Jasper Lindell (What did your family do in the Frontier Wars? CT 1/10/23 p. 38) quotes David Marr saying there’s “tremendous national meanness when it comes to supporting indigenous Australians.” And: “I hear in the referendum campaign whinging about the billions apparently wasted on Aborigines”.
Arguably, before the referendum boondoggle surfaced, no one “whinged” about money being wasted on Aborigines’ health and welfare. Some people may have wanted to know why Australia had, for many years, spent twice as much per head nationally, on Aborigines, as compared to non-aboriginals, without any apparent improvement in the living conditions, health and welfare of the bulk of rural aborigines. THAT was a legitimate inquiry and it has not been answered.
Publicly categorizing individuals who ask questions about that issue as "mean" is ‘ad hominem’ and irrelevant although it may sell books within the Aboriginal support industry and its sympathisers.
Arguably the answer lies in the fact that the Aboriginal support industry in Australia features far more organisations and agencies than any other interest group.
Despite his special pleading Marr mentions a case in 1974, almost 50 years ago, of an Aboriginal man in Mosman who was getting substantially subsidised to send his kids to highschool, while his white neighbour earning the same wage, didn’t. The situation has obviously deteriorated markedly since then.
Instead of insidiously blaming Australians for injustices that he asserts but doesn’t substantiate, occurred 170 years ago, Marr needs to reflect upon his reasons for blaming us for demanding to know why more representation and largesse is needed for the Aboriginal support industry which already gets twice the funding provided to average Australians: https://ronchapman.substack.com/p/noel-pearsons-cape-york-partnership
Ron
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