origin.
I took the youngest daughter, in her early teens, shopping in a nearby town...where she is not known. I entered a newsagency to top up my mobile phone, while my friend's daughter wandered around the shop. The owner of the store, who was serving me, and yes she had a very noticable English accent, was obviously distracted by the young lass as she walked casually around the book and magazines. When my friend's daughter moved out of sight behind a card stack, the woman excused herself from me and went wandering up the aisle to get a better view of the young girl. When the woman returned I asked what was the trouble, and her comment to me was,
'You can't trust these blacks, I had to deal with them when we lived in South Africa."
I told her she was a friend of mine and that she was less a thief than any child that visits her store. She disagreed and said, "its common knowledge, its in their blood, if it's not nailed down, they think it's free to take."
Suffice to say I left the shop, without paying, or receiving what I came for, and went straight to an Aboriginal community I know well, to tell them of my encounter. They laughed at me and said "Why do you think aboriginal people refuse to support small businesses in this town?"
If you're interested, I can tell you a heap of other stories associated with my travels, from Warren in western NSW, where the aboriginal community were removed from the outskirts of town in the 1980 so the council could replace the site with a garbage tip...when the aboriginal people rose up in anger, the papers told stories of how drunken aborigines had attacked innocent towns folk, and had to shutter their windows and build metal doors......to Mudgee in Central Western NSW where an aboriginal man and his family were refused accommodation in a motel simply because he was black....his uncle was the then Liberal Party's, and Australia's, first black Senator...and the famous Sydney radio announcer who blasted an aboriginal community worker on his program for alegedly liasing between a prison and the girl the prisoner was supposed to have raped. The true story was the young man and woman were young lovers, but from feuding aboriginal communities in the area. They are now together, happily married...the man having unfairly served time...and the woman who acted as liason to the couple suffers sever depression and no longer works. I guess some would call her an 'aboriginal bludger.'
And in closing, how many 'Australians', be they white, ex Brits or whatever, have ever even bothered to meet, interact or get to know a person of indigenous back ground in this country. I have, and I could possibly be part aboriginal myself....who can tell after 5 generations?
And to those willing to blame 'Australian's' for this, considering we have imported 100,000 British migrants, directly and indirectly, into our country over the past 12 years....Bureau of Statistics figures...and our head of state is the British Queen, how can we not be called English?????
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A correction to my last post: "we have imported 100,000 British migrants, directly and indirectly, into our country over the past 12 years...."
Should have read: "we have imported an average of 100,000 British migrants every year, directly and indirectly, into our country over the past 12 years...."
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Petesyc, I don't really get your points. Are you saying racism in Astralia is the preserve of the British? or are you saying Australians are British? Sorry, I don't really get who you are blaming.
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Smartlondon, I am saying both. I have yet to hear an Australian of non British background make a racist comment concerning our indigenous peoples, while racist comments from those living here, with British allegiances or loyalties, are the most common.
I am also saying that though we claim to be an independent nation, we still have your Queen as our head of state, we have a very high number of Ex British wishing us to stay that way, and considering the number of Brits migrating to Australia, as I quoted from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, we will never truly be an independent nation until we slow down British migrants in relation to migrants from other nations.
When mixing water and milk, there gets a point where, if the mixing is not measured, one become the other.
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