Closing the gaps needs to be realistic and practical

Comments on Michelle Grattan “Failure to make progress closing the Indigenous employment gap”, 12/02/2014, https://theconversation.com/failure-to-make-progress-closing-the-indigenous-employment-gap-23099

While we all like to see the close of the gap between Indigenous Australians and the rest, it will be very challenging to achieve all targets, particularly those like life expectancy within the set period.

Further, while I have very high respect to Deloitte Access Economics, the headline number of 1.15% economic benefit of closing the gap appears to be very optimistic, perhaps too optimistic.

What is the share of Australia's Indigenous population? How much can one realistically assume closing the gaps can achieve?

One must bear in mind that there are various gaps in a society such as Australia. For example, there is a perceived or observed pay gap between male and female in workplace in Australia that may take very long time to achieve to close that pay gap.

Funding for Indigenous education should be explicit and exclusive to achieve results

Comments on Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes “Protecting bad teachers produces chronic failure”, 9/03/2011, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/protecting-bad-teachers-produces-chronic-failure/story-e6frg6zo-1226017996627


The education of Indigenous children is extremely important, but sadly the current results are not encouraging.

There are many reasons for that and some can be very complex.

Both the commonwealth and state and territory governments need to develop an overarching strategy. Government funding should be explicitly identified and used exclusively for the purpose of educating Indigenous children and should not be shifted to any other purposes.

Competition should be encouraged and introduced to improve efficiency and results.

The current management of Indigenous education is not achieving the results that most people including Indigenous people have hoped. There is not much accountability in terms of funding, use and results.

This must change and the earlier that occurs, the better for Indigenous education.

Indigenous people should be given the rights to "govern" themselves

Comments on Sara Hudson “Wasting money damages Aboriginal health”, 10/12/2009, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/wasting-money-damages-aboriginal-health/story-e6frg6zo-1225808818702

It is very disappointing that there has been such a large gap between the Indigenous population and the rest of the nation in Australia.

The history shows that the government and bureaucracy and money are not necessarily effective in closing that gap.

There should be less red tapes and more accountability on the government's part. The problem with government on this issue is likely that they are either too afraid to do something for fearing that that is not right or not politically correct, or got involved too much in the detail where it simply does not have the expertise.

The government needs to stand back and take a different approach.

On the other hand, bureaucracy has also clearly been a problem. The recent Indigenous housing saga is one example. They are just too ineffective and inefficient. They should also stand back and get off the back of Indigenous people.

Indigenous people should be given the opportunity, funding and the rights and power to solve problems by themselves, with the assistance of government and other organisations when they require.

Indigenous people should take the initiatives and responsibility for their own welfare. If they fail themselves, that is their choice. But they are more likely to improve their welfare than any other outsiders can.

Where is accountability for Indigenous affairs by government?

Comments on Natasha Robinson “Slice of pie for building is shrinking by the day”, 20/08/2009, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25954870-5017272,00.html

It is appalling that when there is such an urgent need for Indigenous housing and the federal government has promised 750 houses would be built under the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program, not a single house has been built so far yet after so long. There should be reasonable accountability at both the federal and the Northern Territory governmental levels, some heads of responsible politicians and top bureaucrats should and must roll for such incompetency and negligence of duty.

This is likely to be one of the reasons why the state of our Indigenous people’s welfare has been in so poor for so long – governments and bureaucrats may have been seldom truly accountable for their policies and actions regarding Indigenous welfare. Some people say that our Indigenous people live like third world citizen in wealthy Australia. We need to change that intolerable situation now and act urgently.

Australia needs a much stronger voice from our Indigenous people. There should be an effective national Indigenous body to represent them and to have dialogue with our politicians and top bureaucrats on how to improve the situation of our Indigenous people. Their voice must be heard and their views listened to.

The failure of the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program thus far should serve as a warning for action, for the governments, the ministers for Indigenous Affairs, the relevant agencies involved in Indigenous affairs. They need to get their act together, now and quickly. Any further delay is absolutely unacceptable by any standard.

Indigenous children abuses - what to focus on is important

Comments on Tony Koch “Yet more proof of need to act”, 3/07/2009, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25725997-5017272,00.html

The focus should be on the present and the future but not too much on the past
The revelation that there has been wide spread sexual abuses of children girls in a community is shocking and most other Australians would feel outraged by that fact. Actions must be taken to protect vulnerable children to prevent any further abuses.

However, given the complex issues related to so many aspects of Indigenous people’s lives, a simplistic approach is unlikely to be productive. For example, a compulsory check for possible sexual abuses of each Indigenous girl may be one step too far, because it can cause distress to those children and their families involved. It is racially discriminative, because it is not done to non-Indigenous people, although sexual abuses do not occur to the same degree for the latter group.

There might be a need to rethink fundamentally about the approaches to the issues of abuse in Indigenous communities. International experiences such as peace and reconciliation in South Africa suggest that it is better to focus on the present and the future rather than on the past.

Such a similar approach to the issue of children sexual abuses in Indigenous community may sounds inappropriate to many in the first thought, but it may be more effective than a racially discriminatory and compulsive approach. Rationality and emotions are both important in addressing difficult issues.

Close the gap of Indigenous disadvantage

Comments on Kevin Rudd “Reformed COAG a one-stop co-op”, 1/07/2009, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25715209-5013480,00.html

The Rudd government has done significant reforms to the federal relations and should be congratulated for those achievements.

The main agenda item for the next meeting is an important one. The gap of disadvantage facing our Indigenous people is big and should not be tolerated by decent Australians. The federal and state governments must find more effective ways to narrow that gap.

While I don’t necessarily share the view of big government and spending as the PM does, I do wish him success in his effort in closing the gap between our Indigenous people and our other people.

There is also a responsibility for the leaders of our Indigenous people in closing the gap. Indigenous people themselves have an important role to play. Let’s hope that all relevant people play their part wherever and whenever they can to do their bits to close the gap.