Maybe the Aboriginal community should go and ask the Greek, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Indian, or a hundred other ethnic communities in this country how they mange to keep their sense of identity and culture whilst still fully partaking in the advantages of life in Australia and not degenerating into the abyss of violence, drug and alcohol abuse, crime and despair.

Mr. Mooney uses the word “assimilation” as a substitute for the more inflammatory word “genocide”. Does he really think that encouraging Aboriginals to fully take part in the opportunities that this country offers is going to cause cultural extinction? What absolute rot! Just ask any member of the above communities if they feel like they’ve lost their cultural identities.

Mr Mooney doesn’t like the idea of Aboriginal people individually owning land. Sounds to me like he would like them to return to the stone age, wandering around spearing kangaroos and digging for yams. It might make Mr. Mooney feel all warm and fuzzy, but I’m not sure if Aboriginal people are quite as delighted with the prospect. It is the paternal and patronizing views of this entire article that keep Aboriginal people from helping themselves.

The Aboriginal culture is definitely something that every Australian should be proud of. It’s one of the oldest on earth and their religious and social customs are amazing and beautiful in their complexity. It would be a disaster if their culture was lost. Mr. Mooney should direct his energies to convincing Aboriginal people to be proud of who they are and of the dignity and beauty of their language and cultures. Aboriginal Australia can no longer continue separate and alone. They need to remember that assimilation does not mean extinction - either for themselves or their culture - and indeed the sooner they participate fully in the life of this country the sooner they will cement their future as a people and culture.

If Mr. Mooney is so enraptured with the idea of Aboriginals living the traditional lifestyle I can recommend some excellent books that are sure to flood him with nostalgia.

"That assimilation will destroy Aboriginal Culture and Identity"

The evidence is there already;
Racial Assimilation commenced when cohabitation began with white men and Aboriginal women.
Loss of language was the first cultural casualty as assimilated people lived as fringe dwellers or in half-way communities that embraced part assimilation.

Aboriginal language and culture exists but is under threat on traditional communities where mixed families are in the minority.
Culture is being lost as the authority of tribal elders is diminished and ceremonies not being conducted. Young men tend to leave traditional communities and gravitate to urban centres to sample the taboos in place on their birthplaces.

The reality is that there are two related but distinctly separate Aboriginal identities. One which has enjoyed entrance to Australian mainstream existence and chooses to identify as Aboriginal whilst being of mixed race.

The other lives on traditional land,is not obviously of mixed race,uses their mother language and observes traditional customs.
They will inevitably change over time as a result of the existence of another world outside their closed communities.
The rate of change must only be at their pace, when they embrace it

"If, in this bordering-on-hegemonic neo-liberal world, "

Anything which starts with a bunch of pseudo-intellectual weasel words like the above really sets itself in a little (but very deep) hole all by itself to be mark "here lies a bunch of twaddle".

Despite the above I rallied on.... what do I find... the age old complaint oif the never-satisfied - "assimilation is worse than segregation".

"Indigenous Cultural life" is an expression which attempts to assess commitments to an ethnically or racially based uniqueness. Its survival is as strong as the commitments, attitudes and values those who share that cultural heritage. It is an individual heritage and can only be sustained by individuals cherishing and pursuing its observances and practices.

You cannot have it both ways -

aboriginals object if non-aboriginals assimilated their cultural practices (they have when it comes to dot-painting with failed demands the technique should be copyrighted to prevent non-aboriginals from practicing it).

Therefore, if aborginals wish to maintain and sustain their cultural identity they have to do it for themselves.

But not as the author seems to want -

" That flourishing must be set in Aboriginal cultural terms"

Sorry - no-can-do - that requires "segregation" and that is just not on - under any circumstances.

The terms of any "flourishing" of any cultural sub-group has to be on the "level playing field" and not on something "skewed" to the particular demands of a "minority" group within the greater Australian society.

So Gavin - quit the apologist stance, for that is all you are promoting, it has never and will never work because it absolves the supposed "victim" group from exercising "cultural uniqueness" for themselves.

A "culture" which is not practiced is dead and thus not "culture" at all - just a bunch of artifacts in a museum.

There are a great many warm fuzzies to be had, thinking about utopian ideals of equality, but it is not a trait particularly easy to identify and isolate.

"If they are treated the same, the argument runs, they will have the same outcomes in terms of health, education, and so on."

No argument I have ever heard runs this way. Equality of opportunity has never, and can never, achieve equality of outcome. Any primary school teacher knows this. It is simply not possible in our world, and from what I have heard, nor will it be in the next.

So you are absolutely correct in deriding this as unable to achieve anything worthwhile, but it did occur to me to wonder halfway through the article, what exactly DO you want for Aboriginals in Australia? Do you see them as Aboriginals or just Australians? If the latter, what precisely is bad about providing them with the same opportunities as other Australians? If you want "Aboriginal people and their identity [to] flourish, economically, socially and culturally" then there has to be some form of separate identity. But that would reek of Apartheid, wouldn't it? And that cannot possibly work, can it?

Trying to reconcile these two incompatible objectives should be the task of our political leadership. Instead of which, they ask us (through focus groups, opinion polls etc.) which way they should lean, in order to get or keep our vote.

I often wonder what Aboriginals think on this topic, but somehow it always seems to be territory occupied by concerned white people.

Aboriginal society needs to evolve and adjust to the reality of the world around them. This does not mean the extinction of their culture and identity, just reinvented accordingly. Aboriginals can incorporate aspects of their traditional culture with the modern world. All it takes is a bit of creativity. They need to be able participate in both cultures.

I don't think any 'white' Australian want to destroy aboriginal culture. We just don't know how to help. We can help, but only according to our values and the way we do things. In the past this has come back to haunt us (stolen generation).

Ultimately, I don't think it is wise for Aboriginal people to expect the white man (or anyone for that matter) to solve their problems. They will literally wait all day. They have to determine their own future.

I think we should all apply to become Aboriginal.Aboriginality has nothing to do with race.It is now a state of mind.It is really and insult to the "true Aborigines" who still live off the land and survive largely on their own.Handouts without some obligation of effort, destroys all people.
You don't have to look beyond your own family,when children are given money with no obligation of effort.