KPD, the reason is probably because aboriginal leaders need their communities to be in a poor a state as possible in order to gain the most amount of money from government.

If aboriginal leaders had put half as much energy into truly trying to help their people as they do trying to shame white Australia and further their own finances and careers then we wouldn't be having these debates now.

bozzie, I have not detccted that community people (in this community, at least) choose to stay in the current condition to gain more money. I will, however, be on the lookout for signs of this. A major problem is that the wrong concepts are continually being discussed. For example, the term "community leader" keeps coming up. In our community, there is no prominent leader because most of the people come from other tribal areas. There are only two Traditional Owners living in our community. The non-traditional residents therefore have no authority to make lasting decisions. We are embarking on negotiations with Traditional Owners, through the Central Land Council, to resolve this issue.

SOLUTION ?
I think all of you are touching on aspects of the solution.
There will never be one if we keep on viewing them thru 'white' eyes.
What is without question needed, is a serious cultural anthropological assessment which gets to the heart of the issue. It will not be the same answer in each location or for each sub group of people. But one common thread would be present in all aboriginal groups a sense of 'cultural despair and dispossession'. "You dont count" kind of thing. How does one solve that ? I suggest as a beginning for those of us in Melbourne, a contact with real aboriginal elders, to find out what is important culturally to them. If it is acknowledgement of sacred sites, some symbolic gestures. lets do what we can to accomodate. I would not have a problem with erecting a symbolic sign on my place, and offering the casual use of a particular bit of my land specially and only for indigenous descendants of those who originally inhabited my area. As I mentioned on another topic, when I goto Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and every street has a chinese or Arab/Muslim name and every single person looks different in color and shape and ur feeling kinda 'out' of it, and SUDDENLY u see a street named "John Wesley street" my goodness, as a Christian who originally was involved in the Methodists (founded by Wesley) u really wake up and feel more important. It doesn't take a lot of money.. that never solved anything. The aboriginal crisis is cultural and spiritual. Fix that first, (without neglecting general welfare along the way) and the rest will come a lot easier.