I stay out of the carpark because its no use trying to reason with those who want only to hear the sound of their own voices.

I doubt Og was treating forum like a housewife..not true but no matter..I find it very interesting that they have so lttle to discuss that they in there indulging in idle gossip and mudslinging at each other now theyve gotten over OG..whoa wasnt she famous for about 5 minutes?.Im sure Yabby that is a very professional approach from all of them to be engaging in such 'rivetting' issues.I think youll find the 'housewife brigade' is in there and is not only an OG phenomena.

The carpark should be shut down i beleive..its completely lost its purpose and now has become a place to openly bitch at each other..it was there to resolve disputes between posters but now its just lost its way.

Leigh declared "Just imagine all of the different cultural groups in Australia wanting their own show in parliament!"

Well I for one think Pauline Hanson,Wilson Tuckey, Fred Nile, and extreme right-wing lunatics have represented your cultural interests very well. Or don't you believe in equality of representation

Lets get back on topic guys.

There will be unlikely to be a large group of indigineous australians enter mainstream anything (including politics) unless indigineous education is improved. The first step towards that is to keep the little blighters in school. Their parents dont seem to care. No doubt I am going to get howled down for this, but the benefits of the stolen generation, is that a large number of those that were taken from their homes, were forced to attend schooling of some kind, and many seem to be literate, capable and productive members of society, who are in at least a reasonable financial position. Their children are also reasonably well off, and most have been schooled. This is to be compared to those that still live in missions or commission housing (where they havent burnt it) in country towns, particularly in western parts of NSW (I wont comment for elsewhere, because I havent seen it myself). I have lived in these towns, including towns where the indigineous population make up 80% of the townspeople. The parents dont care what their children are doing, much less care whether they are going to school. These kids dont have a hope, yet to take them away at a young age and put them in the position where they have a chance to succeed at life in mainstream Australia is cried down as racism and paternalism. Its the only workable solution to the crisis. We have a situation in Australia where there is an adoption crisis as well, with many more ocuples wanting to adopt then there are children available - why not integrate the two problems. You can address cultural issues by insisting that the children retain contact with their biological parents, and that they are schooled in their traditional ways. In this wasy you are taking nothing away from them, and giving them a wonderful chance that would not have otherwise existed for them.

Tuarus 29,

Pinned the crux of the problem very early on..it comes down to making the mainstream education system appealing to indigenous kids..at present it alienates them..it is well known that community educated kids do far better than Ind. kids trying to make sense of the mainstream system..there they experience rascism from other kids and in a lot of cases ,teachers..thats the case here anyway, I live in a outback town on the fringe the Nullabor and there is a large tribal base..retention rates for Ind. kids is practically non existent.

Knowledge is power,

The education system needs to groom indigenous kids from beginning to end in regards to this matter..from reception to completeion of University education..making ed. more relevant to them..history, the truth of history for Ind. kids to creatinga n enviroment they feel comfortable..to intensive eradication of racial attcks they suffer at school from students and more low key dis.they experience from so called teaching professionals.Teachers with any kind of racist agenda , no matter how subtle, need to never be employed or tolerated.

Promoting the importance for Indigenous teachers in all schools, in all levels..postion of principal as well to reperesnt Ind. kids to help them take their place in a world that recognises their impotance in the world as being an integral part how this great country works for ALL its pples.

Ranier your opinions on these topics are valued.

Well Country Gal, you are a very brave person. Now I am going to hide behind your skirt and say I agree with you.

My partner was one of the police officers that 'stole' children during that time, out around Wilcannia & Broken Hill. It was their job to accompany Child Welfare to remove those children and charge the parents with Neglected Child.

These children were indeed neglected. Parents that spent their time and money on drink and fighting with no knowledge of were their children were, let alone what they were doing. Toddlers in nappies that hadnt been changed for so long that their were maggots crawling out of them.

The stolen generation are the lucky ones and if we do end up with an aboriginal Prime Minister one day, my money is on him/her being a stolen child.

Country gal.. the 1st part of your post was fine ,until you then forgot to resist the temptation to publicly bash Idigenous pple yet again..

Education is the key as has been pointed out ..but statements such as ..'maggots comning out of theyre nappies..' etc then turned it into something else entirely.Abuse of children/babies is hardly confined to indiginous pple and when it is,as is the case with white communities, it is the exception rather than the rule.Media always report the negative..sells papers , ratings.

I live now in a commnity with a very high percentage of Indigenous pple..yes the problem, especially in relation to indigenous children and babies is heartbreaking...but there is one very important thing we must remember .The generator of most destructive behaviours in these communities is the introduction of alchohol by the white man.

Communities were functioning normally, respectable..kinship systems were strong and these people enjoyed a cohesive, healthy and spiritual existence..the children were happy and thrived in these communities, untouched by invasion yet to come.

Then invasion,..in come disease, disspossion from their land, theyre roots..their whole way of life destroyed..they were given alcohol in return for wages, tobacco and flour...werent they the lucky ones?
The black man ,it has been scientifically proven ,is missing an enzyme that means he cant metabolise alcohol.
This problem meant that the problem of alcoholism was always going to be a huge problem.

Now can anyone tell me please, that if the white man can come into a country and completely destroy a culture in this way, then 200 yrs later on a forum such as this have the hide to say..why cant they pull themselves together now and just get on with..I think is the height of arrogance, appalling ignorance.

Now we wont even give these poor b,stards a job because hes not respectable enough, and this community its true.So they wither away and drink themselves to death and destroy their families in to the process.

We speak of yet again violating another and most horrendous breach of human rights by taking their children away yet again?