phoenixinoz

Reading this today at work I was shocked by some of the comments in this report.

http://www.Australian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19149874-2702,00.html


The aboriginal communities *seem* on the whole to be displaced.

It got me thinking.

Does Australia enable aboriginal communities live their own lives relatively undisturbed and unchanged as they have for thousands of years, or does Australia intervene and integrate them into the majority*Australian* society?

Grayling

Good job I didn't post that :scared:

G

phoenixinoz

Lets not scare monger though G.

These are not usual circumstances and I personally feel safer here than I ever did in the UK

The report focused on the fact these things happened in aboriginal territories and the problems associated with leaving the aboriginal communities to *police* themselves.

This got me thinking about things and whether these communities should be left to self manage and continue living the lives they have always lived, or whether the aboriginal communities should be encouraged to be integrated into mainstream Australian society?

The thread was started as a form of intelligent debate rather than demonstrating lawlessness here. After all...wherever there are people world over, there will be crime.

No one on here is that stupid to think otherwise.

Grayling

Most people won't care....it was amongst aborigines

Doesn't apply to caucasians does it?...therefore it is irrelevant

G

Ransi

A tough one this...

Letting "mens bussiness" carry on? Which means anally raping and drowning 4 year olds,7month olds and 2 year olds.....and thats all i've read in the link...what the hell goes on that we dont know about?...

phoenixinoz

I don't agree Grayling.

I think people do care but maybe they don't know what to do for the best

Perhaps it's one of those situations that whatever Australia does, it will be wrong i.e no win situation

thribble

Or perhaps somewhere inbetween? White men screwed the aboriginal lifestyle many many years ago. And in the last however many years that they've been trying to find an answer, all those big brains have failed. I'm no expert, and I don't have an answer, but it makes me very very sad - the one black mark against this country.

Grayling

Well

Let's see what sort of responses there are.

G

phoenixinoz

There could be some scare mongering going on in the report though Ransi and given the size of the aboriginal communities Vs the rest of Aus, it's not a massive problem in proportionate terms. This doesn't distract from the terrible tragedy of it all though

The question is.....does Australia let the aboriginal communities carry on living their own lives in their own way [as it seems to have done so far].... or does Australia expect aboriginies to become more mainstream and integrate within Australian society?

Is this a no win situation

phoenixinoz

Yeh, I think this too. But then again, does Australia keep saying sorry and turn a blind eye for the *misgivings* of all those years ago

moneypenny20

Can you never have a positive slant on anything . I don't believe you are so embittered. With your work, you can't be. You regularly confuse the hell out me to be honest.

I am fairly ignorant of the Aborigines - I put my hand up to it. I realise there is a big big problem, I do read stuff, but am at a loss as to what I can do to actually make a difference. There are too many problems in the world and always have been, all I can do is make sure me and mine are as well versed as we can be and never discriminate against anyone.

Ransi

Yes...I hear what your saying.

It will never be sorted...too much hatred on both sides...sad for the little ones and thats all I care about...

thribble

I do think that there seems to be a lot of "well that was in the past". I was appalled the other week here when the gov't allowed the aborigines to keep the sacred flame at Domain, but removed all their tents, thus leaving them to tend it in the open air.

Pretty heavy discussion topic, this one!

A while ago I went to a lecture/discussion thing. One of the women speaking was aboriginal. She told a story of an aboriginal lecturer in Queensland who collapsed of a stroke at a bus stop. It was 5 hours before anybody stopped to ask if she was okay, and then it was some Japanese students. Everybody else assumed she was just another drunk. When its easy to see what is right in a story like that, I question whether I myself would have stopped. Which makes me terribly, terribly ashamed.

Grayling

Come on

You know most people thinking of migrating (or most whites who live there) could not give a toss about the aborigines.

Just look at a lot of the racist nonsense that is put on here about people in the UK

That is reality.

G

djfbug

This is a real toughy - these things go on in Africa and are reported in the UK press so you get a litte numb about it. Basically the Aboriginies are not a christian society - or muslim - or buddhist - or any other what we call mainstream religion and therefore we cannot understand or even start to understand their thought process when it comes to these henious crimes. They are still, what we would have called 200 years ago, savages, who live by their ways and rules and unless the Australian Government takes steps to integrate them into mainstream society they will never change.
Then comes the BIGGY - Why should they change? They have lived the same way for centuries and whilst they live in their own communities and do not commit crimes on the outside it does not concern the Oz Gov. The debate is - Should it?
I dont know the answer. Even if there is one I doubt it would be satisfactory to either the Aboriginies or the Liberal society we now live in