Aboriginal housing: forty-odd years ago, I was working as a labourer on a 'community' [I think I'll never use that word again] which was offered the choice by the DAA of funds to buy either: (a) the next-door property of 2000 acres, cleared land under 20 acres of grapes, the rest grain-producing; or (b) six new houses. The Council chose more houses [so much for 'craving for our land'].

A DAA bloke came up to check out the housing situation, and found that the three or four white supervisors' families were in the most crowded houses. In the village, there were many vacant houses as young couples moved in with their parents so that grandmother could look after all the kids and they could stay adolescent. And so that the grandparents could pay the minimal rents of $ 4 and $ 6 instead.

The Council got their houses, including one with solar panels (in 1976!). The kids went to work on those and they were useless within three months. Twenty years later, that house was gone. But never mind, there were plenty of others being built.

Only one family lives there now (that of the 'mayor' of the place), amid some pretty nice looking new houses. But it's good to see almost no rubbish around the front yards and streets, it's probably all blowing around out in the paddocks.

If ever there were a dog chasing its tail, aboriginal housing and welfare is a classic example. All political correctness has done is help hide the problems but they still exist and simply allowing remote communities to draw welfare funding is a huge part of the problem. By all means let them reside where they wish, but when they are relying on tax payers funding, the tax payers have every right to demand better use of their dollars.

As expected from the forums usual suspect, they lay it on thick whenever they get the opportunity to dump on Aboriginal people. Nothing like a few "personal shockers" to spice up the debate. Indignation and denigration is the order of the day for some forumites. Strangely 90% of the clunkers claim some close association with remote communities. These remote black communities didn't know what hit 'em when the bus loads of right wing ratbags blew into town to set things straight!

We should leave it to the Greens, they'll have an answer to the problem; might cost a bit though.

The whole show is just simply a case of one exploiting the other for a grab at the taxpayer funded lottery of waste.

Dear Big Nana,

It is not owned by and individual, nor a profit making company but rather a community. Not a small distinction.