Clear the remote communities, says former minister
Patricia Karvelas; 18/6/08
Aborigines in the Northern Territory should be encouraged to leave remote communities in the next phase of the federal Government’s intervention to normalise indigenous communities. In a radical paper in the journal Agenda, written to coincide with the anniversary of the intervention, Keating government minister Gary Johns has asked some tough questions about the viability of the communities. Mr Johns - president of the Bennelong Society, which aims to promote debate about indigenous policy - suggests the Rudd Government should consider more radical welfare solutions than paying indigenous people to live in places where there is no employment. Mr Johns argues it is better to save a child and potentially lose a culture than do the reverse by maintaining uneconomic and unsafe communities.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23881771-5013404,00.html
Jobs only way forward; Gary Johns; 18/6/08; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23880858-5013172,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Reconciliation