Dear Paul,

I've found a copy of the dvd - "First contact"
which I'd forgotten I had.

I remember now,
the effect that not Ray Martin but the arrogant
David Oldfield had on me at the time the
documentary was first released.

He dominated the film by trying to assert his "cultural
superiority" and continued to denigrate Indigenous
cultures. He even made statements -" äboriginality
should have died out..." " Aboriginal culture
is not worth celebrating." "they've lived in the
stone-age longer than anyone else." And so on.

Sadly, he's not the only one with those sort of
attitudes.

Thankfully many people are starting to think
differently - the more they learn about our Indigenous people.
Myself included.

"The only thing that would change attitudes in remote communities would be to stop money flowing into them and that, finally, would get their attention and make people understand that they have to personally engage in their own existence and future."

Never a balder truth spoken. How else will they be brought into the 21st century?

But we can't handle the truth and we'll just keep on doing what we're doing for another century, pouring money into a black-hole until the problem goes away. Yeah right.

Indigenous recognition in our Con stitution
matters. and will need greater political will
to achieve. Initiatives developed on the
ground by the people for the people, have a
far greater likelihood of working. It is a model
for self-determination.

Government programs fail because Aboriginal
people's needs and communities vary greatly across
Australia and well-funded programs are difficult
to implement locally because they are not targeted
to local communities by local people. When they
are they do succeed such as the "Murdi Paaki"
system of 16 communities across Western WA, the
community of Billard in WA's Kimberley, in Bourke,
to mention just a few. Those communities work.
We can't keep doing what has not worked - and expect
different results.

Yes. Get them out of the 'living museums' of remote settlements, where they will never have a chance of a decent life. Indigenous policy hasn't changed since the apartheid regime of Whitlam and his mate Nugget Coombes.

The people who are always bleating about better lives for foreign 'refugees' are the same ones who want aborigines to continue living in dung heaps they know quite well will never change, no matter how much money is thrown at them.

Paul 1405, you are kidding aren’t you? To deny that the worst outcomes aren’t from those living very remote on their own land, in an unbroken line, without any loss of culture?
Have you ever looked at the figures for domestic violence in those Areas? For school attendance rates? For school completion rates? For kidney disease and rheumatic fever rates?
In fact, rheumatic fever is almost unheard of outside remote areas these days.
As for unemployment, take away CDP and unemployment in remote communities is about 95%.
Suicide rates are another area where remote aboriginal people lead the list, as well as child removals.
Yet none of these people can claim their terrible outcomes are due to dispossession, loss of culture, loss of language.
The aboriginal people with the best outcomes, the teachers, the doctors, the lawyers, those with their own businesses, those with good paying jobs, all come from families who integrated into mainstream Australia by accepting that along with their equal rights, they had also equal responsibilities for their lives and were expected to contribute to society.

Foxy,

"The preamble is not part of the Constitution and
any change would have no legal consequences."

That's the whole point, the Constitution should not discriminate between Australians.

It might be alright for football clubs to discriminate on 'race' but not for the Nation.