Dear Richie 10, the point I made, without any view expressed either way, was that a process was needed to permit aboriginal Australians have their own voice. Your response and that of Meg1, was “we have tried this, we have tried that and we have tried the other” Why is it we, we, we, we, when it’s about them? Give aboriginal Australians a representative body, a voice of their own and a mechanism for changing what “they” want to change.

What gives non-aboriginals the right to “tell” them what they want? It is a BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious) that whatever “we” have imposed in the past has failed abysmally to meet the expectations of aboriginal Australians. So why do “we” keep antagonizing and offending their communities with our patronising, pontificating and insufferably arrogant “solutions”?

You know Richie 10, the mark of a true racist is any comment related to “I quite like black people really” and you really did “hammer” that one. Strange really because you seem to be deeply religious with ethnic origins on one hand, yet you exhibit deeply entrenched emotional “Dis-ease” and schizophrenia on the other.

What exactly was it in my post that incensed you so much, it’s just a process drawn from standard “Change Management” principles? Was it the fact that it would give aboriginal Australians a formal voice of their own, rather than your voice and those other sickly bleating voices that have all the answers but have never asked the questions?

You’re a smart cookie, so could you please answer this two part question for me? If “reconciliation” is the answer what was the question? And what do aboriginal Australians (not we) mean by reconciliation?

Go for Gold.

Dear spin doctor,
Why change when you are satisfied, after all whitey supplies every thing that is needed to keep out the rain and hunger at bay. The point is UNLESS an indivigual wants change there will be no change. Idle hands make much mischief regardles of race colour or cread. The way you train up a child is the way he will go. I have not said anything is perfect and doesn't need everybodys best effort, But the world has thrown out the baby with the bathwater in the quest for freedom without boundries and it is always Someone elses fault in the blame game and "IT IS NOT WORKING"so I go back to my first point if you always do what you have always done you are foolish or maieve if you expect a diferent outcome

Nelium, you judge all with a distinctly poisoned view of life and others. I've lived in the thick of the black-white divide all of my life. I have welcomed people into my life and my home irrespective of their colour or creed. Nevertheless, I do not accept that I have to change the things that I hold dear, lower my standards or house rules or live with constant feuding and violence and substance abuse over my fence...and the consequences that follow.
You epitomise all that I have discussed in my posts and your attitude towards “whites” in general is as racist as anyone who says generalised comments about ALL “blacks” as if one size fits all.
Do you feel that blacks holding down a job are too “white” also? Do you attack blacks who want to be educated and achieve alongside fellow blacks and whites and make a contribution to the society that feeds and sustains them?
If so, you are the problem, not the solution. You are the racist, not those you seem to loathe – for the colour of their skin.
“'Don't tust whitey' is a law” proves just how baseless your arguments really are...your reference to Britain as the invading force leads me to ask if you would have preferred another nation to settle here...I can't think of any who would have left the indigenous people of Australia better off than the Brits did...look at other “settling” inhabitants around the world and give credit where it's due. I, along with other “whiteys” have paid the “rent” all our lives and we'd like to see you progress to a rational, dignified life without that log on your shoulder. Grannies words might be an example to you and provide a cause for most aboriginal health problems...she didn't mince her words but she sure lived them.
Oh, and I have no ties to the UK at all...another racist assumption...and I don't hate those who are Brits or any other nationality.
(tbc...)

(Cont...)
“spindoc” you could make your posts a little relevant and factual, I did not say “we” should do or tell “them” anything...read and comprehend...I said that “The solution is in each person”...not that “we” should tell them or do it for them...you also seem to lack any knowledge of the numerous indigenous councils, co-ops and boards as well as Kindy groups and government policy and advisory boards, the list is endless on opportunities (funded by taxpayers) that are available to and run by aboriginal people. “Give aboriginal Australians a representative body, a voice of their own and a mechanism for changing what “they” want to change.” They've had that opportunity for two generations at least...and too many are going backwards into a very undignified oblivion.
Richie 10 is right, change starts from the inside out...we are all responsible for our own futures and the answer is not to blame or wait for someone else to change things for any of us...
Perhaps he also touched on one of the main problems...idleness and the mischief and violence that result.
Good luck Richie and I wish your son every success and happiness...he's the real future and the real hope for change and reconciliation because he's made his contribution to it already, as you have in raising him!

Something must be working because, especially in the cities, the vast majority of indigenous people now marry non-Indigenous people, work-mates and people they happen to spcialise with (and have done since the sixties): when you are 1 % of a population, it's logical that your potential partner might be from the other 99 %.

And there are now nearly 24,000 (twenty four thousand) Indigenous university graduates, with nearly fifteen hundred in 2007, a record year for enrolments and graduations. That's four a day. And 26 Ph. Ds in 2007 - that's one every fortnight. This year, close to ten thousand Indigenous people are enrolled at universities. By 2020, there will be fifty thousand Indigenous university graduates. Pretty much all of them will have gone through uni with non-Indigenous people, Asian students, African students, even Anglo students. Some might even marry fellow students.

By 2020, perhaps four percent of all Australians will have some Indigenous ancestry. By 2050, it will be closer to ten percent, thanks to intermarriage. Those Indigenous kids will have quite a sprinkling of non-Indigenous parents and grandparents. You might be one of them, so get the welcome mat out.

What a JOKE this all is. And people wonder why we have not moved forward, its so obvious people's attitudes have been passed on from generation to generation, if only they wanted to be educated on indigenous Australian issues then they would have a better understanding on the conflicts they face. If some of you don’t give a "hoot" about indigenous Australians then why bother writing a post