In my long experience in this area, in the rural SE, there has been much improvement, though still big problems.

Re individual's comment: "There are a large number who make up the ALP quota 8% indigenous employment in the public service but in private enterprise or manufacturing the numbers are as low as ever."

There's some truth in this, but it's more complex. I'm always amazed at the negativity about the public service: that's the medical services (esp. in country towns that can't keep private doctors), the paramedics, the police, the park rangers, the council road builders and gardeners. These jobs keep our communities going. I know Aboriginal people in all these 'public service' areas and more, and they're not just token jobs (they got them on merit not because of some quota, which I have never heard mentioned).

It is however true that there are few Aboriginal small business people (although there are some). There is a basic historic reason for this. Many small businesses are family ones, such as small farmers, local newsagent, electrician, plumber and hairdresser. People in small business tend to have a family background in this: in my own family, over the generations most have run their own businesses, or with increasing professionalisation, have moved between public service, big business and their own business (eg architect)

(cont.)
There is no similar generational history of a small business tradition for most Aboriginal families (though I know of some notable exceptions). Those that worked were low-level unskilled employees (noting some exceptions such as skilled station workers). What education was available was aimed at training them for domestic or labouring jobs; in the past they could be refused admittance to schools in NSW.

Even if they did break through the system, racism meant that some small businesses were not worth aiming at: an Aboriginal hairdresser? Small town bakery, butchery? Who would take them on as an apprentice? What white people would patronise them? Why even try? (Successful businesses were fencing, carting etc. where you didn't have to deal with white customers).

Then, those that were still prepared to try had another hurdle: trying to get a loan to start a business. I know one man, now about 80, whose parents moved to Victoria so he could go to school, who rose to a manager position on a station, but then could not get a loan to start his own business.

With so few in small business, it is then not surprising that there are few large Aboriginal owned businesses (given that large businesses develop from small). I don't have any knowledge of Aboriginal employment in manufacturing, but I guess that would depend on other factors.

Things are improving, and I know several Aboriginal people who run their own businesses. Few however are in the small business retail trade, the main street shops and skilled trades - racism and the difficulty of getting finance probably still play a part.

Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

It is good to know that some things have changed over
the last decades and that there is hope for the future.
I'm pleased that not everything is dark and grim and
that the achievements both of their own communities and
the policies pursued by local, state and national
governments are not being under sold. At least by the
sound of things younger people seem les resigned and
submissive than their parents' generation. Hopefully
their self-confidence will grow through achievements,
they will become more self-assured and politically aware,
and won't be pushed around or patronised by anyone.
Education is the key as you point out.
Thank You for starting this discussion and I shall continue
to read it with interest.

Take care.

Cossomby,
It goes without saying that the people you mention, medical ,Police etc. are vital members on the public payroll. We're not talking about them though are we ? We're talking about bureaucrats who do nothing except apply for higher positions. Australia seems to be the world's capital for the Peter Principle.
It strikes me that people in the larger centres are not as much exposed to wastage & incompetence as we are in small communities. We have it flung into our faces on a daily basis. In larger centres people are working so hard that they miss what's going on around them because if they don't perform they're out. I see people showing up for "work" two hours late, have two hour lunches, stay away without explanation & no-one can discipline them or dock their pay. It does get to some decent people so much that they pack up & leave.

Lexi, " Hopefully their self-confidence will grow through achievements,
they will become more self-assured and politically aware, and won't be pushed around or patronised by anyone."

Rather they have to slough off what has been happening around them and make a break in their own best interests.

Any insinuation that the problems and restraining forces are all external (to communities) and any fault lies with the mainstream Australian public is wrong.

I spend 4 months a year in communities like Aurukun and Lockhart River where all I see is full blood kids having a ball at school but that's as far as it goes.
What you see getting an education (at taxpayers expense) and jobs in the public service are quadroon, octoroon and quintroon people who play on the public purse as aborigine or indigenous Australians for the achievable benefits.