Joe

You just described the “blacks” (progressive term), that their progressive Aboriginals cousins refer to deridedly; and you describe as the escapees of cultural negativity.

It's the progressives who have my sympathy. The negative cultural influence is all too pervasive.

From Rudd to Dodson "Closing The Gap" has certainly become a partisan Labor Party weapon to embarrass the Turnbull Government.

Kevin "Moon Face" Rudd is its self-appointed Saint. Rudd is ignorant how prestentious his Preaching Speeches sound. http://junkee.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/good-one.jpg

Meanwhile Labor Senator Pat Dodson, with his funny hat and flowing grey beard, has set himself up as the Gap God http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/sites/sbs.com.au.nitv/files/styles/full/public/e6ab0fba-7b8a-4250-901d-97ab3afc587b_1518052939.jpeg?itok=pDCmM_sj

Labor Party jokes both.

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Dear Anthony (the author),

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The general gist of your article makes good sense if, as you claim, our “dominant Westernised culture” is superior to Australian Aboriginal culture. It is certainly more highly developed, more refined and sophisticated, but is that sufficient for it to be considered superior ? Time will tell. I think it’s a bit too early to judge.

The early beginnings of our “dominant Westernised culture” can be traced back to the Neolithic Revolution about 12,500 years ago. According to the historians, the Neolithic Revolution "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture".

Whereas, genome sequencing carried out in 2011 revealed that “Aboriginal Australians are descendants of an early human dispersal into eastern Asia, possibly 62,000 to 75,000 years ago” (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/09/21/science.1211177).

There is no doubt that Westernised culture is dominant in Australia today, but in terms of longevity, Australian Aboriginal culture is more than five times superior to Westernised culture.

Life on earth is a self-sustaining process that began about 3.5 billion years ago and, with a bit of luck, it will continue for at least another 3.5 billion years. But, we have no way of knowing if our present “dominant Westernised culture” will prove to be any superior to Australian Aboriginal culture in the long run.
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You conclude :

« Finally, we must focus on the real issues: employment, education, housing, and the problems associated with remote living »

That's OK if the objective is to assimilate the “dominant Westernised culture”. But I think you’re jumping the gun on that one, Anthony. That may not be in the Aboriginal peoples’ best interests, nor in Australia’s best interests in the long term.

I think we should have a double objective : assimilating the “dominant Westernised culture” and doing whatever we can to help maintain traditional Aboriginal culture in the best possible conditions, given the current state of the ecosystem.

As you say, we must focus on the real issues.

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Hi Banjo,

Latest news ! Indigenous people are not like sheep, they will 'assimilate' or join with the rest of Australia, or whatever term you want to use. They will not have it done to them, or for them. Please refrain from using the passive voice when writing of Indigenous people's initiatives and decision-making.

Joe

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Dear Loudmouth,

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You wrote :

« Latest news ! Indigenous people are not like sheep, they will 'assimilate' or join with the rest of Australia, or whatever term you want to use. They will not have it done to them, or for them. Please refrain from using the passive voice when writing of Indigenous people's initiatives and decision-making »

That’s right, Loudmouth. I’m sure you know more about it than I do, but I too have serious doubts about the objectives pursued by the federal government in spending $33.4 billion directly or indirectly on Aboriginal affaires for the period 2015-2016, and continuing to do so, as it has for several years now.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I have the impression that the powers that be in the federal government are in a similar frame of mind as that of Anthony Dillon, the author of this article. The very term of the government programme, “Closing the Gap”, says it all. They are both absolutely persuaded that there is nothing better for our Aboriginal compatriots than to totally assimilate what Anthony refers to in his article as the “dominant Westernised culture” – and that is what they are determined to impose on our Aboriginal compatriots – as if they were “like sheep”.

Of course, they are not “like sheep” and “they will not have it done to them, or for them”. It is up to them, and them alone, to decide which culture they wish to assimilate. British colonisation brutally deprived them of their life source, their land, and we severely aggravated matters by transforming the ecosystem with our “dominant Westernised culture”. So it is that by virtue of the high moral values we profess (that distinguishes our superior civilisation from the savages), we are now faced with the immense task of reinstating whatever can be reinstated and offering them a more or less viable alternative: our “dominant Westernised culture”.

Personally, as I wrote in my previous post, I am not persuaded that our “dominant Westernised culture” will prove superior to traditional Aboriginal culture in the long term.

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This relates to what I said in a different thread.
No one has any control over what will happen.
It just depends on who mates with whom. It started 230 years ago and
you can not change it or divert it.
It is bigger than all of us.