$3,000,000,000.00

More of the same that brought us multiculturalism, white guilt and other moonbat policy.

I think this 3 billion dollars paid to Aboriginals will be an absolute bonanza for the bush.

Just think, holden and toyota dealerships will be selling thousands of utes.

Pubs and bottlo's will employ more staff selling grog and smokes.

TAB will have to put in more terminals.

They will then be able to build thier own houses so we will save a fortune on fixing them.

The government will get it all back anyway, so go on I say give em $5B

RUDD, say sorry but just make sure you tell em I'm not sorry because I didnt do anything to them, if thats what your white guilt tells you then go ahead.

Saying sorry may be important for Indigenous Australians - it is more important for mainstream Australians - it is we, the mainstream, that need to remove the regrets of the past.

Boazy: " ...lets put 3 billion into Indigenous HEALTH... "

Despite the blather that preceded it, I actually agree with this part of Boazy's rant. Throwing cash at individuals who suffered under the appalling policy of removal of "half-caste" children from Aboriginal communities seems unlikely to bring about any lasting improvement in their lives, while a complete overhaul of Indigenous health services might.

Of course, the 'stolen wages' issue to which Boazy refers in passing is quite different. It is entirely appropriate for Aboriginal workers who had their wages ripped off by governments to have them repaid, with interest.

I also think that the formal apology being formulated now by the Rudd government should extend beyond the recommendation of the 'Bringing Them Home' report, and should constitute a general apology to Australia's Indigenous people for the various acts of dispossession, genocide and bureaucratic bastardry that were the basis of the contemporary Australian society from which all non-Indigenous Australians benefit directly.

Marion Scrymgour, Charles Perkins Oration 2007
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/stories/2007/2068672.htm

"The first [orphanage] was established near the Police Station in Alice Springs, and it attracted critical comment from journalists and other concerned citizens. With a view to trying to reduce the Commonwealth's administrative burden, then Prime Minister Stanley Bruce wrote in 1927 to his South Australian counterpart to see whether South Australia would take the lighter skinned mixed race children slated for removal-'quadroons' and 'octroons' as the language had it then. He said:

"They could hardly be distinguished from ordinary white children ...If these babies were removed, at their present early age, from their present environment to homes in South Australia, they would not know in later life that they had Aboriginal blood and would probably be absorbed into the white population and become useful citizens".

"The accommodation provided for them exhausts my power to paint adequately. A rough floor of burnt lime and sand to make a form of cement has been laid down. A very rough framework of wood was put up, and some dilapidated sheets of corrugated iron roughly thrown over it. There are no doors or windows. A more draughty, ugly, dilapidated place one could hardly imagine. I think the children would be less liable to colds in the open than in the disgraceful accommodation provided for them. And that is not the worst. Boys and girls of all ages from one year old to sixteen are herded in this so-called room whose dimensions are about 24 feet by 50 feet. At present there are 48 children in the institution. The girls and boys are mixed indiscriminately. The children are issued with two blankets and lie on the floor. One small stove has to cook bread for over fifty people. They apparently have never had fruit or vegetables. The ration scale has been deplorable ...the scale is meagre in the extreme. The only lighting is two hurricane lamps. The children have no games or amusements of any description. Cooking utensils are practically nil. There are six bowls and twenty towels to serve everybody".

Billie,
It would be educational for some of the redneck contributors to utilise your link to Marion Scrymjour's lecture.
I knew her father during his adult life as a worker in Darwin and it is to his credit that being one of the stolen generation, he managed to overcome his traumatic childhood and raise a daughter of Marion's intellect who is now a senior minister in the Northern Territory Government.
It is also worth noting that although many white Australians welcomed the Howard / Brough intervention in the Northern Territory in the mistaken belief that such intervention was in the best interests of Aboriginal Communities, The real reasons for the intervention were a part of Howard's election strategy.

Hopefully, Jenny Macklin will consult with Marion scrymjour and in consultation with Aboriginal Communities, retain those aspects of the intervention which are beneficial and reject that which dis-empowers the people.

Conscience money handouts should not be on the agenda but as CJ Morgan pointed out, Wages witheld by governments plus interest is another matter which must be remitted in full.

Kipp “Talking of Money Col Rouge takes the biscuit. An economic refugee from the UK!”

Hardly, when in came to Australia, I did so after considering several other potential destinations, (Canada, USA, SA, NZ etc) (I have since also held a US green card). I am settled on Aus but I still had to prove my “worthiness” to the community by having both credentials and attitude which would ensure I was valuable to the Australian community.

And when I arrived in Australia with my wife and daughter, "residence visa" in passport, I recall the words of the migration officer, something which has stuck with me ever since “Ah some of the chosen people”.

So I guess, Kipp, you were born here, your Australian citizenship is simply “an accident of birth”, neither tested nor selected.

Before you go around suggesting I am some “economic refugee” I would check out whether you would actually be able to jump the hurdles which I had to do to get here or would you be one of the many failures whose dreams and aspirations litter the offices of Aussie Consulates around the globe.

Likely you cannot, so you can just live with the knowledge that you are not worthy to walk in the shadow of anyone who migrated at the time I did (1983) and who had to pass the tests which I had to pass.

As for “We are now once again Australians, and not being treated as subjects of manipulation.”

In your case, only by default. As for “manipulation”, I doubt you have the wit to know when and if you are being manipulated, unless you are doing it to yourself (check the hairs on the palms of your hands).