Frank

I never attempted to blame the aboriginal people for their plight and current circumstances today. I laid the blame firstly at the feet of previous ALP policy which encouraged welfare dependency as opposed to property ownership and personal responsibility. Secondly I blamed the now defunct ATSIC for squandering tens of billions of dollars which, if used legitimately, had the obvious ability to make a difference.

A new report has found that ‘the majority’ of aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory are plagued by the rampant sexual abuse of aboriginal children. The report has directly linked this abuse to alchol. When governments have tried to implement alcohol free ‘dry areas’, the biggest opposition has come from aboriginal leaders, many of whom had sole interests in the hotel and liquor industry in aboriginal communities.

It seems to me that many of you, including you Frank, feel that saying sorry will be the warm and fuzzy tonic to everyone’s problems. In my view, handing out billions of dollars of guilt money has done nothing to fix any of the problems. The pragmatists in society, and I am one of them, would love to see the money pumped into schools, hospitals and rent as you buy housing in aboriginal communties rather than the share price of Lion Nathan and Bundaberg Rum.

wre,

Today you claim: “I never attempted to blame the aboriginal people for their plight and current circumstances today.”

How are we to interpret your (Tuesday) words: “…this country has given the indigenous population the best opportunity to rebound and it has failed [sic] to do it. In my view, ATSIC’s failures is far more responsible for the problems within aboriginal communities today than John Howard’s refusal to say ‘sorry’ is.”?

And how do we interpret your words today: “When governments have tried to implement alcohol free ‘dry areas’, the biggest opposition has come from aboriginal leaders, many of whom had sole interests in the hotel and liquor industry in aboriginal communities”? (In passing, I notice you make no reference Aboriginal-initiated dry areas. Just as you make no reference to current reports about alcohol abuse rampant among young whites.)

On Wednesday your position was: “…the indigenous communities in Australia have been plagued by poor leadership, a corrupt ATSIC which squandered billions and shocking government policy during the Hawke/Keating years...”

Today - revising history within three days must be some kind of record - you claim: “I laid the blame firstly [sic] at the feet of previous ALP policy which encouraged welfare dependency as opposed to property ownership and personal responsibility. Secondly [sic] I blamed the now defunct ATSIC for squandering tens of billions of dollars which, if used legitimately, had the obvious ability to make a difference.” Read your Wednesday post again.

On Wednesday I said: “Everyone acknowledges that an apology and $ compensation will be just a start towards reconciliation - other measures are in train too - but at least the Canadians have made that start.” Today you say: “It seems to me that many of you, including you Frank, feel that saying sorry will be the warm and fuzzy tonic to everyone’s problems.”

You deliberately distort my position – you won't let inconvenient truth won’t get in the way of your prejudice.

You twist more than a pit of snakes. And you’re just as difficult to mix with.

Well interpreted Frank, especially like the snake analogy.

wre, as always, your ignorance gets in the way of any worthwhile comment.

Frank/ Rainier
It’s been a pleasure as always- the ‘snake in the pit analogy’ gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling, especially as it comes from you two- I readily concede it’s just the beginning in our path of reconciliation!
Looking back over my posts, I’m finding it very difficult to understand why you’ve labelled me a revisionist Frank. To clarify, I’ve never levelled blame at individuals within the aboriginal race. Only at their ineffectual leaders and at previous ALP policy which quite blatantly has done absolutely nothing for anyone.
In summary, I refuse to acknowledge that ‘sorry’ is the key to moving forward. Actions and real solutions have to speak much louder than words. In my view, I would much rather see $10 billion allocated to health and education in aboriginal communities than divided into $28k Christmas bonuses to individuals and pissed up against a wall.

Hard-hearted non-Indigenous Australians defend our current PM's refusal to say "sorry" to Indigenous Australians on the basis that it all happened a long time ago, and that contemporary members of the dominant culture are therefore not responsible for the appalling injustices that led directly to the current disadvantage suffered by our Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

This may be so, but this rationalisation conveniently overlooks the fact that non-Indigenous Australians have all benefited enormously from prior acts by their forebears, that resulted in the expropriation of Aboriginal lands and the near-decimation of Indigenous cultures and societies. For example, the oft-cited 'great Australian dream' of home ownership is a direct product of the theft of Aboriginal land and the removal of Aboriginal people from it. Every suburban home is built on what was Aboriginal land, whose owners were either exterminated or removed from it.

Further, every factory, office, shop or farm is located on Aboriginal land that was in most cases simply taken from its owners. What is most sadly ironic is the fact that Indigenous people have been systematically excluded from the 'great Australian dream', and also from benefits such as employment in the businesses and industries that are now located on former Aboriginal lands.

Contemporary non-Indigenous Australians may not have directly engaged in the shameful acts upon which our nation was built, but we have all benefited from them. That is why our current PM's small-minded and mean-spirited intransigence on the "sorry" issue is so disgusting, and also why those who vote for him or support his stance should feel ashamed of themselves.

What ignorant comments from Raynard 'Comparisons between the holocaust and the so-called stolen generation are quite unjustified. Such silly comparisons as this don't encourage me to feel sorry. I am not responsible for the actions of my ancestors, and I am not sorry for them.' Attitudes like this are what allows the past to be repeated. If we do not examine our past and correct errors how do we evolve as human beings. The 'actions of my ancestors' are not the only actions in question in this country it is current Government policy and actions of ordinary Australians now, that are responsible for the take over of sovereign land in 2007. The forceable removal of children of light skin was a deliberate act in an effort to slowly get rid of a race of people. (Read the White Australia policy). Whether people are killed quickly in gas chambers or slowly by hidden posions it is the intentions of the elite powers that are comparable and that was the attemped extermiantion of a race of people. I'm sure if it was your Mother that was taken from her family and sexually abused by her guardians you may feel very differently. I am shocked that you are not sorry the stolen genreation may be in the past but the effects are very much felt by people today.