Here's another link that may break through
the stereotyping of our Indigenous people:

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/aboriginal-identity-who-is-aboriginal#toc0

The SBS and also the ABC should be defunded.

Foxy said -"It's not easy trying to control your own fate when other people make the decisions for you and force you to abide by what they see as "the rules" and your place in society."

Answer- I agree- and think the UN, the socialists, the free traders, the globalists shouldn't force Australians into a world dictatorship. Government should be "bottom up" not "top down".
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Much money has been spent on indigenous Australians- most of the blame for the destruction of the assets has been placed on the British Australian Government- even though the destruction appears to have been carried out by the indigenous people (they have exercised their control to cause their fate). I haven't seen much to indicate that we should continue to throw more money at the problem of indigenous poverty. There are also indigenous reserves- they have their own land- that's more than many British Australian's have. At some stage we need to leave them to their fate- they have the right to their own self determination as a culture just as we do as British Australian's. I suggest we reduce funding for indigenous programs to "maintenance levels".

CM,

Just to clarify your assertions:

"There are also indigenous reserves- they have their own land- that's more than many British Australians have. At some stage we need to leave them to their fate- they have the right to their own self determination as a culture just as we do as British Australians. "

Most land in Australia would be held by 'British Australians'. British common law now, after Mabo, recognises the rights of Indigenous people to the land they possessed (or used) as at 26.1.1788.

But there is some turmoil in 'communities', with people moving from small 'communities' to larger ones, and from there to the towns, and from there to the cities. Why ? Because the policy of 'self-determination' is falling apart, with very little economic activity in 'communities', and little likelihood, after nearly fifty years, of any ever getting off the ground: given that Aboriginal people weren't farmers, any projects which presume that they can easily become farmers is doomed to utter failure, so land-oriented projects are out: ask anybody who has tried, over the past fifty years, to set up vegetable gardens.

So the situation in 'communities' has reached a crisis point. I see Aboriginal people from way up north in the streets of Adelaide - and not just from the SA North-West, but from the NT. In a sense, they are refugees from the Coombsian policies of 'self-determination', with very few skills to operate in small towns, let alone in the booming, buzzing cities. I suspect that, in the next ten years, larger 'communities' in the north will be abandoned (or severely de-populated), just as out-stations there have been. Even here in southern SA, this is happening now.

But those poor buggers are totally unprepared for city life, often illiterate and innumerate, with very poor English, and no employable skills. Policy has dealt them a dreadful hand over forty or fifty years, and the leaders of the Indigenous Industry don't have a clue what to do about it.

Joe

Loudmouth- I used to have sympathy with the indigenous situation. I have had some contact with Aboriginals in various places so I believe I know more than most. Though perhaps not as much as yourself. I can't claim to be an expert on the issue. But I've formed from experience an opinion that would need extra-ordinary evidence to shift.

I have some experience in the army and feel that given land it's possible for people to form a community with limited resources- if there is a will. In basic training they teach you to live under a sheet of plastic and hunt your own food. I understand that perhaps there have been some disruptive influences, there is the complication of the mixing up of tribes, there is the substance abuse issue. Any community has a version of Maslow's Hierarchy. Communities need to encourage virtue- a community starts with one family, becomes an extended family, a town. Yes aboriginals are not farmers but not all food plants need regular management. There appears to be significant corruption within Aboriginal communities at all levels. Even Aboriginals don't want to participate in disfunctional Aboriginal communities. Aboriginals that manage to function in British Australian society are often dragged down by the rest of the community- they are often obliged to pass on their profits to other members of the community. I've seen other poor British Australian communities function in similar ways. Most functional people in these communities eventually learn that the only way to survive and prosper is to leave.

Since the 1500's all landed people have become destabilized as a matter of policy of Liberalism- justified by appeals to efficient use of land to create capital. I'm not sure that this is what is happening with indigenous peoples on reservations.

Generally I work on the principle that every sufficiently large piece of land should be able to support those living on it if they manage it correctly. Though I believe you have more knowledge about farming than myself.

The Aboriginal situation reminds me of the situation that led to the Opium Wars.

CM, one thing has flashed past these postings time after time.
By way of sarcasm, I have previously suggested that if the abo's are in fact bush people and are one with the bush, then why did white man get involved in trying to improve their lot, and leave well enough alone when we only receive negative attitudes of hate and derision.
Right on cue one poster presents us with links to stories which at best are an attempt at 'trying' to debunk historical and recorded facts and truths about the benefits and money, goods and services that have been, and are still being thrown, at the abo's.
I have lived through it, with actual visible and tactile contact, and not some fanciful, dreamers bloody mindset.
I aggressively reject any attempt by any air-headed dreamer to play down the benefits the abo's have enjoyed, and still do.
As for the presumptuous idiots who condemn those responsible for the pathetic mantra 'the stolen generation'.
They totally ignore the fact that these same children now are better off and better people for having been removed from the sh!tholes they were in and still exist today.
No I tell you what, I've changed my mind, let's enforce the belief that the abo's don't get anything from the govt, and let them fend for themselves like all the rest of Australians, because by their own admission, they are no more entitled than the rest of us, and if they choose to, go back to live in the bush exactly as they once did so we can never be accused of causing them suffering and pain for trying to improve their lot in life.
It might be a start, at least for the thousands of kids who are 'drunk' sniffing petrol fumes and God knows what else.
Furthermore, one should never listen to someone who believes they have ALL the answers by pontificating and preaching their superiority over others who disagree with them by posturing links and contrived views or beliefs, over actual experience, exposure and contact with a topic.

Well irregardless of who you are or what you say about boys, Aborigines or White Australia - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year