I agree with you (diver dan)
Well said.

Well thank you, Individual, and you too, Peter Hume; I'm glad we occasionally line up.

luigi gigi and diver dan,
I'm well aware of Malcolm's "good works" and incongruously leftist orientation, but he still hides his privilege behind statesmanship, and inequality is not a working class phenomenon.
Indeed he's doubly a hypocrite because he knows that politics is just as populist as human rights, and that the undignified scrambling for the racist vote during elections, from both parties, is the sordid price of power and popular currency.
It's easy to be sanctimonious when you're on the sidelines.

Diver Dan,
I hate to disillusion you but the CDEP scheme was (Bob Katter's grand idea) nothing short of evil. It's a good thing it has finally gone. The new CEA will probably prove to be worse than CDEP.
You can not expect people to have any kind of self worth when you're told up front that your life isn't ever going to improve because bureaucrats constantly fail in providing the economic base needed not to have unemployment.
Oh yeah, it sounds great in the south that people have to work for the dole. What doesn't sound great because you never get to hear it down south is the fact that the monies needed for shipping one useless bureaucrat to communities could actually provide sufficient income for up to four families. The higher ranking ones even more. I guarantee you that if this funding were provide for local employment instead it would improve things all around.

I have lived in communities/towns with aboriginal people and teens then my own age, worked with girlfriend who is aboriginal for many years, in later years a child was fostered by a relative of mine, worked with aboriginal people of all ages, in addition to witnessing the alcohol fueled problems with young aboriginal people in towns on Friday evenings near Reserves.

My suggestions on this topic:
. Taking people out of their alcoholic environments and ensuring that they are fully occupied at least between Monday-Friday needs to be initiated and support given 24/7 for a long period of time by both Government and private health personnel.
. Substituting beer and spirits for Stout or another lighter ale between Monday - Fridays may assist the alcohol problem where it exists.
. Set up detox centres staffed 24/7 near reserves and close to suburbs where aboriginal people are encouraged to visit during school and work days ie Monday - Friday.
. A government run clinic built and set up near Reserves, staffed 24/7 to support many of the communities, in particular children.

Dealing with addictions are the root of the problem, thereafter things become easier.

I am referring directly to the excuses made by some of this generation about their older generation, who indeed suffered greatly, in comparison to aboriginal people now in their 20's and 30's with children, some of whom raise 20 and 30+ year history that in reality was their grandparents history, and not their own (history) playing victim.
. Enforcing children to attend school via implementation of programs whereby children are collected by a couple of government workers or teachers daily doing role call, offering incentives for children and their parents.

Most people of any Aboriginal descent over the last 30 years have in fact been given homes for free, some with low mortgages, others with inexpensive rent, ongoing financial assistance and exclusive/prioritised rights to thousands of government and private jobs/positions including vast acres of land set aside for Aboriginal people to reside.

Individual and others on the subject:

I acknowledge your comment.

...Until there is born a universal attack on the Alcohol industry, our society will continue on the course to crumble; from top to bottom, left to right and black to white. Stop seeing the notion of “getting Bent” as socially acceptable.

...Stop accepting Alcohol as a celebrant lotion altogether. Cease to project the wine industry as successful when actually it presides over social destruction. Legislate out any attempt of the Alcohol industry to appear normal: until the total industry withers like grapes on the vine.

...Outlaw the consumption of Alcohol in all communities Australia wide, with incarceration the option for offenders. Align prohibition of Alcohol with illicit drugs. At that point, sanity can be said to prevail, and the advancement of the Aboriginal cause may begin.
I rest my case!

Thanks Malcolm and Friends and showing that plenty of Ostriches are hard at it , Plenty of People that feel powerless, that this gross act of Racial discrimination is being perpetuated.
Meanwhile the Politicians are not listening - we must redouble our efforts !
The attack on Aboriginal Languages and Culture is my biggest concern with the compulsory four hours of lessons in English alienating both Elders, parents and grandparents .
Listening to an Education expert in the NT - he said that lessons should be done in their birth tongue until they are ten years old ,as English is more easily taught and learnt after that -with Elders ,Parents and Grandparents more Relative and Encouraging in their Earlier years .
Perhaps there could be Adult English Classes to help close the Gap.
Julia Gillard talks of "The aunty in the country town who tells the stories to the young".....what language will the story be in ??
Will it have to be in English because Liberal and Labour Policies treat the learning of complete Aboriginal Languages as a barrier to Closing The Gap !
In the Eastern States there is a huge black hole in Aboriginal Culture... that is the loss of their Languages .
Indigenous Australians should be Bi-Lingual .

Like the War in Iraq, the Australian NT Intervention is an attack on
Indigenous Culture based on "Invention" .

Collateral Damage, well ,white colonial governments have no knowledge of this .
Remember they didn't report the casualities in Iraq .