Rex You sound like a man with a mission.
The only way to experience indig; colture is to see it first hand.
Don't believe what u read in books, that is only someones opinion.
Take a drive and study the indig; that live in squalor around Alice Springs. The town attracts them to stay there. Ready made food supply from supermarket dump bins. They only practise the parts of their colture that suites them. When was sniffing petrol or paint fumes a part of their colture. They need separating from the town for their longevity.
The indig that have integrated are an example to the community, only to be bought down by the wasted space of their cousins.

If John Tomlinson wishes to help disadvantaged aborigines, in my opinion, his article has entirely failed, starting with his attempted humor in describing the Northern Territory Intervention as In(ter)vasion. His criticism of the intervention and the ideas of Noel Pearson are entirely counter-productive, as is his reference to the "stolen generation".

On a recent tour of remote areas of Northern Australia, I visited the beautiful area of Middle Lagoon where I met the delightful aboriginal developer of the camping area and his equally delightful niece. His part-aboriginal mother was still living at the age of 104 and it was her opinion that being removed from the family as part of the so-called "stolen generation" provided her and her subsequent family opportunities which they would never have had otherwise.

Both of these individuals had received an excellent education and strongly expressed the opinion that the outcomes of the people removed from their families were far better than the outcomes of those who were not removed. They supported the remarkable old lady in her belief that she had been done a great favor by being removed.

Noel Pearson's idea of encouraging aboriginal children in remote areas being sent away to boarding school will undoubtedly break the cycle of lack of parental direction, little or no education, unemployment and a future devoid of any realistic opportunities for achievement. If he were not himself an aboriginal, we would be hearing cries of yet another "stolen generation" exposing total ignorance of the underlying problem.

Dick Crane

There's something that I find strange: Apparently providing medical facilities and practitioners to more remote Indigenous communities was too hard or too expensive- but NOT if it involved establishing a police and military lockdown on that community.

If you ask me, our present relationship with Aborigines is nothing short of shameful and grossly neglected. The money supposedly going to aid ending up in the bureaucrats' pockets instead went largely unnoticed. And it's amazing how many Australians are apathetic or outright hostile to any suggestion to ease up on Aboriginal issues or rights- it's like some kind of black-armband defensive mechanism kicks in and tries to oppose anything helpful to the Indigenous community that doesn't involve police scrutiny.

It showed when the issue of climbing Uluru came up- apparently it was SUCH A BIG DEAL to climb the rock.

The very LEAST we could do treat Aborigines a LITTLE more equally (grog laws for ALL, treat criminal acts under our jurisdiction no differently from anyone else (eg don't send the ARMY in), and maybe a bit more autonomy in areas with native claim (as many Aboriginal Protesters have repeatedly asked for- which I consider fair enough)

Signed,

A guy who does NOT feel guilty about the past- but bloody well demands a fair go and some understanding of what Indigenous people are going through

Hazza

What is lost on so many people is that Traditional Aboriginals are living in their ancestral lands and are in a transitional stage attempting to access benefits for their children from mainstream society whilst holding onto their cultural beliefs which ties them to their land. Decades of successive Governmental neglect in aiding the transition has led to the current overcrowding, indifference to education by the young because it contained no obvious relevence in leading to a better life and substance abuse induced by a sense of hopelessness.

Then there are urban Aborigines, the product of the stolen generation, Many such as Noel Pearson who have accessed tertiary education, enriched their lives outside traditional society, clinging to what they identify as their heritage and attempting to influence a generation who have been living on welfare whilst successive Governments failed to follow through with Community Development.

Given encouragement,Traditional Aborigines possess artistic skills in music and visual arts, Tourism, Conservation, bush craft and survival knowledge .
What's missing is a lack of understanding by governments that they are dealing with separate Communities who all need to participate in solutions in the spirit of mutual respect, consultation and involvement

Why do we put an Indigenous person in a jail cell? I am not an expert in Indigenous culture but my 5 seconds of education on their culture seems they never lived in caves, feared them or some sort of superstition. So many different cultures within Indigenous appear to share this trait. So makes sense that putting them in a jail cell is a cruel and torturous crime on our behalf. Why not an open air facility. If we need royal commission into Aboriginal Death in Custody when so obvious what the problem maybe then perhaps we just give them self government. There is plenty of diversity among the people so would require many representatives but then we are over governed so then so should they be. We are clueless methinks, time to admit that.

Just look at writer photo! He stupid, know nothing. Aboriginal women with kid who get raped each day know more!

She smart! He stupid! She know that whitey can protect. He too dumb to see this.

She smart.