"At the end of the day, simply throwing money at this "problem" hasnt worked in the past."

That in itself is true Country Gal, but Rainier's point might explain why it hasn't worked. There's a typical pattern.

Somebody comes up with a strategy and gets funding.
After a short period the funding runs out.
The strategy gets dumped in favour of a different strategy.
Funding for that strategy runs out.
And on and on.

Nothing is supported for long enough to make any difference. Same goes for Howard's strategy. What happens when the alcohol ban runs out? What happens when the doctors leave? The only long term part of this plan is the 5 year suspension of land rights and the (I think) permanent quarantine of welfare payments.

How will either of those long term elements make any difference to child abuse?

I hear you on the terrible things you've seen. We whiteys in the suburbs hear about this stuff and see it on TV all the time. But I think my two main points still stand.

Knowing what it looks like isn't the same as living it, and Howard's shock and awe surge isn't going to fix it. If it was ever intended to.

Yep,Chainsmoker,when huge bureaucracies evolve to address injustice,the continued status quo becomes essential to the survival of the bureaucracy.Without the continued suffering of the Aboriginal people,there would be no jobs for the boys.This is why Govts become impotent and our society decays.

Arjay, Chain-smoker and Country Gal,

Yes, this was one complaint that community people had of ATSIC when it was still operational. However some of this criticism was misdirected as the primary portfolio's of Education, Health, and mainstream Employment, three of the Howard Government’s four practical reconciliation planks. Howard of course ensured that the myth about these planks being in our hands to manage continued and rationalised the culling of ATSIC.

While ATSIC clearly had its problems, it did have a capacity to hold those other larger bureaucracies accountable.

I believe these same bureaucracies’ were happy to see ATSIC fall.

Top down or ground up? Service delivery must be guided by evidence based research specific to each community. The broad brush approach has failed.

Howard’s interventionist approach will not deliver longer term outcomes. But I suspect he is not interested in this beyond the next election.

A few good news stories from the NT - pumped out through the Murdoch press and Packer Media - will deliver the kind of moral and ideological victory Howard desires at a cheaper rate than what he spent of those IR ads.

This isn't really about my people, its about forcing Rudd into a me too-ism. And he’s clearly succeeded without a whimper for Kevin the Crudd.

Rainer,in all seriousness,how would you solve the problem of our dyfunctional society that is not just an Aboriginal malaise?

ARjay, you won't undo 217 years of colonial rule to my mob in a few years. de-colonising is both a structural and institution reform as well as a mindset that both the colonisers and the colonised must adopt. One key element of promoting this process is for reparations to be undertaken. Pearson is asking for this mindset without reparation. We only represent 2% of the population. Unlike South Africa we can achieve this quicker than most and set an example.

Does this answer your question? Or are you setting me up?

I dont mean to be pedantic Rainier, but its actually more like 219 years. The date 26/1/88 is etched into my memory as its the day my mother died. I can actually rattle off how many year since then faster than I could tell you my own age.

Not my intent to try to catch you out though!

With regards to reparations, I am assuming you are referring to monetary compensation. Not sure this is a good idea. Ok maybe for those that are westernised and are used to handling mony. The creator of great problems for those who already have substance abuse problems are are used to a welfare mentality. I agree that there is room for "something" just not sure what would be most effective, as well as being fair and equitable (to the various indigenous people). If reparations were made one would hope that they would be of lasting value to those that received them