I think there’s a subtlety to this argument that you’re missing.
The prosperity of all non-indigenous Australians is built on what was taken from the indigenous population with brutal force.
The single most important reason that there is such a large gap in quality of life between the indigenous and non-indigenous population is that for more than a century it was government policy to repress and deny opportunity to the indigenous population.
It is not unreasonable to think that we, as a population that has built a prosperous society on the ruins of theirs, that we could give them a hand to regain some benefit of our prosperity.
We hear a lot from conservative cranks that indigenous individuals should take responsibility for their actions, most progressives actually agree on that. I would argue that as a settler society we should take responsibility for our collective past actions.
I have to assume that you’re quite young since you seem to think that 30 or 50 years is enough time to erase the kind of trauma anglo-Australians put indigenous Australians through, this is living memory for many of us.
There really is no denying that coming from parents who have suffered trauma and economic disadvantage leaves the children at severe disadvantage themselves, ie the sins perpetrated on the grandparents of today’s young adults are a key reason for their disadvantage.
This kind of reasoning is often taken as ‘excusing’ bad behaviour, it shouldn’t be but it is explanation and we do bear some responsibility to alleviate that disadvantage while still holding people responsible for individual actions.
The final key point is that systemic racism remains rife. You would have to be willfully blind to not see that indigenous people are treated differently at the Centrelink office, the emergency department triage desk, at a job interview.
You correctly point out some big numbers involved in current support for indigenous focussed programmes, I suspect that much of this is providing services that they find difficult to access through the mainstream due to systemic racism which is kind of a bare minimum, regardless we have a long way to go.
The past isn’t gone, it isn’t even past. I hope you can appreciate that there is a but more subtlety to this issue than you seem to give it credit for.
You correctly point out some big numbers involved in current support for indigenous focussed programmes
Spending without proper consultation of Indigenous stakeholders is wasted money, and it’s not Indigenous Australians upon whom it reflects poorly. Every time right wingers bring up the spending it’s a massive own goal.on their part.
HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
I think there’s a subtlety to this argument that you’re missing.
The prosperity of all non-indigenous Australians is built on what was taken from the indigenous population with brutal force.
The single most important reason that there is such a large gap in quality of life between the indigenous and non-indigenous population is that for more than a century it was government policy to repress and deny opportunity to the indigenous population.
It is not unreasonable to think that we, as a population that has built a prosperous society on the ruins of theirs, that we could give them a hand to regain some benefit of our prosperity.
We hear a lot from conservative cranks that indigenous individuals should take responsibility for their actions, most progressives actually agree on that. I would argue that as a settler society we should take responsibility for our collective past actions.
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 2 months ago
Taleya@aussie.zone 2 months ago
When comments like yours think they have validity, then it shows we still have a long way to go. You and fucking Danby.
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 2 months ago
HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
Thanks for the response.
I have to assume that you’re quite young since you seem to think that 30 or 50 years is enough time to erase the kind of trauma anglo-Australians put indigenous Australians through, this is living memory for many of us.
There really is no denying that coming from parents who have suffered trauma and economic disadvantage leaves the children at severe disadvantage themselves, ie the sins perpetrated on the grandparents of today’s young adults are a key reason for their disadvantage.
This kind of reasoning is often taken as ‘excusing’ bad behaviour, it shouldn’t be but it is explanation and we do bear some responsibility to alleviate that disadvantage while still holding people responsible for individual actions.
The final key point is that systemic racism remains rife. You would have to be willfully blind to not see that indigenous people are treated differently at the Centrelink office, the emergency department triage desk, at a job interview.
You correctly point out some big numbers involved in current support for indigenous focussed programmes, I suspect that much of this is providing services that they find difficult to access through the mainstream due to systemic racism which is kind of a bare minimum, regardless we have a long way to go.
The past isn’t gone, it isn’t even past. I hope you can appreciate that there is a but more subtlety to this issue than you seem to give it credit for.
Ilandar@lemmy.today 2 months ago
Spending without proper consultation of Indigenous stakeholders is wasted money, and it’s not Indigenous Australians upon whom it reflects poorly. Every time right wingers bring up the spending it’s a massive own goal.on their part.
Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 2 months ago