One more point: your concern about maintaining Aboriginal culture is somewhat misplaced. Aboriginal culture has been very badly impacted by alcohol, drugs, and welfare dependency in recent years. Government has done much to support survival of culture (some good current examples are the very large amounts of funding going into support for the community-based arts and crafts centres and womens centres on many remote communities) and I believe that people like Macklin recognise that "culture would have to be an important part of a stronger future".
However it is also important not to fetishise culture, or imagine that it on its own is the key to "strong, independent lives, where communities, families and children are safe and healthy". It is a very important part of the solutions mix, but it is also part of the problem, in that some aspects are dysfunctional (e.g. some male attitudes to and beliefs about women) in the context of contemporary life. This is a realm in which it is particularly important that decisions about ways forward are formulated and implemented by the local Aboriginal people themselves, and this is happening in various ways in a lot of places, though not without problems and obviously, not without frictions between different viewpoints within the communities.

It is important that you realise that many Aboriginal institutions, such as the Aboriginal Land Councils, legal services and community-controlled health services have not been seriously weakened by the NTER (in fact, they have grown substantially in capacity under the Rudd/Gillard governments), and are working closely with communities to pick up the pieces and find new ways forward.

By the way: don't believe the Rundle hype. When "the Howard government sent the army into Indigenous communities", it largely consisted of unarmed Aboriginal volunteers from the Norforce who accompanied medical teams, transporting them, erecting tents for them to sleep and work in, and cooking their meals and transporting their patients. It was very much emergency aid, not an invasion. Please believe me, I was there in some of the communities when it happened

So ok Amanda, what do you of great wisdom and knowledge recommend we do about this ongoing problem.

Over the years they have been provided with FREE HOUSNG, and guess what, they burned anything that would burn, only to expect us to rebuild, so they can burn them again.

They have taken possession of land, land they claimed as theirs the improvements deteriated and they still made nothing of it.

The government banned grog from thei missions, and guess what, the likes of Weipa, in the far north are now renowned for lazy drunken aborigines loitering about town until their PAY has run out.

They then leave town only to return next PAY DAY as they call it.

WAKE UP MY DEAR AND SMELL THE ROSES!

Dan Fitzpatrick,

Thank you for your most important, informed and informative contribution to this discussion. My reading is that you personally could contribute very positively to finding and implementing those 'new ways forward' - and I have to hope that you, and many other capable and well-informed people continue to be involved in this process.

"Individual" mentions problems with Bureaucracy, and you, Dan, indicate some similar observations. It would seem essential that only truly well-informed people should be involved in this compex and sensitive area - with emphasis on communication from the ground up, rather than the reverse. It appears that there may be a lot of mis-information floating around - and this is one area deeply in need of accurate, comprehensive and well-informed information, particularly for our politicians, public servants, remote communities and indigenous organisations more generally.

"Amanda" takes issue with the many disparate and often negative opinions expressed on the Forum, but these perhaps should at least be viewed as a potential microcosm of views and stereotypical outlooks harboured by some or many in our Aus community at large (at least in the non-indigenous component thereof). As reconciliation is an important issue, and with a referendum in this regard somewhere in the pipeline, it is important to take note of such views, and to undertake a program to correct mis-information and mis-judgements in this regard. It is important that we all 'move forward' together.

One area in which I have deep concerns is in the influence 'urban' indigenous communities may have (through broader indigenous forums or organisations) on the establishment of the 'right way' forward for remote (and possibly rural) communities. There are indicated disparate interests and vested-interests at play here (from an outside observer view).

Another concern I have it with 'identifying' as indigenous. Is this really legitimate? Or should this categorisation be stomped on - if any such individual is not living within a 'remote' community (as distinct from urban or rural), and fully as one with that community? A puzzling 'complication'?

Saltpetre
Thanks for your positive response. Of course, there are sometimes problems associated with bureaucratic structures, processes and personnel, but the same could be said of most other aspects of this very difficult state of affairs. None of us are perfect, or should be immune from being held to be accountable for our performances. Some bureaucrats are very well-informed, capable people with good motives; others aren’t. Maybe the pendulum has swung too far towards excessive empowerment of certain bureaucrats, but this needs careful analysis and planning to overcome whatever problems exist there, rather than snap judgements about solutions.
Your point about a need for more “emphasis on communication from the ground up” is one with which I agree wholeheartedly. There is a lot of misinformation and ignorance on all sides about matters that people deserve to have clarified. This is one area I believe needs a lot of urgent work, with investment in creating many more accredited Aboriginal interpreters and translators of their own languages, and linguistic engineers capable of converting specialised language and theoretical concepts into digestible formats for the interpreters. Importantly, to make communication work there must be decent fulltime wages and good career paths for these people.
There could be more effective consultation with elders, residents and those who have lived and worked on the communities, provided there is some attempt to ensure that women and the less bold are given decent hearings, and there is some effort to ensure the process has integrity. The Aboriginal and other media could also be contracted to broadcast a lot more useful educational content to remote communities on a daily basis, using trained Aboriginal journalists and interpreters.
I don’t disagree that all views should get an airing at OLO - I just get tired of the repetitive negativity, and assertions by certain contributors about everything Aboriginal being terrible, impossible, corrupt, contemptible etc, without any qualification or provision of credible supporting evidence. Even in the most dysfunctional communities there are people trying hard to lead responsible, productive lives, caring for themselves and their families under almost impossible conditions.
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I watched the NRL game last night, a team of 20 indigenous guys played 20 others.

These 20 guys, although beaten, where a credit to their culture and living proof that there are opportunities for them to succeed.

Having said this, it was very obvious they were trying to make a statement, often posing in front of the aboriginal flag when they scored.

Now while this does not offend me at all, just imagine the reaction had the oppisit occurred, whereby if the Aussies had of posed in front of their flag.

Nobody can deny there would have been outrage.

So yes, racisum is a problem, from both sides.

Now just to clarify something I said that has upset another, that being its time for them to choose wether they wish to be Australian or not.

What I mean is for them to adopt the Australian way of life, not for them to dump their heritage.

Dan,
The opportunities have been out there for the past forty years for all those things to happen and to their credit, a lot of people have made the most of what has been offered, but there are still a lot who for one reason or another seem unwilling or unable to grasp the nettle and do something to help themselves.

There is not a lot else that the government or anyone else can do. They need to help themselves. I suspect that one of the difficulties is the white advisers who have taught them how to rort the system. People like Loudmouth and some of those others know what they are talking about from personal experience. There are some communities who are trying to do the right thing, but there are also some who are absolutely hopeless. There is still too much alcohol abuse, not helped by whites who want to exploit the dumb buggars. The children are the ones who are suffering and they are the ones that all efforts should be directed towards, even if it means separating them from their dysfunctional families while they get an education.

David