With respect, Aborigines can find solutions
Jane Vadiveloo; 30/6/08
Forty years ago, Aboriginal people were for the first time placed on an equal legal footing with the rest of the Australian population. The win was short-lived. Now, for indigenous people in remote areas, the hard-won rights — and responsibilities — that resulted from the 1967 referendum have been lost. The intervention, initiated by John Howard and continued by the Rudd Government, has introduced laws that are a contemporary form of the Aboriginal protectorate laws of the 1800s and early 1900s. In this sense, the Government is operating a system of effective apartheid in the Northern Territory. How can this happen in a democracy? Our leaders have demonised a group of people as morally inferior and inept — a dangerous tool used in many countries to justify abuses of the state.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/with-respect-aborigines-can-find-solutions-20080629-2ytm.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Reconciliation