TAC: White Australians like me (and many poster's on this site) consistently fail to appreciate the depth of the problems that have been inflicted on Aboriginal Australia.

I fail to see how White Australians forces the Indigenous population to live in squalor. This is a problem of their own making. hey don't have to. They can stop throwing litter (beer cans & empty goonie casks) around for a start.

TAC: Plenty of Indigenous Australians in the Outback are living in less than 3rd World conditions.

And they would have been living in 1st. class conditions if Europeans had never arrived. Well, buggar me, eh.

TAC: Most Australians would be shocked to see what daily life is like

Yep we are, but I don't believe it's all White Mans fault.

TAC: Outback for people whose forebears watched the arrival of the first boat people in the late 18th century.

Great eyesight from the Alice.

TAC: Why do we have such an over supply of analysis but at the same time, a terrible lack of practical solutions?

Agreed, I have suggested some solutions on OLO in the past but you won't get one from the Academics or the Indigenous Agencies because they would lose their Cash Cow.

TAC: Pilger is right to raise the issues,

Pilger? Pilger, Who? He one of the Academics acerbating the problem. Notice how he hasn't even had the decency to join the conversation on his Post. In fact I doubt very much if he has even looked at any of the conversations at all. Just another nobody pushing for his "Great Australian" Award mid year.

T.A.C.

Problems remain. But it hasn't been for want of trying to find solutions. Solutions have been tried ... however ...

Personally, I think workable solutions can only be found by those who work closely with our indigenous peoples

What solutions do you propose?

Some years ago I attended a conference, which indigenous women attended.

Having coffee with them, I asked what they saw was the problem. The unanimous reply was that their men had been emasculated. I believe this is the fundamental issue.

Addressing the "problems" of our indigenous needs to go right back to the drawing board. For a start, perhaps they should be permitted their own laws ... I do not know.

But certainly the academics seem to have no idea ...

Danielle: For a start, perhaps they should be permitted their own laws.

I have advocated that for years. Only in the Bush & maybe in some Settlements though. The Townies & City indigenous are stuck with our Laws because they have accepted a European Lifestyle & all that encompasses. They can't claim both. Although some of them could do with a good spearing, it never hurt anybody. :)

Danielle: I think workable solutions can only be found by those who work closely with our indigenous peoples.

Now that's a bit of a curly one. If the Indigenous Agancies solve the problem then they'll lose out on their over paid jobs & numerous Grants, car, free housing, etc. Would you solve the problem.

By the way that was told to me by an Indigenous CEO.

Jayb,

You obviously have a good knowledge and perception of what is occurring within the indigenous communities.

I visited an previously active aboriginal community (of course ... the last remaining people had been transferred elsewhere). On the walls was a list of rules they traditionally adhered to. I was impressed. Some foods were forbidden to younger people; these foods being permitted only to the very old, young children and pregnant women. All the rules were ideal for a hunter-gatherer society.

As a white person, I am ambivalent about spearing, but this was the only method that could be employed in a society without gaols, etc.

Perhaps, however, it would be better than gaoling. The only time I have ever talked with an indigenous person from the far outback was when we were both waiting a library to open. It was mid-winter. He had been sleeping rough needed the warmth inside. He had come to the city for medical treatment and had been staying with family, but from what he explained, I gleaned that sleeping in a room was frightening, indeed impossible. He would rather sleep in the bitter cold out in the open. I can't even begin to imagine what being in gaol is like for them.

Like you, I believe that they should be given their lives back which entails having their own laws. The latter may well mean changes, but it should be up to them, and I think whites need to stay right out of it.

The PC crowd are silent about so many horrors evident overseas - calling it being culturally sensitive. But when there is a need to let our own indigenous people reclaim their culture in a significant way, the same people are the first to hedge them

I work as a teacher with indigenous kids in the city. They almost invariably have issues, especially "chips on the shoulder" type problems. Multi-generational problems are hard to undo when they have settled in over such a long period of time. The indigenous problem is only aggravated by mean-spirited people who are more a part of the problem than offering any rational solutions. I am dismayed that some people reading OLO appear unaware that assimilation, taking children from their families, the White Australia Policy and the introduction of previously unknown diseases etc did not have a lasting effect on indigenous Australians which we still see to this day. Mate, after so much damage over such a long time, who wouldn't have a chip on their shoulder?
Just try and have a beer in a far Northern Territory bar sometime if you don't think there are white vs black Australian issues in Australia to this today. We really need to bring a better standard of discussion to the table - one that is based on what is actually happening on the ground.
No wonder the indigenous question lacks real leadership in positive ways forward.