You leave me breathless, Ludwig, with your inability to recognise the critical role of housing in the economy. What would you have blackfellas do, then, grow veggies? Tell that to the Cape York blackfellas who had an excellent joint venture farming deal squashed by Beattie's duplicity on Veg Management.

And why should Palm Island be closed down. Are you suggesting now that tropical islands with loads and loads of waterfront land and hillsides with ocean views have no value? Stick to your departmental job, fella.

RECOMMENDATION 24 of the PALM ISLAND SELECT COMMITTEE states that

The Palm Island Council should not be responsible for housing (both capital delivery and housing management) on Palm Island.

The Minister for Housing should pursue with the Council an alternative housing delivery model as a matter of priority. This model should:

• address both aspects of housing delivery, that is, capital delivery and housing management;
• be independent from the Council;
• incorporate mechanisms for Council and community consultation regarding factors such as housing
location, design and planning;
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
• ensure proper planning so that housing being constructed matches the demographics of the Island and examine other ways to address the housing shortage;
• deliver transparent decision-making regarding housing allocation which is based on a fair process
and which is subject to independent scrutiny; and
• aim to maximise community employment in housing construction, upgrades and maintenance, and build the capacity of the community by providing associated training and skills development.

* This recommendation sets out some goods approaches to solving housing problems on Palm Island. However, without an infrustructure plan nothing will happen. What is desparately needed on Palm Island is the capacity of Palm Islanders to develop and have access to expertise in town planning and design. To continually import this knowledge from outside the community will limit housing knowledge and expertise developing from the ground up.

Policy and implimentation need to be community driven - not devolved by policy people whose primary objectives are loyalty to government policy and procedure. A Palm Island housing and land cooperative is one approach. The administration of Aboriginal affairs and the associated politics continues to be constructed within a restictive critique (from Left and Right) of their respective managerial paradigms. Its time they all got over themselves and started addressing the real picture with real solutions.

Good post, Rainier. It is their call.

“Indigenous Communities must be afforded the opportunity to be the
architects of their own solutions … so they can be active participants in initiatives that affect their lives, and
not silent recipients.”
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Women’s Task
Force on Violence Report, Boni Robertson, 2000.

Perseus, I have repeatedly stated that you make polarised (actually extremely polarised) statements, and you repeatedly prove my point. Did I give any indication that housing is not a very important part of the problem? No. Reread my post. Take my statements (and those of others) at face value and stop inserting your own meaning and then projecting it to the absolute extreme. You just don’t seem to be able to grasp what people are saying, within the intended context. This pervades just about everything you write and every view you hold.

You write: “And why should Palm Island be closed down. Are you suggesting now that tropical islands with loads and loads of waterfront land and hillsides with ocean views have no value?” Notice how far the second sentence is projected from the first? Most people would be battling to see any connection at all, but for you it is just automatic.

To answer your second question; no Perseus I am not suggesting any such thing. What on earth would lead to think I was?

To answer your first question; the rationale was given in my last post. I maintain that it may well be better for the people of Palm to be relocated in Townsville. Afterall, a lot of them spend a lot of time there and many virtually live there anyway. It is interesting that no one other than yourself has responded to this point because let’s face it, I stuck my neck out with that one, fully expecting a strong reaction.

Anyway Perseus, there is clearly no point in debating (headbanging) with you. So Ludwig hereby cuts all direct correspondence with you on any thread on this forum.

Thank you and ditto, Ludwig, I was starting to wonder if you had taken up online stalking.