Comments on: Fred Chaney: COAG should not rush into closing the gap

By: Jillian Blackall

Jillian Blackall — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:07:49 +0000

Traudl, I think your implication of bad faith by Fred Chaney is very unfair - speaking of someone who has been actively involved in indigenous affairs for several decades. Most other former aboriginal affairs ministers gave up very quickly after finding how difficult it is to get anything done. No matter how bad mining companies were in the past, they have to be respected if they have genuinely changed their approach. Taking the moral high ground against any individual or company is not going to improve the situation.

By: Traudl Tan

Traudl Tan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:12:42 +0000

Fred Chaney in the past, I believe has been active in negotiations between Aboriginal people, Land Councils and mining companies, notably in the East Kimberley. He knows very well that most mining companies, with few notable exceptions, have screwed Aboriginal people mercilessly left, right and centre !

By: jungarrayi

jungarrayi — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:28:37 +0000

Sorry Fred, they’re not listening.
So “the Gap” is reported as having widened. Instead of concluding that maybe the Intervention isn’t working Prime Minister Rudd is telling us that “we need to do more” (Please No!!!).
Tony Abbott’s solution to the highly complex literacy “Gap” is to enforce truancy laws and impose fines on parents. Never mind that testing third graders in a (second) language they have not yet mastered by asking them culturally alien questions (NAPLAN testing) is inherently unfair and ultimately meaningless.
If the Government wants to make a real difference, it should take notice of people like Fred Chaney (the best Minister of Aboriginal Affairs we’ve had). Instead of sending Public Servants to “media handling” and “spinning” courses, they should take courses in Statistics and Logic. This may help to ensure that the billions spent on the “Aboriginal Problem” aren’t wasted.
The “mortality gap” was previously (and often) reported as being 17 years. Just quietly (and “under the radar”) it’s shrunk to 12 years for men, and 10 years for women (this in the same news report that mentioned that the “Gap” had increased). I understand this was the result of someone having revisited the data on which the 17-year gap was based.
I’ll leave the final word to Kim Beasley Sr. (may he rest in peace):

“In Australia, our ways have mostly produced disaster for the Aboriginal people. I suspect that only when their right to be distinctive is accepted, will policy become creative”