The Indigenous people want a voice in Parliament. One voice, Ken Wyatt, explained that on the ABC today. He is one of the five voices currently in Parliament, about 2.3 % of all federal parliamentarians. The Indigenous population of Australia makes up about 2.5 % of the total population, perhaps 2.2 % of the adult population.

Currently, there are ministers of Indigenous ancestry in at least four state and territory parliaments: SA, WA, NT and Queensland. There is an advisory committe to the Prime Minister and, of course, the assembly of First Nations. But perhaps the re-institution of ATSIC or the NACC or NAC or some similar body might do the trick.

Indigenous people are sick of symbolic action, they want practical action. For those of us who haven't lost our memory, Prime Minister Howard proposed in 2006-2007 that any changes had to be practical rather than symbolic, when he abolished ATSIC and brought in the NT Intervention. I wasn't aware that he was at the Uluru Conference. But it seems that he was broadly correct in his attitude to mere symbolic action.

So if we vote for practical action in a Referendum, such as a representative body like ATSIC, and practical activity such as a toned-down version of the Intervention, but of course under Indigenous supervision, in order to resolve some of the critical and very practical problems afflicting Indigenous 'communities', maybe all that might work, even if it didn't in the past. One recalls Einstein's words.

Such a representative body, as proposed, alongside the voices in parliament, would have the power to scrutinise every piece of legislation if it affects Indigenous people in some way. I'm trying to think of any piece of legislation which won't affect Indigenous people simply because they are part of the Australian people - I can't for the moment, but experts will surely identify them.

So one early task would be to form such a representative body - or bodies, if it is decided that every 'nation', i.e. clan, requires its own representative body. This may take some time. I hope that

[TBC]

[continued]

that they can do this expeditiously and in a way which strengthens Indigenous cohesion, because the Indigenous population is so diverse and moving off in different directions, that it will become more and more difficult to maintain any sort of solidarity over the next few years and beyond if little of value is produced from all this effort.

Indigenous unity is, after all, a post-colonial construct; there was nothing like it pre-Invasion, nor during the days of State control of Indigenous affairs before the 1967 Referendum. Back in 1972, different groups around Australia were fashioning their own flags, replete with boomerangs, spears, koalas, swans, lightning bolts, etc. We were worried that people were going off in their own direction, willy-nilly, and we thought that solidarity of some sort was vital. So my wife and I decided to make the Flags which one currently sees.

We were both factory workers so we would put the kids to bed and start making Flags. We made perhaps a hundred of them, the first were five extra-long ones for the Aboriginal embassy here in Adelaide in July 1972, then we made others and sent them all over Australia, and overseas. If the first Aboriginal Flag you saw had a wonky centre-disc, it was one of ours.

I think the Flag has actually had the positive effect of pulling people together, just a little. But nowadays, it seems as if many 'nations' are re-fashioning their own all over again, going back to Square One. Oh well, I suppose that's nothing new in Indigenous Affairs: I don't know how many times my wife would say that to each other.

Joe

Joe (Loudmouth)

You referred to Mary Durack earlier. Among her other qualities she had a gift (through hard thought and work, nothing comes easy) for blending black and white in a most sensitive and meaningful way.

Tell me though, do you or maybe someone else here, know of any memorial to Mary, outside of The Story Teller (Burdswood Heritage Trail), and where she was buried? Died Nedlands, WA, 16 December 1994. Here for those interested,

http://cherylfletcher2.blogspot.com.au/

I have done a lot of travel with themes of following the routes of explorers, observing and reflecting upon the works of early settlers and so on.

It is not simply a matter of getting past the propaganda, misinformation and outright lies and distortions surrounding Aboriginal history and circumstance, it is a matter of finding people who are willing to hear the truth, however unpalatable it may be.

We seem awash in do-goodery in this day and age and delusional do-goodery at that.

There are important points which are overlooked:

1. Aborigines in 1788 were not united, in fact they were mostly at war with each other. Aborigines in 2017 are even more divided given that there might be a thousand or so who are fully Aboriginal and maybe a couple of thousand who are half Aboriginal, but the majority of the roughly 600,000 registered as Indigenous are minimally Aboriginal, even up to 1/32nd, and they are not Indigenous or Aboriginal in any real sense.

2. The various Aboriginal cultures in 1788 were variations on the theme of nomadic hunter-gatherer and the way of life something which Anglo/Europeans had left behind thousands of years in the past.

In other words, Aboriginal culture, while possessing some interesting myths and artistic styles like all such groups, was backward, primitive and totally out of step with the then modern world. It was tribal, patriarchal, misogynistic, cannibalistic and brutal.

So, just as backward Britons were hauled along by the more advanced Romans, and later, other waves of invaders and occupiers, so were Aborigines. It has no doubt been a crucial part of human evolution.

But, the important fact coming from all of this is that there is very little of Aboriginal culture which remains from the late 18th century, and even less of value.

3. Any self-determination would require Indigenous to go and live in the same place. Where would that be? Why would they go? Many indigenous are settled and successful and in mixed marriages so why would they go off to live in the bush? They would not. And which bit of bush would it be?

So, in essence, there is no unified or generic Indigenous to create any kind of self-determination.

Aboriginal cultures today, are a hybrid, often in mongrel form, of aspects of Aboriginal culture mixed up with Anglo/European/Asian and others.

Much culture is dysfunctional with high levels of child abuse, child sexual abuse, violent misogyny, racism in skin traditions ..... all a part of Aboriginal culture when the British arrived but with no place in a modern world.

Wow Leo, the all seeing, the all knowing Hansonite, privy to all that insider goss, about Labor, The Greens, even the Government, and any other organizations or groups you can name. the ABC, unions etc etc. Yet you can't say a word about 'One Nation', strange that. Politicians should check for that fly on the wall before they go to bed at night, its probably the all seeing, all knowing LeoW..

Now you have discovered a new class in society, the mysterious and as yet unnamed, left wing 'ELITES'. According to you, and others of the right, these mysterious Elites act only for self interest and for no other reason. Possibly you might name some of these Elites in the field of Aboriginal affairs.