We need new priorities
Let’s stop blaming each other for the tragic situation in some Aboriginal communities. We have all helped create the situation. We now need to commit ourselves to dealing effectively with the underlying wrongs. We should be ashamed that many Indigenous Australians live in conditions beyond the comprehension of most of us, shocking even by Third World standards. If we are to overcome this situation, we need to adopt new priorities. We need a 20-year plan to transform the condition of Aboriginal Australia. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation drew up a good plan, and established benchmarks. Let us see a development of this plan, and bipartisan support, so that any indication of failure attracts immediate remedial action.
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I could not agree more. After the appartant successes and forward movement of Aboriginal rights that occurred in this country from the late 1960s through to about ten years ago, such as the right to vote, the deaths in custody Royal Commission and Native Tittle legislation, a sudden holt has occurred in the advancement of Aboriginal communities. These people need to improve their stake in life, and in the communtiy. It is the responsibility of Governments at both State and Federal levels to improve the lot in life of our traditional land owners. Let’s hope that this issue makes its way into the election debates this year.
YES, but where is the plan published so we can comment on it and maybe even improve it?
Does it have grass roots aboriginal support?
I think that the starting point should be an apology for what has and is occurring
I couldn’t agree more. The situation for aboriginal people is completely unacceptable. We need a detailed, concrete and specific step by step plan negotiated through ongoing collaborative consultation with aboriginal people - a plan with a specified time frame, and we need to start impementing it immediately.
Anne Kotzman
The key is education. That key will unlock the doors of choice to financial independence, housing, lifestyle, community development, good health and confidence.
Education itself should not be a choice but a necessity and a requirement for all Australian children.
Here is a link to the recommendations of the Council for Aboriginal Reconcilation: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/car/2000/16/
Aborigines comprise less than 3 per cent of the Australian population, and 60 per cent of the inmates of the country’s prisons; once inside, many die by their own hand and some are beaten to death. Aborigines on average live more than 20 years less than the average white Australian.
They are suffer from symptoms of culturally and emotionally displaced nation.
Their suffering never has been recognised and acknowledged, they never were treated with compassion and respect. I feel privlidged to work with them.
They are real custodians of this beautiful land.
Living away from Australia and travelling frequently, I can confirm that the treatment, past and present, of Australia’s native peoples is widely known and is one of the first topics of any conversation concerning the wide, brown land.
In fact, until the present government started participating in the so-called “War of Terror” and its attendant rascism and propaganda, it was the sole source of burning shame for an Australian on the road.
Malcolm Fraser is right. An urgent “Marshall Plan” for our native peoples is desperately needed, backed up by comprehensive education, marketing and communication initiatives designed to inform and guide ALL Australians towards redressing our deeply shameful past and present. Australia’s ability to emerge as a nation at ease with its moral and practical responsibilities depends on it.