OPINION: Given the almost unresolvable conflict between traditional and western culture, setting up an institution enshrined in the Constitution isn’t going to make much difference in practical terms.
Eighteen years ago, when I was the leader of the opposition, I thought I should educate myself about Indigenous disadvantage. I wanted to find out why the living standards of Indigenous Australians were so disgracefully low, why some remote communities were wrestling with violence and lawlessness and why the life expectancy of Indigenous Australians was so short compared to the rest of the country.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has his face painted during the Garma Festival at Gulkula in eastern Arnhem Land.I didn’t listen to their advice and in the short term they were completely right. The visit was a political disaster. My opponents made merry of it accusing me of being a racist, a fascist and any manner of insulting terms. Mind you, I was pretty used to the personal abuse meted out with vehemence by the political left.
Part of the problem is that we have never really resolved a simple proposition which is one of culture, not race. On the one hand, we treasure Indigenous cultures as not just the first cultures of our country but as the oldest existing cultures on earth. And having visited the communities, it’s hard to imagine how they can survive without substantial government support. There are obviously very few jobs in such remote locations. It is difficult to get teachers and healthcare workers to live in such isolated places. And other facilities so familiar to people living in metropolitan areas are inevitably absent.
It’s easy to see how specific interventions designed to assist Indigenous Australians directly affect them but then so too does trade and foreign policy, fiscal policy as well as health and environment programs. To what extent do any of these policy areas affect all Australians except Indigenous Australians? When put that way, it sounds like a pretty strange concept.
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