What a strange opening. Putting healthy food on the shelves of supermarkets in cities doesn’t make the sophisticated white folks eat it, either.

The entire problems of aboriginal Australians will be solved only when they are brought into the real world, away from remote areas.

We wouldn’t expect Rollo Manning to understand, or want, that though.

He is a ‘consultant in Darwin to Aboriginal communities and organisations in health and social development.”

No dysfunctional communities, no consultancy?

Crikey Leigh, you are a miserable person. I actually read the entire piece and found it fairly compelling. Advocating complete dismantling of existing settlements is about as vacuous an idea as the Ruddster's apology speech. We need to take a loooong view of the problem and its solutions. Giving people the opportunities Rollo talks about might actually empower people to take control of their lives. You seem to be advocating a forced re-settlement (where to? some unnamed urban ghetto, how very aryan of you) while Rollo is suggesting a more enlightened (and realistic) approach.

And from what I see in Rollo's bio he actually gives enough of a damn to be out in the field trying to help people. Since when did it become a crime to help people and get paid for doing so?

Completely agree with bitey.

Interesting article - though all the articles that touch on this are long on the "what's wrong" list and criticisms of everything and short on solutions. Authors knowing fully well the prejudices they are up against with adversarial solution touting.

Though towards the end of the article is what appears to be the author's solution "So long as people from lower socio-economic backgrounds are supported by welfare without any real incentive to exercise their brains or body, poor health and all the associated flow-ons will occur."

Stop the hand outs, I think we mostly agree, but it's not going to happen in my lifetime. There is a huge industry around the handouts, the handwringing conferences, complaints to the UN, endless meetings and consultations. Money without working is a way of life, and he's right they could shower in it so much is thrown at the problem, without result.

I feel very sorry for these people, but what do we do? All the solutions seem too simplistic and trivial fiddling with the edges. No one can made the hard calls and take leadership to get them out of this downwards spiral.

Maybe they need paternalism, call it what you will but clearly this is a people unable to help themselves or be easily helped as is constantly demonstrated.

The alternative to harsh action is for yet another generation to go down the drain. Kindness has not worked, self determination has not worked, consultation does not work, reconciliation is a one way street as they are coached it should be.

There's nothing to do in the camps/homelands/settlements so they are a bored people, hence alcoholism and substance abuse.

Just once I'd love to see an article on a decent solution or even a better range of options than yet more welfare and pretend jobs and less finger wagging at people who have tried and failed.

All the do gooders worry too much about all the tiny little injustices too much to notice a people sadly heading for extinction.

Any true solutions are unpalatable to the Government, the UN and to the Aboriginal industry. We will continue to waste millions if not billions on better housing which will be burnt down or abandoned, quasi jobs which produce nothing and providing education that kids won't show up for and if they do just to run a muck. Many immigrants who have come from poverty stricken nations can't believe how dumb we are in pouring many more millions to feed the same old problems. The sooner the Government listens to the likes of Noel Pearson the sooner we will get at least some progress. Unfortunately to many disconnected academics are blinded by their pseudo historic doctrines which just feeds the problems.

There are genuine concerns including Manning's for the situation of the community based indigenous groups and the 'Closing the Gap' process. What some of the comments either pro of anti is that there is an underlying problem and it does not come down to extinction by natural selection, it has been an attempt at extinction by due process. There is base cultural problem that the urban Aborigines have to face and it lies at the basis of the problem. Runner may have experienced it at some time unless the resides in Double Bay or Toorak. If an indigenous person or family moved in next door to you irrespective of that groups social position, you move out: there goes the neighbourhood! If you and a better credentialled or greater experienced indigenous person applied for the same job, you would always get the job. If you are continually told at primary school that you won't have a future so what's the point in finishing primary let alone secondary. The point is that the position of difference even outside of the communities is based on cultural preference and early societal neglect. the derelict monolith called ATSIC was formed to address this type of problem as urban Aborigines with good education and work histories since 1967 could not borrow personal loans let alone housing loans in the period from all Banks. Yes. ATSIC was flawed, but the main beneficaries from those flaws were mainstream people and commercial interests. Go figure!

Equalising outcomes is not a legitimate function of government, but even if it were, obviously well-intentioned race-based government interventions have a dreadfully long history of failure, even in their own terms.

“If resolving Aboriginal disadvantage was put in the hands of the private sector with incentives for success it may be solved in a far more efficient manner than is possible through a bureaucratic process.”

That is true, but by definition, the government can’t put it in the hands of the private sector and provide the incentives (other than by abolishing all race-based laws and policies) because if it did, that would be the government, not the private sector that’s making the evaluations and taking the action.

The point is, the private sector places little to no value on people living and reproducing in poverty and idleness in remote communities that are nothing but an artefact of the welfare state.

But if Australia’s race-based policies were abolished, the biggest obstacle facing the people from these communities, in trying to make their way, is itself the welfare state. The intensive government regulation of the economy counts most against the most disadvantaged: those with least literacy, skills, or capital.

For example, the government by decreeing a minimum wage that is above the market rate for a particular person’s skills, in effect forces that person into unemployment.

The statutory on-costs for employers, eg, tax, super, workers comp, leave loading, unfair dismissal procedures, long service leave, mandatory insurance, mandatory registration etc. mean that employing people with low literacy and low skills is that much less economically viable. The effect is to discriminate against the employment prospects of low-skilled people.

But if someone who can’t get a job wants to contract independently, he must somehow administer the ABN, the GST, the income tax, the tax deductions, the car log, the super, the worker’s comp, obtain compulsory licensing and insurance… and so on.

All these effectively illegalise the options for the most disadvantaged.

We never seem to learn that the solution is a lot less intervention, not a little bit more.

OK Rollo, but if they never never find any healthy food in the shop, then they are never never going to be able to buy it, even if Saatchi & Saatchi are doing the marketing brilliantly. It's a clear case of sine qua non, man.

The government could be forgiven for thinking that it has some responsibility to see that the basic components of a healthy lifestyle are within reach of remote Aboriginal people.

Besides, who is actually claimimg that "the Government think that putting healthy food on the shelves of remote community stores means that the people will buy and eat it?" From what I can see, only Rollo.

It is patronising and arrogant for Rollo to suppose that "the govenment" is that simplistic in its thinking. After all, the Government is the body which is already organising platoons of health promotion and medical experts to work with remote communities and advise them that everybody should be eating healthy foods.

Maybe Rollo's the one who's "out of touch with reality".

bitey,

I hope that you are not the innocent that you appear to be on this subject in things affecting your own life.

Your right to disagree with me doesn't make me a 'miserable person',either.

If you want to start calling people names right fro your first post, I am not a good one to start on. I'll keep my peace this once.

As someone who has worked with Rollo I know his heart is in the right place and is doing a lot more work than other people.

In terms of platoons of Public Health Nutritionists I believe there is 15 or less servicing communities in the NT. With leave and the large staff turnover it often averages out to less than 1 visit a year.

Leigh, take a bex and have a lie down somewhere, all that pent up rage is going to kill you.

I called you miserable because you obviously didn't take the time to read the article and were just as obviously blinkered in your world view - and it was you who chose the personal attack first (on Rollo), not me. Please spare me the thinly veiled threats.

One of the threads mentioned Noel Pearson and his philosophy of self help and self respect. Would you run Noel and his kin off their land and shift them to some vacant land in Cairns (for processing) to get them to change their ways? Would you dismiss any white person accepting a wage to assist Noel as just another sucker fish feeding off the misery of others?

See, life ain't that black and white is it Leigh.

A small aside in his article but I think the key issue is working with Aboriginal people, not for them , or on their behalf.

Disempowering people will lead (suprisingly!)to continued dependancy.

If we want to move forward then we need Aboriginal engagement and leadership including taking responsibility and participating in solutions.

I think stop messing about and offer every Aboriginal training and / or a job (I will leave others to work out how)or remove their welfare.

bitey,

You don't even have the ability to avoid old and banal cliches!

And I did 'take time to read the article'; so you are not much of a mind reader either. Not only you are smarted-arsed and abusive, you have nothing to base your abuse on.

Since when did Noel Pearson live on native land? He is doing his best to ensure that 'his' young people do leave their lands to seek an education, then make up their minds about what THEY want without the help of sanctimonious no-nothings like you, waffling on about crap that that I never mentioned.

Many subjects, including this one, have been discussed many times before you came on the scene sonny Jim, and you have nothing new to offer except your ignorance.

While I am a proponent of a social welfare system as a safety net, too much social welfare where the recipients become so dependent on outside help they cannot be self-reliant is not a good thing.

While that is stating the obvious, for some reason the obvious still continues to be ignored. Too much money spent on promoting the image of doing something than actually doing it.

Providing healthy food options are meaningless if those options are not taken up. Education about healthy food including cooking would be more relevant if delivered by Aboriginal people within their own communities rather than by outsiders no matter how well intentioned.

The only way Aboriginal people can improve their lot is to first determine what 'their lot' is? What one culture might seek in terms of quality of life another culture will deem undesirable. Are we putting white man's vision on a very different culture?

Aboriginal people have to be involved in their own destiny in partnership with outside help by all means but until there is some level of self-determination and self respect, nothing much will change. The proof is in the evidence before us - no matter how much government money spent to date what has been achieved?

Sure there have been some improvements for those individuals who have taken advantage of the grants and educational opportunities to forge a different and better life for themselves.

Maybe the reality is that the change will be slow and only achieved through a trickle down effect over time.

Leigh, I can think of several possible retorts to your splenetic rantings but all that would do is perpetuate this silly to and fro.

Suffice it to say Rollo has no doubt moved on to do more good in the community leaving side line shouters like you and me to ponder the fine print.

And on behalf of "sanctimonious no-nothings" [sic] everywhere I say keep up the good work exposing us in all our forms.

blah, blah, blah....

The only real answer to aboriginal disadvantage is quite simply assimilation. When they accept that the only way to obtain the benefits they complain about not having is to embrace the culture that produces those benefits their situation will rapidly improve. In other words "the ball's in their court". Isolating ones self in remote communities in the middle of nowhere clinging to a stone age culture is a guaranteed dead end. My distant ancestors had a stone age culture 40,000 years ago but I'm not trying live by it today.