Hi Banjo,

Yes, if only Aboriginal people in remote and rural communities really wanted self-determination, the power to take responsibility for their own lives and those of their kids, then we might start to get somewhere.

Yes, I'm still a self-determinationist :)

Cheers,

Joe

Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

You've got my vote for going and helping
them reach their self-determinational goals.
They desperately need role-models like yourself
to lead the way.

With the exception of a few of contributors, Belly’s thread has become an ill-informed bias racial rant. The use of out of context, isolated facts to illustrate a holistic picture misrepresents the points being discussed.

I spent my formative years and was educated in central Australia. I have been to most of the settlements in central Australia and travelled extensively in the area. At one point I worked for these people and have a deep respect for the vast majority of them as I do for the majority of Australian irrespective of their background. Most of these people have a greater grasp on reality than the bigoted, bias and ill-informed opinion reflected by most of the contributors to this thread.

Although I visit regularly, I no longer live in the area. I am aware that the alcohol issue has been amplified in Alice Spring due to alcohol restriction in the settlements. Imagine what would happen if alcohol was no longer available in the Sydney suburbs and people had to travel to the city centre to get their fix. This issue isn’t racial, its addiction.

There should be no “sit down money” for anyone anywhere. I repeat “I believe every person of working age in this country is entitled to a fair share of this countries productivity however should be required to do something meaningful for it, for a prescribed amount of time.” There should be no precondition to this entitlement or the requirement to do something meaningful for it.

Producer,
Can you enlighten those who criticise out of pure innocent ignorance how much travel & locality allowance you were paid whilst working as you say for "these people" with money provided not by them but by taxpayers ?
I know from personal experience that most do-gooders are actually raking in the dough in those communities.

Loudmouth,
If by self-determination you mean each person taking responsibility for their lives, I will go along with that.

But if you mean that aboriginals as a group to determine by self government, with taxpayers money, then I object to that. ATSIC proved that is a road to dissaster.

Maybe we stop having policy for all aboriginals as a group, but determine the level of assistance on where people live. For example is an aboridinal in a remote area any worse off that an Indian, Afghan, Eskimo or Anglo next door. I would class all as disadvantaged because of where they live. Urban based aboriginals have the same advantages as everyone else in that urban area.

Australia is now very much a multi-racial society so is not disadvantage determined by where one lives.

Individual said - Can you enlighten those who criticise out of pure innocent ignorance how much travel & locality allowance you were paid whilst working as you say for "these people" with money provided not by them but by taxpayers ? I know from personal experience that most do-gooders are actually raking in the dough in those communities.

Individual – I thought this forum was for enlightened informed discussion. I would suggest some of the ignorance is not so innocent. The answer to your next two assumptions is none and none. I believe the funds to set up the enterprise did originate from the taxpayer as do a lot of enterprises throughout this country like government, education, health, sport, religion to mention some. I hope I did some good although what I did was not spectacular. I simply drove trucks and converted busses for wages that moved supplies and people to and from a number of settlements. It was no big deal. It did enable me to see settlements like Papunya, Yuendumu, Areyonga and Docker River to name a few uninsulated. I have also lived or spent time at Tennant Creek, Ti Tree, Yallara, Darwin and greater the top end.

I do agree that there are a lot of parasites making a lot of money from government initiated activities. This phenomenon is not restricted to remote communities, they riddle our greater society. They take more than their share and they create more issues than they solve

Cont.