Comments on: Rudd wants jobs for blackfellas, just not in the public service

By: Bev

Bev — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

The Aboriginal people need to walk the road, us Australians walk, because they are part of us, and Lets get down to business and make sure we make the Aboriginal not just walk the \walk, but talk, the talk,. They are good at so many things, we need to come to terms, with this matter, and not just put them on the rubbish, heap, as no hoppers, lets show rest of the world we care,

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

With the Federal Government departments shedding workers as a result of efficiency dividends there probably isn’t much hope for extra Aboriginal staff while the departments have a recruitment freeze. There are plenty of good Aboriginal workers but many don’t have the stomach for government policies which are negative and create problems for Aboriginal communities.

As long as the Government Ministers rely so heavily on out of touch and scared but top down command control Canberra bureaucrats to advise them and implement policy little will change.

By: Catullus

Catullus — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Sorry Jenny, the world won't wait. The only responsible message that we can convey to Indigenous people is "get a job, get a good education for your kids, find a place where you can do this". Where we are able to, we should help them do so.

To do anything else (such as delude them into thinking that there is an easy or practical alternative, or that the rest of the world owes them a living, or that capitalist society will ever invest enough in their rural enclaves to really make a difference, or that passivity and reliance on charity & welfare is healthy) is treacherous and irresponsible.

If the sins of the captains of capitalism's infancy can be atoned for now in the form of compensation for other sins together with self-government, it would still be too late for the present generations, as such atonement is by no means near.

Besides,these benefits are likely to be as deadly (or more so) for habitual hunter gatherers as those of invasion, settlement, colonisation, christianisation, assimilation, imposed under-educated & under resourced self-management, welfare dependency, alcohol fuelled faux self determination, post-modern value-free theorising, & Mal, Tony, John & Kevin's neo-paternalistic boot camps.

Even the offspring of the luddites, levellers & diggers fell into line & joined the working class when urban standards of living started to rise after the struggles of the Chartists; and the emancipated slaves soon saw the bright lights of Memphis & the Commodore Hotel.

It was not without reason that Frederick Engels said in his "Housing Question" in 1873, (Pt. III, Chapter 3): economic development "will be able to deliver the rural population from the isolation and stupor in which it has vegetated almost unchanged for thousands of years”, but only in the context of socail upheaval, technological development, thoughtful organisation & ongoing struggle.

By: Jenny Mac

Jenny Mac — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Catullus, you have put your finger on one of the very basic differences between Aboriginal cultures and whitefella cultures - Aboriginal cultures were hunter gatherer until very recently, and as you point out, are still hunter gatherer in their orientation to making a living. Cultures with a few thousand years of agrarian background are far better suited to take advantage of opportunities afforded by 21st century living. However, may I point out that at the beginning of the industrial era, the captains of the new industries had alot of trouble persuading formerly agrarian populations of the “dignity of labour”, and that it took the removal of every other option or resource the peasant populations had in order to draft the new workforces. The history of contact with non-Aboriginal culture in remote regions is, in some places less than 100 years. The sorts of changes you are recommending Aboriginal peoples need to make are going to be multi-generational, much as it was for non-Aboiginal people. The dismantling of Aboriginal cultures has been disastrous so far. How is more of the same going to help? And where would these people move to?? It’s difficult enough for poor non-Aboriginal people to find jobs, afford rents, transport, food for children, childcare (if they do find jobs), etc. In remote communities, it is family who provide the resource base and the services needed. In the local towns, and the early days of settlements such as Papunya, alot of problems arose from bringing formerly dispersed groups into close proximity to cpmete for scarce resources. It is not as simple as making the sorts of choices you recommend.

By: Schmony

Schmony — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

so, it took Keating from the report of the late 1980s until 1996 to implement a policy - that was good. it took Howard more than 4 years to undo the emplyment/departure ratio - evidence of evil.
Rudd has seven months of the last 12 months - and is responsible for the falling rate of Aboriginal employment. What a sad bunch of virtual critics we now see positioning and preening themselves as the holdres of virtue. How many articles did the Canberra times run on this 1996 - 2007? yeah, sure.

By: Catullus

Catullus — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

There are some fundamental problems emanating from Jenny Mac's analysis.

One of her basic assumptions is that "the world of work [was] thought up by whitefellas". This is a false premise: peoples of all colours have always had to "work for their supper". This dilemma was "thought up" by evolution, rather than by "whitefellas". It is an inescapable part of everyone's reality, unless they have been fortunate enough to have rich parents who indulge them.

Jenny asks "Why should Aboriginal people ... have to leave their country and their primary resource base (family)?". The simple answer is that they don't have to do so unless they want to participate in the wider society, its more complex economy & associated benefits - benefits which some see as "lifelong wage and debt slavery", but many others see as their only means of escaping poverty, misery, early death & "no future" for their kids.

The underlying basis of Aboriginal cultures may have been "an intense relatedness" - but the underlying basis of traditional Aboriginal society was nonetheless"hunting & gathering", & in many senses this remains the same now.

As always, Aboriginal people (like the rest of us) have to decide how to get the balance between work & family right, under the circumstances which currently determine their existence. The only alternative is to choose not to worry about the length or quality of existence for themselves & their progeny.

If "participation in paid work is extremely difficult" in remote communities then residents (like the rest of us) have to choose whether or not to move. This is a very difficult choice, but it is inescapable. One of the main reasons that "the majority have chronic illnesses" is that their parents have chosen to remain in the remote communities & put culture & family ahead of education, jobs, health & futures for their kids.

Services may be inadequatein these communities, but the same applies in most small remote non-Indigenous towns.

By: Julius

Julius — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

No humbug from the author but the quote which included “respect between indigenous and non-indigenous communities” is another thing. Is there anything anywhere which the average non-indigenous Australian could recognise as an indigenous community worthy of respect? Maybe but what we NIAs see or know doesn’t give much hope. There are plenty of individual Aboriginal people who have and are worthy of respect. Could it be that few of them - only a few of the elderly possibly - are without a good command of English and a capacity to live in a modern community comfortably and even with profitable employment? If so, concentrating on giving all the children a modern education, even if it involves persuading them (and their parents to allow them) to leave their ouback communities to achieve it, is surely critical.

By: Jenny Mac

Jenny Mac — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

There are lots of factors that impinge on Aboriginal unwillingness and inability to engage in the world of work thought up by whitefellas. The underlying basis of Aboriginal cultures is an intense and not readily observable relatedness - family and relationships define who you are as an Aboriginal person - not what you do for a living. In remote communities particularly, participation in paid work is extremely difficult, as the majority of the population of working age have at least one chronic illness, are caring for family with chronic illnesses, are trying to look after a bunch of kids, and have extensive and time consuming family and cultural obligations and responsibilities. Services such as adequate health, education, childcare, aged care, public transport and infrastructure are either scarce or absent in these communities. Families are also often looking after other family members who for one reason or another have fallen through the social security “safety net” (ha!) and do not have the skills to jump through the many and varied hoops to get back onto some form of benefit. The jobs that work best for Aboriginal people in remote communities are part-time or flexible, are congruent with family and cultural responsibilities, and take account of the primary imperatives of Aboriginal family life. One woman in a remote community looks after 17 children, in a 2 bedroom one bathroom house. She has difficulty getting all these kids off to school on time, has health problems of her own, and cannot, with the best will in the world, get a job. Why should Aboriginal people, the original inhabitants of this country, have to leave their country and their primary resource base (family) in order to participate in lifelong wage and debt slavery? There’s lots of rhetoric about work/life balance around at the moment. Maybe there’s a thing or two we should learn from Aboriginal people about what is important in life.