Nice article Stephen. You summed things up very well.

One quibble: I thought you could have adapted Alexander Chalmers' formula for happiness: “The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”

With your emphasis on the family, I would have said: "something to do, people to love, and something to hope for."

I hope that's what 2009 brings you and yours.

Thanks you Mr Hagan for this wonderful piece. Your analysis of the problems of social policy delivery is absolutley spot on. I have learned over time, that teaching Indigenous Issues/Studies is absolutley NOT enough to overcome the institutionalised racism so well described. I have long argued that, in social work education, we need to embed Indigenous perspectives in our teaching so that we can remove this patronising racist approach in our work. After all it has been we who have provided the advice and policy direction. But more than that, we whitefellas need to understand that with respect to understanding Indigenous perspectives, we are but children and have much to learn. I am beginning to understand the essential part that family, land and lore have in my Murri friends' lives and the strong and powerful role that women have, and seek to learn more how properly acknowledge and respect this deep knowledge in my own family and my professional practice. Thanks heaps for the encouragement to continue which your article provides.

Dear Mr. Hagan,
While Mr. Rudd was talking the talk of politicians I was hearing the silence of those that count and it was an unstoppable laugh.

Stephen Hagan sees clearly that government interventions intended to 'address the social dysfunction afflicting these discrete Indigenous communities in remote and rural parts of the Northern Territory' have been a failure at the same time as they line the pockets of comfortable vested interests. But then he calls for more interventions, believing that the fundamental idea is right, it just needs a bit more tweaking by a few more vested interests.

It doesn't seem to occur to him that these interventions don't work in practice because they are wrong in principle. They can't work, not with all the tweaking in the world, because they start from a false premise. According to the welfarist rationale, government knows what's better for people, than people. This assumes that Aborigines are like dependent children, government is like a demi-god.

Stephen do what extent do you think that these dysfunctional communities are themselves an artefact of the welfare state? Subsidised to exist in a state of dependence and uselessness, neither integrated into the economy of mainstream society, nor able to exist on the basis of traditional economy and society. Their dependence, poverty and disadvantage appear as assets in the balance sheet of the parasite classes, a magic pudding of never-ending junkets at others' expense.

History is indeed written by the conquerors, but you forget that government is the social apparatus of compulsion and coercion. Law and policy, and everything that people hope to achieve through them, are based on force and the threat of force. The teaching of compulsory history cannot but be a matter of interpretation. To think that this further act of colonisation of the values and meanings of the people subject to it, either indigenous or not, will fix the problem, is to identify the problem, but persist in the error that is causing the problem while just coincidentally pleading for your own vested interest. Surprise surprise.

Australia's race-based laws and policies are bad in principle and bad in practice and should be abolished.

i dont like the word indiginous[its a buzz word] indiginous means;native sans culture[thus a plant can be said to be indiginous[or legally speaking an ab-origonal[sans culture can 'claim' indigenous standing

[thus be unable to claim an ongoing link to the land [the reason i suspect the word gained popular usage]during the howard black years

it is painfull to hear people with culture claim they are indiginouse[when the dont know what they are saying,in using it'legally speaking]

i thought the best[worst] talking point[that 33 out of every 100 aborigonal woman only will achieve retirment age[and 22 out of every 100 men ] or that one in 5 dies before reaching the age of 5 years old

[or that nt is building ever more prisons[or the three stikes your outin wa [or rather in [jail] for life[or even talk of joseph banks bringing small pox to the origonal people]

in short i would have expected more info [less fluff in making a reflection on the state of the first australians ,under colinisation to hrh under the powers of maritime law

[you do know she is far from a figure head[that the gg is the true head of state to this colony called van-die-mens land[of the peoples land[by the dutch discoverors]

but i guess the media cant talk about the reality of it [right]
even when i put the info in the tent embassy museum three times [two got burned down[one govt removed with a large invasion force on aborigonal embassy grounds]

it is great that rudd appologuised but talk is cheap
[and the true facts barely rate any mention]

lets see how he goes on invasion[australia] day,

wonder if he will attend the tent embassy day of mourning
[no i guess he wont]

“And guess what? The world did not implode, and the polls did not drop dramatically as predicted.”

And, also guess what, nothing has changed. Most people don’t care about aborigines and saying sorry to them; aborigines are still dysfunctional whingers and always will be, and the “stolen generation” is still a load of rot.

Nothing has changed for aborigines since white settlement, and nothing will change in the future unless they get used to the idea that they are just like other Australians and start making their own way in the world. Moaning and groaning; living on handouts in unsustainable outback camps; blaming everyone else for their problems, and listening to plastic politicians saying ‘sorry’ for nothing is no way to make it

Many Aborigines are hate filled, bigoted, xenophobic (towards Asians, Africans and Islanders in particular) and racist.

And most of them hate Kriss Donald, just ask him!

Leigh:

Have you got any evidence to support your claim that: 'Most people don’t care about aborigines and saying sorry to them'? No, I thought not. You pose as the arbitrator of what 'most people' think but, sitting at home in your hate-room, you wouldn't have a clue.

Do you have any facts to support your claim that: 'the “stolen generation” is still a load of rot'? No, you simply parrot Andrew Bolt.

Are there any exceptions to your racist claim that 'aborigines are still dysfunctional whingers and always will be'? I don't expect so: in your jellybrain, all people of a particular race are the same, aren't they?

And do you observe a contradiction in your competing claims that Aboriginals will 'always' be dysfunctional whingers and your prescription about how change will come about for them?

Have you observed that this is the 21st century and racism as blatant as yours is no longer acceptable?

KrissDonaldtheVictimofRacism,

When you whinge (to use Leigh's colourful language) that: 'Many Aborigines are hate filled, bigoted, xenophobic (towards Asians, Africans and Islanders in particular) and racist', do you not see yourself as 'hate filled, bigoted, xenophobic [towards Aboriginals] and racist'?

If you are truly a victim of racism, why on earth would you want to become a perpetrator of racism?

Spikey,

Unfortunately this forum hosts a number of rusted on racists who would choose to suicide before admitting they were in denial about their own racist beliefs. It’s these beliefs that keep hem alive, tells them who they are (or who they think they are not) and they like to prowl around and throw up statements like those above to attract attention to themselves. Yes its very juvenile, annoying and at times astoundingly anti- intellectual. The sad thing is they think its informative, clever and original.

If you can picture Leigh as an impotent lonely old white man too scared to engage with his own neighbourhood let alone communicate with the wonderful diversity of people in the world - you will start to get the picture. They are their own social, cultural, and political prisons.

However, thanks for trying, compassion and a desire to re educate racists by asking them to reflect on their own beliefs /statements is a good starting point.

Cheers

Thanks for your support Rainier. I guess Leigh's gone to bed already.

Wouldn't it be nice if he and his racist friends decided to give it a rest in 2009?

Spikey - Leigh's not a racist, he's an environmentalist. Just ask him.

Actually Rainier, it was a gang of Aboriginal youths that killed Kriss Donald in Glasgow. That's why it's relevant.

Nice article, Stephen. Happy New Year to you, Spikey, Rainier and all the other good guys.

"Actually Rainier, it was a gang of Aboriginal youths that killed Kriss Donald in Glasgow. That's why it's relevant."

I didn't know this at all. I wonder what they were doing in Glasgow? Were they there supporting a native title claim?

And thanks for correcting us all on Liegh, my sources tell me he's in line for this year's Sydney Peace Prize. He's such a wonderful Australian role model for tolerance, anti racism and humanitarianism.
Honestly - how could you not love the guy!!??

The most active, vocal and tolerated racists in Australia today, by far, are those who support Australia's race-based regime of laws and policies.

Diocletian: "The most active, vocal and tolerated racists in Australia today, by far, are those who support Australia's race-based regime of laws and policies."

Could you please put me out of my misery and specify which laws and policies are they?

"We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country" Kevin Rudd Feb 2008.
Stephen you state that "John Howard’s supporters who were fanatically indoctrinated by Andrew Bolt (social commentator) and his xenophobic cohort’s rhetoric that there was “never a stolen generation”."
Well I have tried for the past four years to find any evidence, written or unwritten, to support the Prime Minister's, your's and other indigenous spokespersons' statements that Torres Strait Islander children were part of the "stolen generation". I can find no evidence whatever. Forget about Andrew Bolt and ask yourself why would the PM claim that Torres Strait Islander children were removed from their families, their communities and their country? If indigenous affairs are going to improve then let us start from facts rather than populist mythology.
Let us also ask, given 200 plus years of European and Asian settlement of this continent, just what in the year 2009 represents aboriginal culture?

"Actually Rainier, it was a gang of Aboriginal youths that killed Kriss Donald in Glasgow. That's why it's relevant."
Absolute nonsense.
"Three men have been jailed for life after they were found guilty of the racially-motivated murder of white Glasgow teenager Kriss Donald.
Faisal Mushtaq, 27, Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and his brother Imran Shahid, 29, had denied murdering Kriss, 15, in 2004."
Where do you clowns come from?

Diocletian: "The most active, vocal and tolerated racists in Australia today, by far, are those who support Australia's race-based regime of laws and policies."

"Could you please put me out of my misery and specify which laws and policies are they?
Posted by Spikey, Friday, 2 January 2009 9:50:05 PM"

Guess what, Diocletian has squibbed it!

Where does blairbar come from? S/he can't have tried very hard, because s/he's apparently unaware that more Torres Strait Island people live in mainland Australia (mostly Queensland) than on the Torres Strait islands. They were very much part of the Stolen Generation in Queensland.

As for the Kriss Donald red herring - that was the point of course, although I'm unsurprised that the irony is lost on someone of blairbar's intellect. Duh.

Well CJ Morgan
Thanks for telling me that most Torres Strait Islanders live on mainland Australia. No doubt my wife and mother-in-law who were both born on Saibaii Island are unaware of that as all the Pitts from Darnley living in Mackay.
" They were very much part of the Stolen Generation in Queensland."
Well just give me one little reference. Neither my wife, mother-in-law and their relations know anything about it. And you would think that as the Torres Strait Islanders main annual celebration is "the Coming of the Light" referring to the arrival of Christianity in the Islands, they would remember such unChristian events as the stealing of their children.
And as for your ironic red herring, no doubt you saw the humour in it; but then who laughs at their own jokes?

One little reference, blairbar?

How about the "Bringing Them Home" report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families:

<< The Inquiry was told of the practice in the Torres Strait Islands of sending children born to Islander mothers and non-Islanders to mission dormitories on the Islands (such as at Thursday Island) or to mainland institutions up until the late 1970s. >>

<< Until the 1970s church representatives in the Torres Strait Islands would notify the Department of Native Affairs of pregnancies and parentage and the Department would then arrange for girls to be placed in the Catholic Convent dormitory on Thursday Island while boys were often adopted out to Islander families. >>

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/Social_Justice/bth_report/report/ch5.html

One wonders if blairbar and his wife live in the Torres Strait or on the mainland?

"The federal government must make it conditional that on receiving education grants all public and private educational institutions; primary, secondary and tertiary, are required to deliver a term (minimum of 13 weeks) of compulsory Indigenous studies that cover pre and post contact years of British rule in Australia."

What about a term of compulsory Western civilisation studies? Or how about a term of compulsory British history?

Given that a disproportionately large amount of attention is already devoted to Aboriginal studies in our schools, your claim that Aboriginal history is somehow being ignored or neglected is really quite absurd.

In reality, we have seriously unbalanced situation in this country where the history of a small minority is essentially being elevated above and promoted at the expense of the history of mainstream Australia.

Rainier wrote: "If you can picture Leigh as an impotent lonely old white man too scared to engage with his own neighbourhood let alone communicate with the wonderful diversity of people in the world - you will start to get the picture. They are their own social, cultural, and political prisons."

A question for OLO's resident anti-white racist Rainier:

If diversity is so wonderful, then why didn't the Aboriginals embrace the diversity brought to this continent by the British in 1788? Why weren't the Aboriginals tolerant and inclusive enough to accept the European settlers rather than attack them? Why were the Aboriginals too scared to interract with the wonderful diversity of people in the world?

There is quite clearly a glaring contradiction between your bitterness over the British settlement of Australia and your support for racial and cultural diversity. Put simply, if you genuinely considered racial and cultural diversity within the same territory or country to be a good thing, then you would be welcoming, rather than incessantly deploring, the arrival of Europeans on this continent back in 1788.

Dear CJ Morgan
Of course I am aware of, and have read, the “Bringing Them Home Report”. But those quotes you cite are the only references to “stolen” Torres St Islander children in the whole report! Not even one case study to support or illuminate those statements.
The report states that Islander children were sent to mainland institutions yet the report does not identify one such institution despite naming the many institutions to which aboriginal children were sent.
Besides how can adopting out male children to other Islander families be considered as stealing? Adopting out and in is still a widely practised custom of many Torres Strait Islander parents.
You would think that if Torres Strait Islander children were part of a “stolen generation” than at least one such Islander could be found. I am not aware of any and you haven’t given me any leads.
What is the relevance of where my wife and I reside to the argument about the existence or otherwise of a “stolen generation” of Torres Strait Islander children? Are the members of this stolen generation somehow hiding on the islands in the Torres Strait unknown to anybody?

Hagan has made some good points and I agree with him. To be honest we need some new blood in indigenous politics, I am proud of Mr Rudd on his apology and aspirations for our indigenous people but he needs everyone's support. What government really need to do is work with ALL indigenous people-not just the educated ones, the "bullies" and so called "Leaders" that speak for everyone (some are just there to promote them selves to get the good jobs and do bloody nothing) they need to get out to the community and actually ask them what is a crisis and what is important because each family group/area have specific needs but unfortunately I get the feeling the government has lost faith in them and don’t want to do the grass root work because they cant be bothered, you wonder why so much money has been wasted.

Dear CJ Morgan
I trust you are well as I have been missing your comment(s) on my last posting. Presumably you are not one of those "trolls" who just love to see their name on a blogsite and at the same time get some enjoyment from sprouting abusive nonsense. So any insights, if you have any, about stolen Torres Strait Islander children are most welcome.
Regards
Blair Bartholomew

Efranke,

That obviously took a lot of effort for you to think up and then type one handed. Well done, you must be pleased and relieved with yourself.

All of the questions you asked could easily be anwered if you only had the guts to actually do some historical study yourself.

I'm not about to provide tutes here on line so best you do it yourself.

One parting shot, to actually point out historical inaccuracies and disrememberings appears to upset you more than me. I know who I am, my history, where I'm from and know that this is my country. What’s your problem? You shouldn’t project your own insecurities onto others; it’s so revealing and silly.

I have 5 TSI cousins who were forcibly removed to small towns in Queensland. But according to Blairbar, their lives were a mythology.
You really need to get your head checked maaate!

Dear Rainier
If you had 5 TSI cousins of yours removed as children from Torres Strait then I am sure you would like to assist them in telling their stories. At present there are simply no stories out there about "stolen" children from Torres Strait. Only stories about stolen aboriginal children from the mainland.
So instead of recommending me for a a psychiatric examination do something positive and get those stories down on paper.

Hi blairbar. I'm very well thanks.

You asked for "one little reference", so I gave you one. Apparently that's not good enough for you, but like Rainier I'm not going to give you an online tute. My comment about where you and your wife reside was in response to what seemed to be your disagreement with my assertion about the numbers of TSI people living on the mainland.

Personally, I'd advise you to seek out some authoritative rather than anecdotal sources, particularly if you've only been hearing from those who've been indoctrinated by missionaries.

Well CJ Morgan
"Personally, I'd advise you to seek out some authoritative rather than anecdotal sources, particularly if you've only been hearing from those who've been indoctrinated by missionaries."
I now realize that neither you,Rainier nor the "Bringing Them Home" report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families" can be regarded as authoritative sources. You and Rainier have provided nothing new just a rehash of allegations ( 5 stolen cousins), unsupported assertions and contradictory assertions. None of the points I raised regarding TSI culture have have been answered by you.
I have never met any missionaries but as for indoctrination may I suggest you look at your own influences.
"I was such much older then I'm younger than that now"