loudmouth, why is every successive government ends up doing roughly the same thing, with the odd tweak here and there?

Why does nothing improve, regardless of the resources expended?

I can't help but feel sorry for the kids who grow up without technology and the rest of the things Australian kids take for granted.

The biggest problem seems to be the isolation, and it is also the reaction of just about everyone when you talk about this subject. Why do they stay in isolation?

If I want something that is somewhere else, I do without, or move or something.

I just see some parts of the community see the isolation as good, and "aboriginal", as if moving will remove the requirement for an industry to meet, and confer and travel and wring their hands and berate all other Australians .. as if it's our fault they are in isolation.

It's great to see some of the younger ones getting educated and I see you repeat this constantly, but it's not enough is it. The rest of the communities stay behind and the problem remains.

I can't ever see this not being a problem, as long as we treat them as different to everyone else.

We need to treat them the same as other Australians with the same obligations, if you want that lifestyle, then bloody weel get off your bum and move.

Stop the handouts for 'special" Australians, and the industry that promotes separation will die, thankfully.

truly I see the aboriginal industry and the well intentioned idiots who promote the zoo that is outback aboriginal "culture" as being the biggest problem, and don't even get me started on the UN!

Like most Australians I want these people to be as well off and happy as the rest of us, but it is beyond belief that the industry can keep things the way they are without evolving .. the industry itself is racist in insisting aboriginals are different and must be treated so.

@ Loudmouth

Footnote to your comment:
<< If someone doesn't want to work, then they don't get paid: no problem. If they commit offences in order to avoid both working and being broke, then like anybody else, they are either fined or incarcerated. No problem. Do the crime, do the time.>>

Except, that we know from experience, when a sizable number of one group ( Aboriginal or others) ends up unemployed or in jail,in our --- multicultural , everyone in ethnic pigeon hole , society -- it is inevitably “found” to be a evidence of society's crimes : systematic discrimination!

Hi Amicus,

I don't disageree with your comments, except to say that I have some trust that government policies - and even if the Coalition were the government - are slowly changing on the one hand, and that there is a much bigger proportion of Indigenous people who are NOT bludging on welfare than you might think, perhaps two-thirds or three-quarters.

SPQR,

No, you are way off the mark. Indigenous people now have a wide range of opportunities in addition to those available to ther Australians. The Employment Covenant of Andrew Forrest is one major initiative. As well, universities still (as far as I am aware0 provide a measure of specific student preparation and support for Indigenous people - commencements, enrolments and graduations are at record levels. Indigenous women are commencing uni study at close to the rate for NON-Indigenous men.

But meanwhile, those who pursue lifelong welfare and seem to see it as some sort of feudal right, yes, they are committing offences at a far higher rate than other Australians, including working Indigenous people. Yes, do the crime, do the time. Otherwise, seize the opportunities that are available - even if they almost invariably require effort, study, input, work. Indigenous people have the option to either work, study, live off the land (if they are so 'traditional') OR commit offences and go to jail. I'm not losing any sleep over them.

And just to stir the possum, it's worth repeating that the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in custody found that they were no more likely to die in custody than other prisoners: 23 % of prisoners (back in the days of the Commission) were Indigenous, 22 % of the deaths were Indigenous. What else would you expect ? 2.5 % ? And if only 1 % of prisoners were Indigenous, would you still expect 2.5 % of deaths to be Indigenous ? In the NT, where 80 % of the prisoners are Indigenous, what would you expect - 2.5 % or 80 % ?

[TBC]

[cont.]

The disgraceful reality is that Indigenous people - especially those who are unemployed - are far more likely to suicide OUTSIDE OF custody than other Australians, up to ten or fifteen times in many remote 'communities'.

Where is the outrage about that ?

Joe