>> I will concede that, as the National Congress was being fashioned,

I wondered at times whether our community “had the goods”

when it came to electing the best people <<

Well Lois, We ”had the goods” alright !!

“Fifty Five Thousand” ( 55.000 ) of us “voted”

in the 2002 ATSIC elections.

“Six Hundred” ( 600 ) “voted” at the “Congress” co-chair election.

Our “Over-Whelming Rejection” of ”National Congress”

Arthur Bell.

Dear Lowitja,

What an inspiring and powerful article. I'm not an Indigenous Australian - my ancestry is Lithuanian. My parents came to this country as refugees after World War II. I was born in this country.
I wish you every success in you and your people's endeavours especially in having the Constitution amended to recognise the
First Australians.

I read Margaret Tucker's autobiography, "If Everyone Cared," a few years ago and I still remember her telling how she was guided always by the story Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls told in church one day about a black man who said, "You can play a tune of sorts on the white keys of a piano; you can play some sort of tune on the black keys; but for perfect harmony, you must use both." She got the point, it is a
terrific one.

Lowitja, one of the things you need to do before you start worrying about any changes to the Australian constitution, is to get a serious definition of who is an aboriginal. The present definition is very unsatisfactory. It allows too many people to jump on the aboriginal bandwagon and to receive benefits which should go to the more deserving.

David

I must say I'm pretty tired of this indigenous stuff. Fact is that others came to Australia and overwhelmed the Aboriginals. Too bad. You can't change that, and rather than keep demanding meaningless things like recognition, apologies, etc, it's time you all got off government handouts (which haven't done you any good anyway) and did something to earn your independence (in the personal sense). It's also time to end the apartheid system. Examples: voting compulsory for everyone expect so called indigenous people; and a host of special exceptions and questions on all manner of government agency forms like 'are you Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander?'. Your people will only earn respect and excel when you demonstrate you are worthy of it. Play around with the constitution and you won't get anywhere. What does it mean to be recognised as the first Australians? And where does that line of thinking stop? Should I demand recognition as a 2nd Australian? One thing is sure, it won't change anything for ordinary people.

The National Congress must remember that it is an advocate for the indigenous peoples, and not the government for a 'nation within a nation.' There's no doubt that indigenous people need community leadership, but this does not replace the Government.

Instead of seeking out more symbolic victories, which have some merit, the National Congress needs to focus on grassroots action. The gap between disadvantaged Aborigines and the general population is not due to a lack of Government funding. Financial accountability needs to be reined in on the steady flow of money at all levels. I don't believe that the answer is more money.

Take two struggling families that are dependent on Centrelink benefits. They live next door to each other. One is Caucasian and the other is Indigenous. Why should one family receive more money on account of their heritage?

I'm not denying the fact that atrocities were committed against indigenous people in the past, nor that discrimination is rife in the present. However, my response is not guilt, but regret. I look forward to the advancement of indigenous people in the future, and don't see the benefit of perpetually dwelling in the wrongs of the past. This may sound harsh, but welfare equality will help to remove the victim mentality of disadvantaged Aborigines.

For a bunch of people who go on and on about racism, I find it hilarious that aboriginal leaders now want to make aborigines a special race in Australia, with constitutional rights above everybody else. You must still be living in the Dreamtime, Lois, if you think that you have any hope of selling that to the Australian people in a referendum.

I also find it hilarious, your calls for "aboriginal self deturmination." Well, you got that in every remote aboriginal community and all that resulted in was anarchy. As usual, white people had to "intervene" to stop the outrages perpetuated on aborigines, by aborigines. Meanwhile, the aboriginal "leaders" who had adopted three monkey approach to aboriginal dysfunction, screamed blue murder at those trying to prevent the killings, mysogyny, and child abuse.

What you really mean when you say "self deturmination" is for the Australian government to never meddle in "aboriginal" affairs, and to give the descendendents of ATSIC control over all public funds given to aborigines Like, you are kidding, right?

The only things that ATSIC was concerned about, was how to not get its snout deeper into the public trough, and its front trotters in as well. The financial scandals, fraud and total incomptence of ATSIC would have done cedit to any country governed by a kleptocracy of Mugabe, Idi Amin, Julias Nyerere, Kenneth Kuanda, Yowari Museveni, or Joseph Mobuto.

I wonder how long before Muslims, Macedonians, Tamils, Lithuanians, and every other imported foreign group wallowing in their own ethnic uniqueness demand the same thing, and Australia goes the same way as the very countries they fled from?

The last laugh was your claim that ATSIC was "set up to fail". Yep, it sure was. Idealistic people with humanitarian convictions that "all men are equal" set up ATSIC in the belief that aboriginal people were just as smart as whites and Asians. They also thought that aboriginal people wanted not only equal rights, but equal responsibilities, and that aboriginal leaders were concerned about their own people's welfare.

From my persective, they were wrong on all three counts.