“Her position on quarantining of welfare payments promises to create ongoing debate.”

What “ongoing” debate? The Howard Government was reviled for introducing this initiative, but there has not been so much as a squeak from the revilers since the Labor Minister has carried on with it.

As for a Joe Ross calling for the Minister to meet aboriginal ‘leaders’ and find out what they want…well these so-called leaders have not done much of job looking after their communities and protecting their children with their ‘leadership’

To read some of the ongoing debate go to 'Rations on the Cards' at http://www.newmatilda.com/2008/02/29/rations-cards#comment-916
There have also been problems in Katherine about its implementation: 'Macklin defends welfare arrangements'
http://www.newmatilda.com/2008/02/29/rations-cards#comment-916

Kevin Rennie

Kevin Rennie says "There seems to be a clear plan to involve communities in housing design, construction and related training. A breath of fresh air from the negativity of all levels of government about why local Indigenous people, who need real work and training, can’t get it in their own community."

Unfortunately it's not quite so simple.

ATSIC had an excellent program thoughout most of the Howard years for enabling apprenticeships to occur within the program for provision of community housing in the NT and some other regions.

The reality is that this program failed on the whole because of two factors: the state of the apprentices, who largely succumbed to the lure of the dominant stoned welfare-poverty addicted lifetsyle; and the scarcity of competent trades-trainers who were willing to endure the conditions, relatively low pay and the unrewarding task of continually having to haul stoned or under-motivated apprentices to work, or to cope with their absences and failure to make excuses.

Even the best & brightest of the trainers found it all pretty difficult.

Maybe now with firm application of the NT Intervention-style reforms to reduce the quantities of substances sloshing through the veins of the target group, and less parties to keep them up til dawn, a new scheme might have a better chance.

Another problem is the very high price of constructing a dwelling (usually at least $300,000) in the remote areas is considerably increased by including training in the process, with some houses costing more than $600,000 in very remote places when apprenticeships are factored in.

This might be tolerable for policy makers if the demand for housing weren't so urgent & the houses required weren't so great in number. We are talking many billions of dollars here.

Jenny hasn't got an easy job sorting that one out.

Kevin can lecture us about "The disconnect between job vacancies, young Indigenous people seeking employment and a host of government agencies empowered to organise training, [being] a continuing disgrace" until the cows come home, but - although he is largely right - this won't make Macklin's conundrum easier, or mean that she will probably do much more than scratch the surface of this problem, given the necessary constraints on government spending that currently confront us all.

It's not young people seeking or gaining work that is the major problem: the problem is keeping them there and getting them to develop the self-discipline needed, & endure the occasional tedium and the other minor and major irritants to be expected in almost any apprenticeship or new job.

As for Rennie's observation that "[Tom Calma] ... suggest[ed] that Aboriginal entities should also be able to control the head leases, not just the Federal government", we need to remember that one of the main causal factors behind the NT Inervention was the paralysis of problem solving, and limited productivity & accountability, endemic in much of the network of Aboriginal organisations.

The NGOs' (and the local governing organisations') repeated failures over many years to figure out how to govern Indigenous housing associations effectively, how to distribute mining royalties equitably or responsibly, and how to develop and apply notions of the "common good" in social structures which are based on the autonomy of the individual, the primacy of the family and loyalty to the tribe and its hierarchies have helped produce a social and economic disaster.

The sad fact is that giving many remote Aboriginal entities such powers in the present circumstances of low educational and managerial attainments is often a formula for further institutionalising discrimination, unfairness and dysfunction in many communities .

Ms Macklin’s housing plan, announced today, will deliver more flexibility in the current 99-year lease scheme over communal indigenous land, offering 20- or 40-year leases. New leases in land rights overhaul (The Australian, February 27, 2008).

Reducing length of leases is questionable improvement, more an admission the absence of leases in communities IS a problem in achieving development similar to other communities where leases upon land is available.

For until we start receiving leases for our ALR(NT) "Traditional Homelands" homes most discussion on this topic will remain just a sick joke.

Land Trusts, councils and fellow travellers campaign against giving us all leases for our homes, leases such as normal public and private housing tenants obtain, for one simple reason, such leases give us rights as well as responsibilities.

Many A* communities around Australian need their land trusts forced to issue such leases... for reasons other than leases are wrong because tenants may be able to sell them....

Is demands of control over everything and everyone that stifles development, improvement in the communities.

Only through setting fair, reasonable and equitable terms and conditions for issuing of leases, then allowing and encouraging people to take such leases as they each try to improve things their own way is where progress will be found.

Current problems we experience as people trying to move between Port Hedland, Punmu, Kintore and Alice Springs will diminish when the roads become public roads open without restriction to all travellers, or the rail line is constructed.

Then we can travel or freight regularly with ease, even poorer community members ;-)

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Dan Fitzpatrick:
As for Rennie's observation that "[Tom Calma] ... suggest[ed] that Aboriginal entities should also be able to control the head leases, not just the Federal government", we need to remember that one of the main causal factors behind the NT Inervention was the paralysis of problem solving, and limited productivity & accountability, endemic in much of the network of Aboriginal organisations.

Is NOT clear enough how so many of these communities are where the land upon which these communities are constructed IS owned by Aboriginal Corporations.

These corporations are failing, perhaps criminally, to provide level of service expected as normal from other private landowners.

Real advance will come when members these Aboriginal Corporations and/or their intended beneficiaries see themselves as shareholders with ongoing self interest such as dividends from their corporations running better, more profitably.

Those who complain to be an Aboriginal means you are not interested in capitalism or profits, clearly do not know where money for communities comes from, or fail to see relationship between profit and tax and welfare....

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