What kind of lifestyle do you have to lead to be 'Aboriginal'?
My sister-in-law is half aboriginal, and she has never lead a tribal life in any way.
Does that make her 'Aboriginal'?
Perhaps she and my niece and nephew may also be classified as a racist, they have never associated with any relatives in camps (she is a country girl), and have always fully embraced a 'white picket fence' lifestyle with my brother.
The naive concept of the 'noble savage' should have died out years ago. Earliest explorers noted the savage and disfiguring wounds carried by Aboriginal women, scars left from vicious domestic assaults. Not much has changed, for many Aboriginal women and children.

Blairbar : "I declare it racist to talk about humans as statistics. they are not, they are a diverse human community that cannot be measured by western means." TheMissus
I declare TheMissus is talking through his or her hat. I'm not sure what non-western means could be used to mmeasure and describe human populations.

Oh how terribly ethno centric, not racist MUCH.

Plus it DOES entrench negative stereotypes the way they have been used. If you tell virtually anyone for eg that far fewer Indigenous Australians drink alcohol than mainstream population people simply do not believe it. True though.

btw A great non-western measurement is happiness. Whenever you see Indigenous children they are so happy they burst from their skin. I never see mainstream children as happy as often. Where are stats that ask why our children are not so as happy as Indigenous? they do not seem to be polluted until an older age when western measurements are imposed. Certainly in younger life I feel they are far happier and in adult life they drink far less. Where as these stats?

Like Floating lili suggests also, way too diverse to apply one measurement to. Extreme diversity. With such extremes averages mean nothing.

A definition: "Statistics is the science of making effective use of numerical data relating to groups of individuals or experiments. It deals with all aspects of this, including not only the collection, analysis and interpretation of such data, but also the planning of the collection of data, in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.” Wikipedia.
Statistics don’t ask anything; they reveal. You can’t find statistics to support your view that non-indigenous children are not as happy as indigenous children? There could be three reasons for this:
1. Published studies have failed to support your view;
2. Studies looking at whether non-indigenous children are as happy as indigenous children have not been undertaken and
3. Studies that support your view have been undertaken but not published.
How can measurements pollute? Measuring the weight and other physical attributes of infants pollutes? How ridiculous.
‘In adult life they drink far less.” Statistics show that the percentage of indigenous people who consume alcohol is lower than that for non indigenous people. Statistics also show that of the two groups who drink alcohol, indigenous drinkers consume more alcohol per head than non-indigenous drinkers.
“Oh how terribly ethno centric, not racist MUCH.” Rather juvenile and offensive don’t you think? But then I suspect you are indeed a juvenile. Your comments certainly don’t display any maturity.

Sorry, Missus, you and I inhabit different planets.

When we lived in an Aboriginal community back in the seventies, of course some kids were happy and cared for, but I don't recall seeing much happiness in the other kids scrounging for food in the bins, nor much gaiety in their endless arguments, although their use of language was both colourful and imaginative.

I do recall waiting for a friend one winter's morning, while his kids were hungry and crying: their mother got out of bed to cook up four chops [:)] - and took them back to bed [:(]. The kids were eventually fed by their grannie: one weetbix each with cold water. So the kids learn self-esteem, how ?

Another time, we all listened for an hour or so to a mother down the street flogging her kid for pinching her Easter egg, as she reiterated repeatedly. Motherly love and value as a human being ?

The toddler crying in the street looking for his mum one late afternoon, while his drunk uncle staggered past: happy ? Caring ? Yeah, right.

You probably need a bit more than an afternoon's visit, Missus, giving out old clothes to the natives.

Joe Lane

Loudmouth I live in the Far North, do not patronise me.

Like I said they are DIVERSE. Even locals here talk down about NT communities. So most I have seen are happy when young, very happy and you offer such a awful horrid insult to their parents, disgusts me. I lie so that means they are all awful parents..omg those damn stats again.

Blair bar

I studied Bus.Maths and Stats when I did my business degree and did ok when most lost the plot on that unit, so again do not patronise me with 5 minute google learning exercise. Seems everyone is an expert these days on google 101 rather than substance.

Thanks Missus
You certainly answered the points I raised in my comments. The reason I put up that definition of Statistics was to try and avoid confusion over the meaning of Statistics.
I was wrong; you are not a juvenile, just an ignorant adult.