Dear David F.,

"Agree to disagree," does seem like a cliche/overused,
to the point of almost having a negative connotation.

Perhaps - "Let's leave it at that," might be better.

Hi CDavid,

You may not be as wrong as you think you are:

People may 'have been identified as Aborigines all their lives' but still, in spite of not doing too bad, play with 'with their background for gain.'

There was a lovely young bloke in the paper today, who had gained a scholarship of $ 22,000 (I think, per year, for some years) whose mother is a teacher and whose father is a dentist, i.e. whose family may be doing allright. Surely, after all these years, scholarships should be carefully awarded for those Aboriginal people in need ?

I wish him the best, but surely scholarships should go to those who need them most, among other criteria ?

Anybody who has worked in Indigenous affairs knows precisely why I am making the connection with Bolt.

Sometimes the connection is quite shamefully nepotistic. I also recall some years ago, at a university, when the Indigenous staff selection panel for a plush scholarship, % 30,000 if I remember, was awarded to a fellow staff member, who then sat on the next year's selection panel while another staff member got the next year's scholarship, and so on.

Yep, poor bugger me, it's hard yakka being a blackfella. Bolt cast his line in but caught the wrong fish.

Joe

Dear Loudmouth,

Abbott's daughter got a $68,000 scholarship. I don't believe any other qualification was necessary. People may use whatever connection they have to advantage. Bolt apparently lied. The fact that other people with Aboriginal connections have used them to advantage does not make Bolt less of a liar.

When I went to university one of my classmates was named Carruthers. He was given a scholarship in a will which gave him a generous stipend as long as he was in school. The scholarship probably was to give him a debt free education so he would have a good start. However, Carruthers kept getting bachelor's degree after bachelor's degree for his entire working life. The stipend was too good to give up.

I get four pensions, will be 90 this year, need no medication and expect to be around for a while. I will continue to get those pensions for as long as I live. Should I refuse them?

Hi David,

No, I don't think it was right that Abbott's daughter got a $ 68,000 scholarship, aren't these things means-tested ?

And neither should anybody snaffle scholarships or cadetships or jobs or whatever which implicitly are meant for someone else, someone more in need. Black or white. And there are certainly many, many Aboriginal people in far greater need, not just of an immediate benefit but more importantly, of how to tap into the pathways that eventually lead to those benefits, where to get the help from to advise on how to go through the steps, over perhaps years, to be able to apply for those benefits - which on the face of it, are actually meant for them.

Meanwhile, some people know very well from the outset what's around, and they may well, for legal reasons I couldn't possibly say for sure, put their hands out, with encouragement from minders.

Corruption is corruption, no matter what color it's painted. Perhaps it is so common in Indigenous affairs that everybody - almost - has no qualms about grabbing what they can. But that does rather lower the bar. Once you know it's happening, you do feel a bit less like going the extra mile.

Joe