How many Australian children from poor disadvantaged crappy government housing estates drop out of school each year, and don't finish year 10 or finish their higher education? The politicinas have never released a report on these statistics, but I would bet per head, just as many Austraian children from these poor housing estates drop out of school, as Aboriginal children do. If there wasn't any of these special racist benefits, then Australian parents whose children drop out of school early would also be entitled to be paid to send their children to year 10 and beyond, just like Aboriginal parents are. Where is the equity in that?
There`s a lot in what you say. If you want to see money wasted, you can always trust the govt. On the other hand, anything govt does is expected to be idiot proof, which is also massively wasteful in SOME areas. Corruption is a problem in too many Aboriginal areas. Just bouncing some thoughts around here Zig, trying to identify some of the roots of some of the problems. One of the biggest problems as I see it, is that not so long ago, Aboriginals were stone age hunter gathers, deeply entrenched in a pre historic (to us) lifestyle, tightly bonded within family and tribal groups, set in their ways. The period between the late 1700`s, and now, has seen an explosion of technological advancement in western society. No wonder that a deeply entrenched culture of stone age warriors had problems with the changes forced on them. The term "culture shock" doesn't` even begin to describe the event. I`ll try to get to the point. The term "Australian Aboriginal", refers to many, many different types of groups of people, depending on the area they come from. I don`t pretend to know ANY of the answers to the many and varied problems, but the one question that desperately needs to be asked is. How do we go about getting Aboriginal kids motivated to become functional, to participate in the broader community?
There's some bad government estates around, yes. But some of these rural Aboriginal communities could easily be confused for the slums of some of the poorest African nations. I've never come across a community in Australia, other than Aboriginals, with such appalling low living standards. I'd be extremely surprised if one exists. That is the "gap". I agree, resources should go to people based on need. Clearly at the moment, it doesn't. There's an awful lot of money spent on "Aboriginal policies", but sweet FA actually makes it to impoverished rural communities, and whatever does is spent incompetently.
"Motivation" I think is a bit irrelevant. It is illegal for children under the age of 16 not to attend school. Parents who don't send their children to school need to be prosecuted, have entitlements taken away, whatever. The main point, is that it actually needs to be enforced. Think the government actually has some new truancy program for this purpose, which has actually been somewhat successful. Other things like... properly funding child protection services, police presence, social work, etc, are all really obvious things that don't get anywhere near enough funding.
The big stick method dose have it`s place, we are all subject to law & order. The types of services you mentioned, child protection, police, etc. are necessary, but bearing the logistics in mind, for these services to actually "solve" the most obvious problems, they would need to be enormous and complex. Generally, these types of services are more reactionary to social dysfunctionally, and to a lesser extend, directed toward solving the root causes of problems. We need, somehow, to break the circle of animosity and antagonism that feeds the cancer that is eating away at too many Aboriginal people. The politically correct agenda of these times, to dwell exclusively on aspects of our history that portray Aborigines as pitiful victims, hopeless losers in human history, is the poison most damaging to Aborigines.
Yes it might be good to actually teach some more about proactive and positive things that Aboriginals have done, but again that would require them to actually attend school. Seriously, if you're in the suburbs of Melbourne and you're not sending your kids to school, people will be on your arse about it. In Aboriginal communities it's just accepted as normal, that needs to change. I seem to remember there was a bit of a push to move call centres out to some Aboriginal communities awhile ago, not sure if it's been successful. There needs to be more initiatives like that, providing actual real jobs, rather than just welfare. I'd also really like to see how the government intends to deal with Aboriginal communities with their "develop the North" thought bubble.
What I`m getting at, is that in order to solve any problem, it`s necessary to be aware of all of the components. Understandably, only a small percentage of Aborigines have assimilated with the broader community. The outcast mentality is more prevalent than ever among Aborigines, and is being reinforced on a daily basis. Re your post #228 "But some of these rural Aboriginal communities could easily be confused for the slums of some of the poorest African nations." The truth is that massive amounts of money have been spent on Aboriginal communities & they keep getting destroyed. I`ve seen it myself. I`ve seen nice new estates reduced to resemble war zones in under 5 years. Money isn`t the answer to everything. As to development of the North. Admittedly, a big undertaking, but if we could make it work, the benefits could be outstanding, particularly the way agriculture is going on the global market. Why not think about it?
Australians have facilitated Aboriginal victim mentality for to long. Its time we stopped giving them everything just because they are Aboriginals.
Look at it this way. The handout mentality, combined with the divisive "maintain the rage" agenda, are the most poisonous threats to Aboriginal people since the Spanish Influenza epidemic. Unfortunately, the majority of Aborigines are still basically uneducated and easily manipulated by more educated people riding the hate whitey gravy train. Too many are exposed to debilitating drug and alcohol addictions as normal behaviour, from early childhood, and throughout their entire lives. The mix of resentment, drug & alcohol addiction, and futility, are a lethal cocktail.
