Karnal wrote on Feb 28
th, 2018 at 8:36pm:
Frank wrote on Feb 28
th, 2018 at 8:29pm:
As you can see, the old boy studied hard for his citizenship test.
Did you learn about the Boongs, dear boy?
Good show.
Er... yeah.
The rhetoric emanating from the indigenous lobby about closing the gap has little to do with finding real solutions for the differences in social outcomes between the most disadvantaged indigenous people and other Australians. Instead, the anniversary has been used as a pretext to advance the political agenda of urban-based indigenous activists, who are encouraging policymakers to double-down on the failed ‘separatist’ approach to indigenous affairs of the past 50 years, which is truly responsible for the plight of indigenous people in rural and remote communities.
...
Many prominent indigenous leaders enjoy all the benefits and opportunities of life in mainstream Australia as a member of the growing indigenous middle class, who in recent times — as ABC indigenous editor, Stan Grant has observed — have closed the gap for themselves and fully participated in the Australian dream of freedom, prosperity, and the ‘fair go’ for all. This is not the 1900s or 1950s when indigenous people faced not only prejudice but also structural barriers including legal exclusion from participation in Australian society. Thankfully, the days of White Australia are long gone, and most indigenous people are succeeding on their merits through hard work and education, as are Australians from all ethnic backgrounds in all walks of life.
A measure of this is the fact that the 80 per cent of indigenous Australians who live mainly in urban areas have similar employment, health, housing and other social outcomes as their non-indigenous peers. By contrast, it is in the rural and remote ‘homeland’ communities that the remaining 20 per cent of indigenous Australians suffer the worst disadvantage and disproportionately account for the size of the overall gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/02/minding-the-gap/