Aboriginal Community Dysfunction: Another Solution Investigated

The 1970s has a lot to answer for in regard to today’s problems with Aboriginal welfare.

Gough Whitlam was elected Prime Minister in 1972, and was a member of the Australian Labor Party. He implemented a bunch of initiatives which look great on paper, but all of which have failed. They were intended to help white people and the Aboriginals reconcile their differences, but instead they had a very divisive effect for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, they made it clear to all that Aboriginals and whites were different. While that is true only in colour and family history for the most part, it created an ideology that Aboriginals should be treated differently and that they should neither assimilate to the majority of Australians in a number of ways, but that they should accept that their culture is superior white Australians and should be revered as such, and therefore Aboriginals can stick to their culture. This view is false, because many of their traditional rituals and healthcare methods are outdated for dealing with today’s issues. Because of this outdating of their traditions, this view has led to the victimhood that many Aboriginals are now part of.

For years, Aboriginals have been told that their culture is so wonderful that they don’t need to assimilate to the culture change in Australia, and this has now put Aboriginal communities on the back foot, particularly in how to handle problems experienced in the communities because there is now an entrenched feeling of entitlement and betrayal, at the hands of white Australians. This has led to any white Australians attempting to help being labelled “racist” when all they’re trying to do is assist. This started under the leadership of Gough Whitlam, the only Prime Minister ever dismissed during his term.

Secondly, the idea that Aboriginals should be treated differently was rubbish back in the 1970s, because the sense of entitlement and the welfare dependence had not taken full flight. The Whitlam initiatives altered this. They taught the younger, more impressionable Aboriginals that they don’t need to work or have any sense of entitlement, and these days, the Aboriginal elders generally deplore the welfare dependency which has become prevalent. Noel Pearson is a prime example of the elders who dislike the current welfare dependency of many Aboriginals.

There are solutions to the welfare-dependency and the alcohol and drug addictions suffered by many Aboriginals, and one key one which is able to solve several problems faced by many communities. This is to fly Aboriginal people capable of working down to vineyards and farms who are desperate for fruit pickers, which would pay them fair wages and take them out of the influence of the problems experienced in their hometowns. It would also give them a sense of achievement, something many of these people may not have experienced before. It may even be the start of a career for many of them, and that can never be a bad thing.

This type of initiative was tried in the 1960s*, and it was so successful while it was being run as a coalition between private enterprise and missionaries in the communities that it was taken over by the Federal Government. It promptly got run into the ground.

In this 2005 interview with serial moron Terry Lane**, Milton Jones puts forth some very compelling reasons as to why this arrangement should be considered yet again. This will also solve the problem Kevin Rudd has about needing to fly in 25,000 fruitpickers from the Pacific Islands to do the work needed in the orchards, when he has refused to bring Aboriginals south to do the work.

This is not the only problem that it would solve for Kevin Rudd. After Australia’s Great Big Sorry as well as the Australian Labor Party’s constant opposition to the Northern Territory National Emergency Response, Kevin Rudd needs to find a way to show the people who voted for him that he’s going to fix the Aboriginal communities’ problems. What better than to bring a lot of them south to build up self-esteem, build up work skills, build up their financial resources and break some habits learned all through childhood?

It would go a long way to helping Aboriginal communities, but Kevin’s not going to do it. He can’t possibly sanction the possibility that maybe some Aboriginal workers would want to work for between $500-$700*** per week than the $90*** they receive from the Federal Government while being idle.

ONYA KEV!

*Read the first letter.
**Thanks for the link Kae.
***Quoted in this 2005 interview.

Noel Pearson - A Lawyer Even Angus Can Admire