Runner's commments are fair enough, but let's consider why the situation is as it is.
Examinator and his allies comments are dead right and it's back to what happened that makes the current generation of Aborigines as dysfunctional as they are.
As for Hurley, by the logic of white Australians, he is worst of all. From the benefit of a more fortunate upbringing than his victims, the bloke apparently has had a reputation for relying on certain types of solutions to situations. A kicked dog will bite back out of fear, but what's the excuse for Hurley and that jury and Hurleys supporters in general.
Only one thing worse than black trash and that's white trash; is an axiom out of the deep south of the US, and the point of this article is that this applies equally in Australia's "deep north" and other pockets of its type elsewhere in our country.

Having lived in every State and Territory of this country I now reside in QLD, for the weather. I have been shocked by how parochial and racist this State is. I heard about it and read about it but assumed it was just like everywhere else. It isn't.

I lived in the Alice and Darwin and those towns are nowhere near as racist as this State. Outside Brisbane it's basically open slather. No hiding it at all.

In regard to Hurley and the riot there is no doubt of Mr Wooton's role in that. The video evidence is clear. He did incite etc and will be given a long sentence.

On the other hand he didn't do anything I wouldn't have done in similar circumstances but that does not negate the law does it?

We don't have video evidence of Hurley but we did have a witness and he was still found innocent.

No, justice has two white eyes here. Everything is black and white and it will take decades to wait out the old views of so many QLDers, who are delighted to cheer for their NRL team and SOO team which is largely aboriginal. No qualms about being two faced at all.

It's OK to be black if you are a big wheel footy player. Just don't bother otherwise.

So what's rotten here? The government of course. Has been as far back as you'd like to go, nothing has changed here regardless of time or Party. Bligh is in the big chair now but she's about to be put into a long boat and replaced. But by a Nationals/Lib govt. No change coming.

My sister in Queensland calls aboriginals a number of names that I find distasteful. She lives in an area with a high aboriginal population hence a high crime rate. She witnessed a flogging come murder in front of her house. The main problem however is that I hear aboriginals calling themselves the same names.

Last night I shared a meal with an aboriginal man who is not long out of prison. He is homeless because every time he has been given one it gets trashed by relatives or in a matter of months it is time to move on.

The title 'Queensland has a long history of killing;' is really a racial slur. We could easily come up with some more accurate slurs against the aboriginal communities. The author does more harm than good with his distorted view of history. The reasons why more aboriginals are in prison is simple. They commit far more crime. The reason they suicide at much higher rates is family dysfunction, continually changing wives, child sexual abuse, alcohol, sniffing and drugs. Until these fundamental issues are looked at millions more will be poured down the plug hole.

What's that old saying about justice not only being done, but also being seen to be done? Having lived in Townsville for a couple of decades and visited friends on Palm Island, I think that both John Tomlinson's and Chris Graham's articles only scratch the surface of the racist cesspit that survives in Queensland.

While there are many good and fair-minded people - including police - who live in Queensland, you'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to acknowledge that a large proprtion of the non-Indigenous population still cling to the racist ideologies upon which the state was built. That goes for SE Queensland, as well as the 'deep north'.

Full marks, however, to the Member for Townsville and Speaker of Parliament, Mike Reynolds. As ever, he is that rare politician - a man of principle.

CJ Morgan (and DavoP, Melba and others)

"While there are many good and fair-minded people - including police - who live in Queensland, you'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to acknowledge that a large proprtion of the non-Indigenous population still cling to the racist ideologies upon which the state was built. That goes for SE Queensland, as well as the 'deep north'."

I think you would also have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to acknowledge that racist ideology and other despicable social attitudes are alive and well in other states, too .. and that some strange national pastime exists in which Queensland as a state has to be unilaterally condemned whenever something bad happens here, rather than analysing the issue on its own terms.

When the Cronulla riots occurred, there was no kneejerk rush to claim the incident as something rotten in the state of NSW - as a rottenness specific to the state itself. Ditto, the Woomera riots as something rotten in South Australia or the 'Little Children are Sacred' report as something rotten in the Northern Territory or the Melbourne gangland wars as something rotten in Victoria.

Taking responsibility for a negative social issue is one thing. Blaming it on some occult character trait permeating through a state's ether and evolving out of its dim, dark history is something else entirely. This kind of stereotypical blame game achieves nothing more than a sense of self-righteousness in those who use it - and fulfills much the same in-group/outgroup function as other prejudices like sexism and racism.

Having lived in Townsville for 25 years and travelled widely across the country in that time, I don’t think that racist attitudes are worse here than anywhere else in Queensland or any worse in Qld than anywhere else in the country.

Despicable social attitudes are alive and well everywhere.