Loudmouth. I am impressed by your claims, but I have not been able to find your claimed articles. Can you please direct me to them?

Ghumi,

Second time lucky.

Try 'The Aboriginal Child at School', 1984, and early nineties, and 'The Aboriginal and Islander Health Journal', about 1991-1993.

OLO has a couple of articles, one in 2010 and one late last year:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11383

The Australian: go to their web-site, and type in 'lane indigenous education', that should do it.

Maracas,

Yes ! That's what we have been trying to say for the past few years ! That there is a growing class differentiation in Indigenous society, yes ! That the people in remote settlements are rapidly being left behind, yes ! And that urgent action was needed, yes !

We tried to get a paper along these lines published in progressive and left-wing journals but no deal, so we had it published by the Bennelong Society:

http://www.bennelong.com.au/conferences/pdf/JandMLane2008.pdf

They didn't change a single word, good mob. I hope you enjoy them. I'm not Indigenous, by the way.

Joe

What concerns me Loudmouth is that it is the assimilated Indigenous Bourgeouise who have become the spokespersons for remote area people and advisors to Government. They are not telling the right story.
I have been an activist supporting Aboriginal Rights since 1961 at a time when todays 'indigenous' people threatened to fight me if I referred to them as Aboriginal. I am not Aboriginal either but I understand that remote area people do not want to relocate to urban areas but are forced to with the implementation of the Intervention policies of Government .

They need to be properly consulted and receive support to become self-supporting with sympathetic mentors,working to empower the Communities utilising the skills they already possess.

Art has already proved to be a lucrative pursuit as has cultural sharing.Working with stock is also a suitable enterprise when applied with a view to expanding into a value added enterprise such as small scale meat processing.

Hi Maracas1,

Our paths have probably crossed in those fifty years :)

In the south (east coast/urban areas etc.), people have been moving into towns and cities for sixty years, since the relaxation of segregation policies and adoption of assimilation/integration policies.

People have done that because they wanted to. The urban areas were where the opportunities were, and of course still are. That's where their kids could get a decent education and better job opportunities. They chose to do that, nobody forced them to.

I'm not saying that people in remote Australia will make the same choices, or should. But if they do want to stay in remote areas, what can they do to develop economic activities, no matter how small ? Yes, art, Toyota rangers, camping grounds and tourism, the cattle industry, culling of camels, goats and donkeys and processing of their meat and leather - and where there is enough water, vegetable gardens, chook yards, a few dairy cows and orchards.

It might even transpire that, say, olives or pecans or dates could do very well in some areas, AS LONG AS they have the water.

Speaking of water, why aren't coastal and river communities getting into fishing enterprises ?

As well, to combat global warming, surely sooner or later, governments will subsidise re-forestation, and tree-planting across parts of the north ? There's a couple of hundred years' work.

As an old lefty, I don't see how people can do nothing forever, and live off the public teat, on their own land: that's what I thought the land rights struggle was all about, get your land and do something with it: if they can develop community enterprises on their own land, then go for it, ASAP.

Then I ask myself the question: why haven't they done some of this already ? How much would it cost to put a few vegetables in ? Don't many communities have ample plant and equipment ? The communities I'm familiar with certainly did, oodles of it, mostly going unused.

Meanwhile in the cities, people are getting on with life.

Joe

Joe,
In my observations ,in communities I have contact with, the folks have had their progress set back a couple of decades,Once active Councils have lost control of their community development to be replaced by fewer councils administering multiple communities. People are despairing and feel betrayed. People who were working on CDEP programs have been placed on the dole and sit idle ! Many have moved to urban centres because of the witholding of income and helped create further problems in overcrowding.

Both Governments have done enormous damage to Aboriginal development and self reliance.

I am disgusted at the continuing failure of Jenny Macklin to acknowledge the damage she has caused.Unfortunately she will not have to pay for the damage which is tanamount to a crime against Humanity