VK3AUU,

About 30 % actually, even if most graduates are not from remote settlements. But why do you think that Indigenous graduates have got any more obligation to patch up the legacy of generations of racism any more than non-Indigenous graduates, of whom perhaps 1 % ? 0.5 % ? are contributing to cleaning up the mess ? In the forties, there was a move to identify individuals from some missions and send them off for training as teachers and nurses, on the assumption that they and they alone would be required to come back and 'serve their people' for the rest of their careers in some remote settlement (can you see the racism in this ?). The pity about equal rights now though, VK3AUU, is that people can more or less study what they damn-well like, go where they like, work where and for whomever they like.

Anything else you want to attack Indigenous graduates about ?

What is the go here? Does the author need to see his name in print to make him feel good?

It is odd that the once again there is a call for assimilation, but despite the fancy talk, lets be real.

If and when Indigenous Australians do move to larger towns and cities life is no better in many cases as they are kept firmly in the margins of society.

Even with university degrees, the fact is that too often the jobs they will get are identified positions and once the money runs out they are unemployed.

Our universities will employ Indigenous people, and beat their chests about it, but too often these are contracted positions entirely dependent on 'black' funding.

The taxpayer funding that is often referred to is contributed to by Indigenous Australians, in case you have forgotten, we are Australians too.

Returning to the purpose of this article, I suggest that when non-Indigenous Australians learn how to unpick their superiority and xenophobia they might understand that the 'fair go' attitude is not enacted by many of their mob. It is no wonder that some people do not feel part of mainstream society, and do not desire to be part of it.

So Mr Pope, I suggest you go off and do some mature thinking as the typical blurb you write on Indigenous Australians is just immature, ill researched, paternalistic trash.

Loudmouth, if you read my post you will see that I was not attacking anyone, I was merely seeking information. It does seem to me that these people are better qualified than most to have an understanding of what might be required to help their fellows. If they choose to move into other fields, that is certainly up to them and I have no beef with that at all.

The problem in the past, with people like you, is that criticism has been directed at the white population for having the temerity to presume to know what the solutions are. Now that I am suggesting that indigenous people may be better able to provide solutions, you tell me that I am wrong. You can't have it both ways.

Indigenous students are in many ways similar to foreign students who come out here to gain an education and then stay on because they want a better lifestyle that they would have if they returned home. Once again, on this forum at least, I am not going to make a judgement lest my motives be misinterpreted.

David

Hi Dave,

I agree with you that neither Indigenous nor non-Indigenous people people have any monopoly on what the solutions to the dreadful predicament in remote Australia might be. Certainly, I don't think 'communities' have a clue, which is part of the reason why the mess continues. Indigenous effort will have to be an essential component to Indigenous problems, however. No effort from the people themselves: no change for the better.

But Indigenous graduates have little or nothing to do with any of that: they don't have any more obligation to do a damn thing about it than anybody else. Very few Indigenous graduates come from 'communities', most come from the cities where they were born, and they are not often related to the people in remote 'communities'. And in terms of equal rights, they are as free as anybody else to do what they damn-well like. If they seek to offer their services to remote 'communities', as many do, good on them, but it should be completely voluntary, as it is for non-Indigenous graduates.

In 2003, my late wife was desperate to get back to her community, 160 km south of Adelaide, to set up a Study Centre there. No takers, so we worked on the dairy farm, planting trees, milking and looking after the calves for six months. She was devastated to realise that her skills could find no place there, unless she was prepared to re-invent herself as a welfare worker and wipe people's backsides. A few years later, the 'community' there wiped out its own economic base by shifting a million dollars of CDEP debt onto the Farm, whereupon DEEWR promptly took its million dollars back by stripping the place. There is nothing there now except beef cattle. So please, anybody, don't tell me about the potential of 'community'.

Joe

"What is the go here? Does the author need to see his name in print to make him feel good?"
"So Mr Pope, I suggest you go off and do some mature thinking as the typical blurb you write on Indigenous Australians is just immature, ill researched, paternalistic trash"
Are there any moderators on this blog?

blairbar,
in case you were not aware, academics get brownie points for publications. As well it establishes them as some form of expert in the field if they write on a topic.

From an Indigenous academic's point of view (where I work is not up for discussion) this piece is poorly researched, lacks maturity of thought in the current Indigenous academic realm and is paternalistic.

I am confident that what I said in my earlier post is a fair comment, and far nicer than some people who choose to speak out on Indigenous issues based on information gleaned by biased reporting, hearsay and spite.