Opinion,

I have Aboriginal relatives, cousins by the dozins, I spent time, as a youth, with tribal Aboriginals and learnt much, I was obviously young but I was circumcised and that meant a lot.
I have many Aboriginal friends and at Uni I was fortunate enough to meet an outstanding Aboriginal woman who ran a successful retail business in Sydney.
She had been married at twelve, sexually abused and owed her escape to a white woman who broke the law to get her out.

Foxy,

There is no earthly reason not to apply the law equally to all Australians, to not do so is to break the law.
I thought that you were all for equality for women.

Germaine Greer put it very well:

"Aboriginal people pass through our courts every day,
but we have never allowed Aboriginal people to judge us.
We hear every day of the
crimes against our laws - but nothing of our crimes against theirs.
As long as the Aboriginal silence is filled
with whitefella noise the situation can only get worse".

We're fully aware, especially in the NT that -
the relations between Aboriginal people and police is not
good. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Ben Pobjie tells us that:

"It has taken some time for the British and their descendants in
Australia to stop thinking of England as "home"- some say the
tendency only really died out when Robert Menzies passed away in
1978. Australia - was viewed as an outpost of
the British Empire far beyond at which this
perception was literally true or even remotely reasonable".

"And yet somehow, the diverse peoples of the Indigenous nations and
the deluded white criminals of the motherland ended up forming
a single nation, this amazing land we call
Australia, which combines all the best of its brutally
cruel origins with the
finest in modern complacency and self-deception".

"But when did Australia truly begin? Who were the "first Australian?" -
the people who invented the idea of being
Australian, and began the long, slow trek towards discovering
exactly what being Australian means?
From the very beginning of the clash of cultures
that set this land on a collision course
with nationhood, there were a few remarkable individuals who,
however they began their lives, ended them fully deserving the
prestigious and only slightly insulting designation of
"Great Australian".

We've covered some of their stories in this discussion.
I shall leave it there.

//Read these and learn.//

Wow... what a surprise. You found some articles about pedophilia being committed by Aboriginal people. Good job, buddy.

I reckon that with the barest of effort on the ol' google, I could find you a great big pile of stories of pedophilia being committed by Catholic priests, being covered up by the Church hierarchy... quite a damning picture of the Catholic church could be constructed with a few articles. Well, that and very some sloppy thinking.

Just because there have been some sickening abuses carried out by priests, it doesn't follow that they're all evil, that the Church is a corrupt institution, or that the faithful in any way condone those sort of abuses. Guilt by association is very sloppy thinking indeed - I would go so far as to say nonsense on stilts. And it's sloppy thinking no matter which group it as applied to, be that the Catholic Church or our Indigenous population.

Pedophilia happens, Is Mise,. It shouldn't, but it happens. But nobody's actually in favour of it except for the pedophiles. Aboriginal activists ask for treaty, they ask for the date of Australia day to be changed, they ask for sovereignty, they ask to have their flag adopted as our national flag or incorporated into it, they ask to have their languages taught in schools. Their demands are many and varied. But they don't ask for the Government to recognise their sovereign right to rape children. I think if you stop and think about that briefly, you might be able to deduce why

If I may offer my own tentative hypothesis... it's because by and large, the staggering majority of people, be they black, Catholic, wealthy, disabled gay whales, whatever, are disgusted by the thought of raping anybody, let alone a child. Because most people aren't weird sick perverts. And also because pedophilia seems to be a crime predominantly committed by older men in positions of power... and quite a lot of the Aboriginal activists - or perhaps just the most outspoken, the result is the same either way - seem to be a) young b) female and c) not in positions of power. So it's hardly surprising that they're not out there calling for grubby old perverts to have the right to rape little girls... they were little girls themselves not so long ago.

I think a little bit of smart comedy can help to cut through a lot of BS... here's a clip I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq-XogDUU88&t=377

I don't think human nature varies much between different populations of humans, and what Gervais says about who was and wasn't attending the rallies, and why, speaks directly to human nature.

Now have a think about how human nature might apply in the case of people who might agitate in favour of child rape and who might be opposed, just within the Aboriginal community itself.

Toni,

"If I may offer my own tentative hypothesis... it's because by and large, the staggering majority of people, be they black, Catholic, wealthy, disabled gay whales, whatever, are disgusted by the thought of raping anybody, let alone a child."

Then I take it that you are in favour of one Law for all Australians?

But to get back to the main topic, Australianness has no future, not as we knew it.

There are elements in our society that are hell-bent on creating divisiveness and Government and organisations that pander to them.

We have Governments that are more concerned with raising revenue than with saving lives, Governments which, in fact, have an interest in the road toll continuing at around its present level.

I and my children and grandchildren all have the usual insurance plus the added policies of dual citizenship (and some of them have triple) so that we have a chance of getting out if needs be.