How can aboriginal communties get any better while they are paid to sit down and drink or sniff petrol? I accept that Aboriginal people suffer from racism and its affects, but how does living in a community which survives only on gov't handouts contribute to the solution. Aboriginal people need work in order to regain their self respect and this can only happen in places where there is real employment, not Gov't funded make-work. Many Remote communities are simply not viable places to live economically speaking. I understand Aboriginal people in these communities have a special relationship with their land, but clinging to it at the expense of everything else including any decent prospects for their children's future doesn't make sense.

Rainier,
Firstly I assert my right to have an opinion and share it with others whenever I want. Do aboriginal people only have a right to comment on aboriginal issues? Of course not.
Secondly, considering the size of the investment in indigenous affairs when held up against the results, its not surprising many taxpayers want to have their say.

Thirdly the plight of Aboriginal people in the 21st century is in many ways the direct result of the so called experts in indigenous affairs. No wonder the laymen are making suggestions, the experts could not have made things worse if they tried.

In order to break the cycle of poverty, aboriginal children need to be healthy, sheltered and educated and cared for. How can these children who are being abused in such large numbers achieve these things? Also, what is the point in going to school and getting an education when there are no jobs waiting when they graduate? To cling to remote communities where there is never going to be a viable economy is to condemn the inhabitants to a life of poverty and despair. Government funded make-work is never an alternative to a real job.

The attempt to combine the welfare state with tribal life has failed everyone. Its time for a new approach