I appreciate a post from a person who has a grasp of what the Homelands are all about and the social, cultural and health benefits that acrue in preference to the biased and bigoted ,ill-informed rubbish that issues relating to indigenous people attract

"the social, cultural and health benefits that acrue(sic)". Perhaps a little financial contribution from the beneficiaries may help.

That's wonderful, but I don't understand why the government needs to interfere at all. It sounds like nirvana, all self sustaining and no need for city stuff at all, "bush is best" and hip hip hooray for that!

Clearly no need for government funding from racist taxpayers who dare to expect something for their hard given money is there maracas1?

Oh I see, "The NT Government says it will continue to fund outstations within a certain radius of the hubs, but only if the homeland residents agree to stay on them 80 per cent of year. Many would like to, but won't if the services and roads are unreliable, especially during the wet season."

"it's a catch 22", it certainly is for the taxpayer. So why don't you fix the roads and improve the services? Why is it the taxpayers problem that you want two places to live and want them to fund it? Most taxpayers don't have two places to live but are expected to fund yours?

So it's like having a retreat place that someone else pays for but you want to tell them how you'd like it kept up.

Now I understand the term "dreamtime"

Jimmy Pascoe as a traditional owner and Chairman of Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation based at Maningrida in West Arnhem Land writes:

..."The Aboriginal Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) ensures that anything that is built on lands trust land, including in the homelands, becomes owned by the traditional owners. As we put it, "what’s built on the ground, stays on the ground". This gives the government an understandable financial incentive to avoid spending money on homelands and to instead spend in the bigger centres where it can own what it builds."

Most world knows communism dead, it destroyed individuals drive to work hard, improve things for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Marion Scrymgour’s resignation from NT ALP Government likely more result those like you placing so much pressure upon her.

Demands upon individuals to ignore their belief in what is right, or wrong, best for their community, either ignore these or be excluded by countrymen so busy defending what honestly often indefensible.

Such practice long involved groups - mostly men, meeting secretly deciding who to blame when things went wrong, not to determine why things went wrong, rather to determine upon whom guilt could be placed, punishment carried out, with least resistance.

Grandfathers sitting around fires reminding how once so "brave" confusing their violence for bravery.

Fellow travelers blocking leases for homes, businesses, to deny others achievement from their own success, all so demands they share fruits their efforts still made without defense available.

Such behavior is corruption, such practice why progress - elsewhere so common, fails to thrive in many communities.

Contributing greatly to living standards you enjoy mostly from government and wider world.

Why so little improvement in education standards our children, why so little improvement in communities, why high violent crime rates, etc..

World does NOT demand you live in big towns.

World demands you ensure education and free choices available to your children, your community, and you.

Also you accept responsibility for your decisions and consequences.

Is this to much ?

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... "The NT Government says it will continue to fund outstations within a certain radius of the hubs, but only if the homeland residents agree to stay on them 80 per cent of year. Many would like to, but won't if the services and roads are unreliable, especially during the wet season."

"Homelands" are the really just rural properties, with a marketing label attached to justify additional funding.

Most funding things are determined on usage, specific needs criteria, and or just as political gifts.

For some places a good airstrip is more useful than a road - specially in the muddy season, then need get good, regular air services...

Buses and aircraft really need be business like, with public passenger ability - yes tourists and without permits so no problems, in order to achieve and develop long term viability - not government funded but commercially viable - pay your way. .

Waiting to hear which communities/&outstations to be funded, what for, and what criteria used in decision making process; Both for which ended up either on or off these lists, and for how the allocations decided.


The roads are mostly private roads, not public roads, so as private roads they are the responsibility of the landowners or - landowning corporations. To obtain public funding for roads they need be made public so the public can use them, then usage becomes a criteria for when they are worked on. Ask those in rural shire councils around the rest of Australia.

Seems some of the new Shire Councils finding it a bit harder than expected.

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I stand by my initial posting. It was brief, to the point and certainly did attract the racists and bigots like flies to a carcass.All that's missing is the burning crosses,the white robes and pointed hoods with eye slits to hide your identities

I understand maracas1, I really do. Anyone who does not agree with you is a bigoted racist yada yada.

You have no solutions, you think welfare is your right and you wonder at the reaction to the rest of Australia, why?

Do you want to live with the rest of Australia who try to get along, no, you want to be special and aloof and anyone who questions it, as above back in the loop is a bigoted racist - you don't even know what my race is, yet you assume I'm .. what, different?

We're not racist or bigoted, that's your assumption, we're just sick of whining bludgers, that's all, don't make it any more complicated than it is.

One point Jimmy: You are incorrect when you say "The NT Government says it will continue to fund outstations ... only if the homeland residents agree to stay on them 80 per cent of year."

Give credit where it's due.

The NT Govt actually says 8 months, not 80% of the year. That is, people only have to be present for 66.7% of the year to qualify for the funding. This is significant, because it allows people to spend the wet season in the main settlement without jeopardising the status of their outstation funding.

This renders less forceful the statement that "Many would like to, but won't if the services and roads are unreliable, especially during the wet season".

The roads quickly dry out after the wet, in March/April, and they can return to their outstation, & still be able to travel back and forwards to the store, clinic, school etc in the main settlement up until late December.

Isn't it about time that outstation dwellers as a whole started acting like responsible adult citizens and engaging sensibly with the economic, health and educational realities inherent in their situations (rather than just advocating for greater subsidies for their understandably naive idealistic & romantic aspirations) and addressing their own problems?

My late wife Maria was Indigenous, Ngarrindjeri from the lower Murray and Lakes, a real battler for indigenous education, (we made the first Aboriginal Flags in the early seventies) and since the Intervention, we had had a sort of game going on: we imagined that we were running a course for Indigenous community workers and one of the projects was to find the most INappropriate, crazy, expensive solution to simple problems - for example,

* Indigenous people in remote communities like those in Arnhem Land pay huge amounts if and when they buy fruit and vegetables - what to do ?

- subsidise transport costs from major centres;
- helicopter fruit and vegetables in;
- since people can't buy good cheaply, send in cheap fast-foods, crap like Coke and KFC;
- since this will create massive health problems, one way to solve the problem is to build full-time clinics, perhaps small hospital wards, and get ready to install dyalisis machines (Alice Springs has more than Sydney, I believe);
- subsidise all funeral costs, and increase foster care allowances.
- But whatever you do, don't mention the gorilla in the room: grow your own.

There are costs for anybody, Black or White, for choosing to live miles from anywhere - ask any prospector or station-worker - and one would have thought that it would be logical that there should be a distance-self-sufficiency trade-off. Am I right in assuming that Indigenous people in Arnhem Land get royalties from mining on their land ? Don't they get standard welfare payments as well ? Aren't they blissfully hunting and gathering as well in tourist paradises ? And if they grew their own fruit and veg where there was enough water, what's the problem ? Why the health problems ? Why the addiction problems ? Why the abuse and violence against women and children ?

What is wrong with this picture ?

Joe Lan

rpg, clearly you have no knowledge of Aboriginal labor history is this country. Nor it seems, are you interested in acquiring some informed knowledge. What else do you expect others to say when you display such pig headed ignorance via the stereotypes you stoically rely upon to justify everything you believe in about Aboriginal people, history and contemporary conditions?

It’s this "flat earth" mindset that overwhelms people like maracas and others. You just don’t get it and there is no way (it seems), that you will admit that you really are out of your depth in this discussion.

Like many others you don’t really know Aboriginal people at all, you just know the social myths that have passed down through your own families. Its time to pull your head out from your backside and get informed. Read some Aboriginal Labor history here: http://www.antar.org.au/issues_and_campaigns/stolenwages

Then come back and make some informed comment. Go on, do yourself a favor

Rainer, what utter rubbish, the article has nothing to do with wages being withheld, is that some pet topic of yours? Strawman argument, typical of these threads, got nothing else have you?

There's lots of Australians who have bugger all and this greedy lot want more and more and have no feeling or consideration for the rest of the community.

It's people like you with this "flat earth" mindset who want some Australians to be kept in a virtual zoo with some dead language forever going on about past injustices. Get them out of this stupid cycle of violence and grog, did you read the article? They are heading for extinction if they don't assimilate and join the rest of the world. That's a tragedy, it irritates most of Australia no end that people like you want to hold them back for the sake of a vendetta.

So you have a favorite topic of lost wages, lots of people have loss and hardship and unfair treatment in their lives, the rest of the world just gets up and has another go, but what do you do, you want to make it into a lifelong whine. Mate, get over it and move on or you'll end up bitter and twisted .. oh.

Go on, do yourself a favor, and stop looking up your backside for perspective. What a pontificating pompous twit, how on earth do you get through doorways?

It's time for you to see the big picture as the majority of Australians see it, face up to how it really is and lose the black armband.

Three responses to your sad and pathetic response.

1. The research I tried to persuade you to read referred to the history of 'stolen wages' not "lost wages" which you attempt to misconstrue in your pathetic response. Clearly you felt this literature was irrelevant and beneath you. How sad for you.
2. That you to believe you speak accurately for the political consciousness of the majority of Australians must make you delusional or a bloody sociological miracle. Alas, many would agree with me that it’s the former.
3. I apologize for asking you to remove your head from your backside. It’s obvious you were born this way and it would be cruel of me to suggest you attempt the impossible. (and i thought that hole was your mouth BUT it has a dual purpose)

All the best

rainer, on a whim I indulged your desire for an insult based exchange yesterday after you attacked me without reason and on a different subject to the article at hand.

Since you still clearly will not address the article on "The homelands etc", I'll withdraw as there is no point.

If you want comments or a discussion on wages, lost, forgotten or undecided, why not write an article and take your chances on OLO?

I would suggest you go to one of the tabloid newspaper blogs or some other like site to find partners for mutual insulting and aggressive adversarial exchanges, good luck.

There were protests around Australia yesterday on the two year anniversary of the Howard / Brough intervention. I attended the one in Darwin where a busload of Aboriginal Representatives from all over the Northern Territory came to express their anger and frustrations over the disruptions to their lives and the false accusations of child abuse as well as the added insults associated with the N.T. Government's proposals regarding withdrawal of funding from their Homelands / Outstations.
One angry lady from Alice Springs wept with her pent up anger and remarked " How would you white people like this to happen to you "
as she spoke of the insults and indignities that have been heaped on them
What a pity some of the klansmen who have posted such vitriolic drivel were not present to utter their excrement in the face of such angry emotion....They might have been lynched.

maracas1 = racist bigot, threatens violence.

All the posts on this forum are terribly sad .......but not as sad as the program on ABC Friday night ; that showed the world that Australia has reached the pinnacle of racism , we are the Ultimate !
All the publicized US examples and Hitlers efforts pale out compared to Australia's disgusting expertise . I find it absolutely mind boggling that this happened in our country .

How come the Minister and the Employees of the Company can be that blasé about this situation ?

I have been somewhat blinkered in my thinking concerning racism in the North thinking they must be (the aboriginals) raciest themselves how wrong I was !

It seems to me that no sensible arrangements could be possible where this intrinsic racism prevails ; the owner of the Company would only talk in "Law Speak" and refuse to be interviewed ; the employees were simply gobsmaked that anyone would protest! The Minister went on the defensive then realizing the interviewer was not going to be fobbed off shed a tear for herself , what a Grub , yet the Raciest people of the location (Darwin I suppose) vote for her ! Proving endemic Racism in that locality .

We all should encourage the Aboriginals and insist Aboriginal people should be Major shareholders in all mining in the Australian North allow our guilt to finance their return to providence .

ShazBaz001,:

All the publicized US examples and Hitlers efforts pale out compared to Australia's disgusting expertise . I find it absolutely mind boggling that this happened in our country .

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Many who so protest previously sang praises for Pol Pot in Cambodia, until the Vietnamese moved in...

Sadly atrocities happen everywhere, even in "traditional A"* society.

Recommend you take opportunity to learn.

Shouting out how "Hitlers efforts pale out compared to Australia's disgusting expertise" certainly shows your mind is boggled, corrupted, by some inner disorder seriously effecting rational thinking... or excessive ignorant greed.

Find offensive your widespread comparison of events in Australian with the Nazi behavior.

Whilst not closely related, knew some survivors of the Nazi camps, so did learn a little,

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