Thank you John
I know many Murri people, and some Migaloo people who have a dream that this beautiful continent, all the country within, and all who and which live on it will be protected and healed. We Migaloos would do well to learn the old ways and pay respect to not just the land but the ordered and respectful way of living and gaining consensus on major issues which affect community. Our failing to remember, and now relearn this will be to all our detriment. It would be especially good if decision makers learned this. I am sure that their and our health would improve immeasurably. Thank you once again, Jennie

Hi Jennie,

What's the weather like on your planet ?

Joe

John I am sure you are a lovely person but this silly longing to send people back to the stone age is not at all helpful. Pandering to other ridiculous beliefs is likewise.
We do need to include Aborigibal people into society and ensure they are able to have what we have and do not worry we all want/need the same thing.

I have a great idea. All those people who want to proclaim/reclaim/retain their "Aboriginality" should be allocated freedom of residence (traditional design) plus hunting and collection of traditional foods based on their historic tribal areas. If that tribal land is no longer suitable for the purpose, another nearby area that is should be found. Perhaps several tribes could merge together in peaceful co-habitation? Then again perhaps not :-)

As well they should get a 'basics' allowance in order to supplement their diet. Say $25 week per person which would accumulate so that in times of lean pickings or where traditional food supply has declined there would be a resource to feed the family.

The 'participants' would need a good and plentiful variety of traditional tools to start with. After that they would produce their own replacements. Within the 'tribe' rule of law would revert back to traditional concepts of crime and punishment.

Non-traditional health care would still be available for those who wanted it.

What could be fairer? After all that is better than how Aborinines would be living if the evil whites hadn't come along to wreck their 'Paradise'

All those who DIDN'T want to live this idyllic lifestyle would ignore so-called "Aboriginal heritage' simply identifying as "Australian" and just getting on with their lives like the rest of us. Those with "mineral claims" could get a one off substantial payout that would set them up nicely and no longer have to accomodate the sponging of various relatives to quickly dissipate their fortunes.

What you reckon Dr John?

All cultures change and adapt over time. Reclaiming some of the values and beliefs of the past is not inconsistent with that. To suggest that trying to achieve a society in which there is consensus and which communities, not just the individuals within them or over them, decide what is best for their community, is hardly a return to the "stone age". Yet this is the foundation of Australian Indigenous cultural beliefs. Similarly seeking to make a society which protects the earth and uses resources respectfully, with an eye to provision for future generations, and makes clear connections between the health of the land and the health of the people, is consistent with these beliefs. The proposition that the choice is between "stone age" and "modern", is less than helpful. We must create new alternatives which consciously keep the best of the past and judiciously incorporates the best of the present.

"I have a great idea. All those people who want to proclaim/reclaim/retain their "Aboriginality" should be allocated freedom of residence (traditional design) plus hunting and collection of traditional foods based on their historic tribal areas..."

And what about the poor bloody children stuck in this heartless scheme, who have no choice to follow their parents around until they a) die of some curable medical condition, or b) grow up ignorant and unemployable, with no option but to perpetuate the same barbarism on their own kids? The traditional Aboriginal way of life was developed solely for the benefit of male elders, and to the extreme detriment of everyone else. And like most autocratic cultures, it strongly resisted change -- even change for the better.

The massive demographic shifts occurring in Aboriginal culture, now that most Koori children are surviving and remaining healthy, will hopefully put a natural end to support for the toxic traditional lifestyle.