Moore is correct when he says "It is self evident that permits haven’t protected people from poverty, abuse and nepotism. " However, this is not the whole story. As David Ross pointed out, the scale of exploitative hawking etc would be greater & more difficult to ameliorate without some form of permit system.

One only has to look at the detrimental effects of the peddlers of all manner of fat, salt, sugar laden fast foods sold from the many vans that cruise the town camps night and day to see the potential victors in this little skirmish. Or consider the many ruthless used car dealers who lurk in the background like vultures, waiting for the first whiff of royalty monies, baby bonuses and other cash flows.

Outback towns are full of unscrupulous people desperate to make a dollar out of uneducated blackfellas. David Moore, being from regional Qld, should know this very well.

To eradicate the permit system without first ensuring that there is adequate policing, a functioning system of competent community & adult education, and civic institutions to strengthen communities against the predators, is unconscionable.

“… Most Aboriginal communities across Australia do not have permits.”

We haven’t heard this before. If true, and an ex-aide to the former Minister for Aboriginal Affairs should know, the determination for those communities with them to hang onto permits becomes even more suspicious.

We need more straight talk like this too:

“People either want the full rights and responsibilities of private ownership including the responsibility to fund their own houses, roads and private infrastructure, or they accept that townships are more like public space anywhere and warrant public investment. You can’t have it both ways. With public funding comes a reasonable expectation of public access just like other communities. With access comes scrutiny and economic engagement.”

An excellent article supporting the belief that permits are a licence to cover up real problems caused by the inhabitants of remote settlements.

Indigenous communities are replete with stories of contractors and other workers AND TRADITIONAL OWNERS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THESE COMMUNITIES being threatened with permit removal if they don’t “co-operate” and “do the right thing”...

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The permit system might be effective if Aboriginal people in the remote communities concerned were consulted and made the decisions. Too often, however, it is distant officers who receive the applications and then make decisions on who can enter and under what conditions. One of the consequences of the permit system that I have witnessed over many years is that it allows corruption and deceipt to flourish among 'expatriate' bosses in the community. For it is they who are the 'gatekeepers' of informaiton and whose censorship, either direct or indirect, decides what is told (such as to journalists) and how it is told to the world outside. Permits not only keep people out - they also keep people in. That is, ordinary Aboriginal people are excluded from information and options that could influence the way they make decisions about their lives.

The permit system is a typical autocratic censorship action, they exist to allow corruption, deceipt, mismanagement, to flourish, and ensure only "correct thinking" is held by all.

Such gulag apparatchiks also objected to individuals having private communications with outsiders whether by mailbag, radio, TV, phone or internet, let alone actual physical contact !


The 'gatekeepers' of information struggle to censor directly and/or indirectly what is told, to a larger extent what is learnt, and of course they always "doing it to help you".

Land Councils are busy asking Canberra keep permit system so they can keep blocking people from having visitors, land councils so upset "unacceptable" news has been published, worried even more what people may be learning from it being published.



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Dan is right - "Outback towns are full of unscrupulous people desperate to make a dollar out of uneducated blackfellas", but he misses the point, all those hangers on are there now. so much for permits as a proxy for police, now we need to add consumer protection and education to the list of benefits of permits?

Dan - don't you know that aboriginal people are highly mobile. If they want to buy something they will go to the nearest place they can. Its also important to understand that only about 50,000 Aboriginal people are even remotely touched by the permit system, so ti doesn't provide the protection that Dan attributes to it.

I do agree re the Police point, which is why having more Police not a worthless piece of paper is essential. Last I heard the nay sayers were calling that an "invasion" and "police state".

Permits have failed, they don't stop the drug runners, the booze traffickers or the carpet baggers. They do provide a tool of intimidation for the powerful people. Lets get rid of them - but at the very least lets not restore them where they were due to be abolished