Bess is not just fearless, educated and intelligent, she is also highly principled and committed to achieving change.
The only problem is that she has landed herself in the middle of a political party that has many members who are self-interested, or interested mainly in the wellbeing of the business class much more than they are in paying greater taxes to provide for the massive investments that will have to be made if her people are to have a fighting chance of digging themselves out of the massive hole in which they find themselves.
This is a hole partly dug by history in the form of colonialism and racism; partly by some of her own people in the form of individual and family selfishness and tolerance of violence and corruption; but it's mainly just an utterly foreseeable consequence of being born communally-orientated highly social hunter-gatherers with esoteric beliefs about causality and spirits, in an advanced industrial capitalist society - a society locked irreversibly into an increasingly technocratic world that is premised on the universality of scientifically educated competitive individualism.
The investment in the people, systems and equipment needed for finding ways out of the hole must not be underestimated. They include:
- substantial quantities of high quality education systems in remote communities,
- extensive early childhood and social work programs,
- intensive multi-systemic youth work,
- parenting skills programs,
- therapeutic programs for those addicted to alcohol/drugs/gambling and other addictions,
- intensive family support and interventions,
- health workforce development and subsidy,
- essential service infrastructure (including adequate accommodation in remote communities for the workforce needed to implement all these services and programs),
- sufficient secure housing for community members, and
- economic development for suitable job creation for the Aboriginal workforce, given its under-educated and low skilled composition.
(to be continued)

(continued from above)

Mal Brough, John Howard and Kevin Rudd had no idea about the actual need for most of this work, nor about the massive amounts of money needed for it, and the current conservative (and Labor) leaders at Federal, state and NT levels are not showing any signs of acknowledging that several billion dollars more need to be found immediately to pay for a rolling development program across remote Australia as a matter of urgent necessity.
The consequences of failing to do so will be an ever-escalating need for police, parole officers, prison guards and private security providers, and for turning remote towns into fortresses and government infrastructure into secure bunkers, plus armies of lawyers and magistrates and judges and court officials, and construction of police stations, courts, prisons, rehabilitaion facilities, and housing for all these workers, where money will be spent at the tail end of problems which could have been substantially prevented.

Hi Dan,

Sara consistently writes well and with a very acute understanding of the situation as I see it. I agree wholeheartedly that Bess Price is a courageous, decent and dedicated woman, and I certainly wish her well in what she is trying to achieve: she stands head and shoulders above so many other so-called leaders.

And your list of things-to-do-and-fund seems pretty spot-on. My views on 'community' are a bit more jaundiced and, as a socialist, I have to admit to the limits of communal ownership and responsibility: in my experience, they never seem to have worked, much as I would have wished it otherwise. Everybody seems to want to be a 'free rider'.

As for enterprises, if 'communities' can't even get vegetable gardens going, then I don't see any hope for more complex - and inevitably expensive - projects. However, employment in outside enterprises, especially since mining is going to have a major presence for many decades to come, is probably what will 'encourage' - even provoke - greater involvement of young Aboriginal people in genuine employment.

In other words, I'd put my money on the Andrew Forrest approach prevailing over the Jon Altman paradigm. We'll see :)

Best wishes,

Joe

Sara

I don't mean to be difficult here but your article is aimed at people who already have considerable background in this story.. you need to say high up in the story who Bess Price is, what she is done and why she is being criticised.. then you can launch into the passionate defence of her..

Dan,

It's time for the Left to swallow its pride and admit that leftist policies have been an unmitigated disaster. When missionaries left many communities there were often working cattle stations with stock hands, abatoirs, small aero companies, and more. Since the Left 'owned' indigineous policy the whole lot has fallen apart.

As your list shows about the only thing you don't want the government to do is to wipe their back sides for them. Instead of the usual leftist calls for.....you guessed it....more money, why not encourage personal responsibility? After all they managed without handouts for the first 40 000 odd years so it's been quite an accomplishment to destroy their independence over the last 40 or 50.

How long will remote Aboriginals have to suffer because of the vanity and pride of people like you?

Dane,
it was the evil left that ruined the aboriginal people was it? You might want to take a look at the ruinous effects that the paternalism and racism of the conservative right created before the left were able to have a go and implement their ideas.

Can we all stop using the Aboriginal people for political point scoring?

There are some great programs featuring interviews with Bess Price on Radio National

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/bess-price-welcome-to-my-world/3725896

And SBS has a wonderful series that traces the history of white settlement/invasion (whatever; it's only a word - can we stop being so easily offended?)

http://www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians/about