This article first appeared in The Australian, 22 September 2005

The Dreaming Lives in Aboriginal Hearts, not the Land

Hon. Gary Johns

H.C. Coombs' vision of self-managing communities on Aboriginal communal land is dead. Land rights and the political disbursement of rent created a cargo cult mentality and welfare has prolonged and intensified the demise. As anthropologist John Avery remarked, 'communities with a high focus on income streams from Aboriginal land ... also stand out for high levels of substance abuse, violence and dysfunction.'

The Bennelong Society, formed by Peter Howson, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in the McMahon Government, and others in 2000 gives space to those who were convinced of the intellectual dishonesty of the Coombs' vision. Warren Mundine, the incoming president of the ALP used the Bennelong conference last week to speak his mind. As reported in The Australian, he laid waste to the shibboleths of communal land ownership and abominable cultural practices. Noel Pearson and former ATSIC CEO, Mick Gooda have also started to break new ground on welfare and stolen children.

The antidote to the Coombs' vision is simple, if difficult. All children must have a thorough grounding in the western education system and all that that entails for Aboriginal culture. In the words of Pastor Paul Albrecht, the attempt to 'aboriginalise' education has created immense confusion. In the midst of which, parents have forgotten about the importance of education, and students have stayed away. The data that would allow comparison of the performance of Aboriginal students in remote areas and those in the cities and regions is not available. State governments regard the data as 'too sensitive'.

Experienced observers who have lived in the communities for many years have this to say.

Steve Etherington informed the Society that 'There is no way to move from the present dysfunction to mainstream employment without a hiatus period ... [T]he question is which kind of discomfort yields the best outcomes - a period of transition or a further stage in the downward spiral ... [T]he cost of failing to act radically now, in human terms and in economic terms will be greater than allowing a movement of people to where jobs might be created and where, regardless of jobs in the short term, the kids can be protected and schooled.'

'I believe ... that people are infinitely more valuable in an absolute sense, than their cultures, which are often more valued by people who don't live in them, and whose interest in their maintenance may be quite selfish.'

John Avery informed the Society that, 'Aboriginal tradition is not about sitting down in one place inside a community. It is about making roads far and wide and physical mobility over long distances; and there is a tension between home and the road. Young Aboriginal people need to be encouraged and assisted to travel far and wide to find work.'

What is the purpose of the land rights movement when Aborigines cannot live; indeed, do not wish to live off the land? Providing services to tiny remote communities, perversely, denies the inhabitants the opportunity to engage in a wider world. There are 1200 discrete remote Aboriginal communities throughout northern Australia. The settlement involves housing, water reticulation, sewerage, electricity generation, and telecommunications and so on. This infrastructure is very expensive to build and maintain.

Those who believe that Aboriginal people are already adjusting to the dominant culture, albeit in some cases poorly, realize it is impossible to deny adjustment. What follows from this view is that payments and services should be delivered on the same basis as other citizens. Unemployment benefits should be delivered to people who look for work, children must attend school until the leaving age, and illegal activities should be punished. Programs based on adjustment have a chance of succeeding. For example, of the 100 Aboriginal children at Karratha high school, 30 are chosen to enter an after-school program. In essence, this program supports their study each day at a safe and quiet place, away from home. State and federal government and local resource companies support it. The program is meeting with some success. Boarding schools, where Aboriginal children can escape ruinous home lives also provides a chance of adjustment.

For nearly 40 years, Government, persuaded by well-meaning intellectuals have led people down a path that suggested to them it was possible to escape adjusting to the rules of a modern economy, a modern legal system, and a modern welfare state. Governments must now prepare Aborigines for the world outside of their communities.