Loudmouth, I'm not sure where to begin. I think the first thing is take the pollies and their mates out of the equation as all they are doing is skimming money out the back door for them and their mates. Secondly do not let them self manage. They have proven to be as dishonest as the pollies. I maintain they have more than enough hand outs and assistance. The situation is that bad that the rest of the population is being compromised. The fault does not lie with the non-indigenous Australians. We have done more than we should. I'm sick and tired of minorities whinging and whining till they get their way. I know, let's create a minority group for, who cares, and maybe we'll get handouts and all kinds of assistance. I'd like to know why everyone thinks they are in need of all this assistance. They have two arms, two legs just like everyone else, so they can stand in line just like everyone else. The do-gooders and the like need to get their heads out of their ar$e and see the true world not this fantasy they have created in their own mind. We're way past the 'enough is enough' stage. The thinking, mature Australians with common sense and the ability to reason, want this con job to stop. I'll say it again, they are Australians, just like the other 24 million and do not deserve any special privileges over the rest of Australians.

Foxy, you ask, 'we can't just ignore things, can we? OK take a deep breath and say, 'yes we can'. Only by letting them fend for themselves will we see their true determination. Right now this farcical we have witnessed, all in the name of, assistance, is nothing more than another way for the pollies and their mates to rip off millions that were never intended for the abo's in the first place, so don't kid yourselves. If you believed the govt tripe then you are part of the problem. No the answer is to pull the baby off the teet. I think at the age of ten or more they are well over the age of suckling off mother Australia.

I caught a bit of an interview with Noel Pearson a few days ago where I'm sure he asserted remote communities exist because aborigines were forced out of towns. Can anybody link me to that interview (with?).

If he's right then why can't we entice aborigines from dysfunctional communities back into towns where they can properly join the 21st century?

Lucerface: If he's right then why can't we entice aborigines from dysfunctional communities back into towns where they can properly join the 21st century?

Bad idea. When I was a kid in the 50's my Uncle had a Property in Ayr & there was a small Aboriginal family group living on his property. My uncle considered it their property. Only family knew of them. Sometime we would catch a glimpse of them way in the distance. Living as naked nature intended.

One day my uncle came across a young boy with a broken leg on the road in Peggys Bog. He took him to the Ayr District Hospital to get him treated. The Aboriginal Services, such as they were in those days, turned up & demanded to know where he came from. My Uncle refused & refused to let them on his property. When the kid was fixed my uncle took him aback to the road & left him. He came back in 15 minutes & the lad was gone but there were some crabs left.

I don't know what ever happened to them. they probably died out. It was clear though, they didn't want anything to do with civilization. & the same with some of these remote communities. Do you remember the last of the tribe around Alice Springs. The found an old couple in the desert & brought them into the Alice. They escaped & went back bush.

Regarding the Aboriginal Organizations All run by educated Aboriginal Academics who are living in luxury of the Government Grants. if they actually do something, other than whinge, they might lose their funding. That's why nothing gets done. When the money goes missing the Organization is closed down & another one started, only the same people are running the new one. they just swap Committee Positions.

Do you know who I'm talking about around Townsville Big Nana?

Dear Foxy,

"We can't just ignore things can we?" God no, these are our fellow-Australians, our own people, so how can we tolerate far shorter, sicker, more empty lives for some of us and not others ? Of course, pathways have to be developed to overcome these problems, but first and foremost, it's up to Indigenous people on-site themselves - surely that's what self-determination means ? Sure, with plenty of advice, etc., but they have to be the doers, the makers, of their own destinies. Anything else is paternalism, surely ?

Mind you, that improper thought has flitted across my mind ......

Hi Big Nana,

Yeah, the Indigenous middle-class. Conversely, I've cousins-in-law who've thought the opposite, that because they were Aboriginal, they had to go to the Aboriginal Medical Service even when it re-located across town. Maybe that's the effect of separate services: that people have sort of taken it for granted that they shouldn't go to public GPs, they have to go to 'their own'. And so racism is perpetuated in the people themselves. 'Their own', indeed. No, separate services should be gradually scrapped and that 'battle' for equal services - if there is even such a battle required, which I don't believe - should be fought, not avoided.

JayB,

Why Townsville ? Could be anywhere, mate, absolutely anywhere ;)

Joe

JayB I’m afraid all my experience is in the NT and Kimberley but I’m sure the same practises occur all over the country.
Quite frankly, if the aboriginal health services can’t show that their efforts are improving aboriginal health then they should be defunded.
As it is all their mistakes end up in the hospital anyway.