tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post6969815585886315322..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: Mr Howard, Mr Brough and Australia's Aborigines - 1Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-53463756917415416142007-06-24T17:31:00.000+10:002007-06-24T17:31:00.000+10:00Rereading my last response, I am not sure that I g...Rereading my last response, I am not sure that I got the tone right, tiwidownlands, and may have risked causing offence.<BR/><BR/>Of course you are aware of these things. It's just that I was already aware of the Tiwi Islands as a place that I would like to visit and then did a web search to check my memory. If you have positive things on the blog about the Islands, even promote them to possible visitors, then I think that it adds to the story. <BR/><BR/>In the next day or so, I will do a full story on this blog to try to show you what I mean.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-58816515627385987332007-06-24T13:28:00.000+10:002007-06-24T13:28:00.000+10:00Again my thanks, tiwidownland. As you may have see...Again my thanks, tiwidownland. <BR/><BR/>As you may have seen, I mentioned your initial comments in my next post - http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2007/06/intermission-hsc-new-england-and-tiwi.html. I will add to the post or do a new post to encourage my fellow bloggers. But I need to you to do something first.<BR/><BR/>I want you to add some positive stories about the Tiwi Islands to the supporter's site.I would like you to explain why this is all so important. <BR/><BR/>Here we have a community that is trying to grow. They have introduced tourism to bring people, to showcase Aboriginal life. They want their children to have access to everything that Australia in 2007 has to offer, but they also want to preserve the special and unique features of their own life.<BR/><BR/>The kids at school need to know that they are the future leaders, the people who will preserve and present the key elements of the Tiwi experience. <BR/><BR/>They may leave as I have my own country, I am of European ancestry but the sense of country is just as strong, but country goes with them. This is, I suspect, what Noel Puantulura wanted them to learn. <BR/><BR/>Your kids at Downlands know that they are different. They need to know what they are special. And they are.<BR/><BR/>Sorry for the lecture!Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-29040124062988155132007-06-24T10:27:00.000+10:002007-06-24T10:27:00.000+10:00Thanks for the kind thoughts. You may be intereste...Thanks for the kind thoughts. You may be interested in the other blog http://tiwibackhome.blogspot.com/<BR/><BR/>The first mentioned was to keep people back at home on the Tiwi Islands informed, the second, the one I refer to now, has been so supporters can keep up with what is happening.<BR/><BR/>You have to look for supporters because AbStudy money is like a 'Half Parachute', it is not enough to get you out of trouble!<BR/><BR/>For example, a kid can come from Northern WA or North Qld to the Perth or Bris for study, an NT aboriginal kid can only get to Darwin. You won't be funded beyond your state boundary.<BR/><BR/>They want to receive education along side non-aboriginal, and they want to be where they are beyond the badgering of drunken relatives.<BR/><BR/>The AbStudy policy is unintended discrimination against a place where the Traditional Aborigine is most numerous.TiwiDownlandshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03136541624454870425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-71502202669565531322007-06-24T05:39:00.000+10:002007-06-24T05:39:00.000+10:00Tiwidownlands,like Neil,my thanks for the comment....Tiwidownlands,like Neil,my thanks for the comment. I really do welcome all those who comment, but especially a comment like this that displays thought, has on-ground knowledge and and further teases the issues out.<BR/><BR/>I read the Tiwidownlands blog with interest. I would not have found it without your comment. I went to school in Armidale, TAS, just as cold, and played rugby in Toowoomba. So I actually know what the kids are going through. And the need for support.<BR/><BR/>I will try to continue the discussion today.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-74721059090643728042007-06-23T22:37:00.000+10:002007-06-23T22:37:00.000+10:00Great post Jim, and Tiwi Downlands's comment artic...Great post Jim, and Tiwi Downlands's comment articulates so much I wanted to say, but with more authority than I have. I have plagiarised shamelessly on my own blog. Thank you both.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-15107172844880426612007-06-23T21:14:00.000+10:002007-06-23T21:14:00.000+10:00Thank you for your post, the Six hours work was we...Thank you for your post, the Six hours work was well spent because you set things out clearly. Would you tolerate a 30 min response?<BR/><BR/>At the outset, one needs to exercise cynicism when a government which has been a long time in power, and has long looked a aboriginal problems and decides to act dramatically when there is electoral threat. <BR/><BR/>John Howard’s government has been very centralizing and we cannot assume they will do better than NT Government. Someone said visiting the Canberra Health Department as in flight going to a Boeing Cockpit and finding no pilots!<BR/><BR/>I wonder why this particular report generated such a dramatic response. Nothing cane from the report that was not well known for a long time! <BR/><BR/>The inquiry showed the constraints of Government in the NT Government, the two principals were a city based lawyer and a political activist – neither would know tiddly squat about remote communities. <BR/><BR/>The NT always has problems with the aboriginal problem because political viability depends on a cluster of Darwin and Alice Seats – which would not reward good work done for the indigenous. <BR/><BR/>And to talk about the population of indigenous in NT needs to be split up because the education, health and social profile of the traditional community is vastly different from the non-traditional.<BR/><BR/>I worry that the knee jerk of the Howard plan are a Presbyterian Temperance Union focus: Booze, Sex and Work House values.<BR/><BR/>The problems are complex! Aborigine communities have the highest percentage of non-drinkers of any community in the nation! But cigarettes and booze can absorb 50% of purchasing power. A solution to this will not be devised in Canberra! The imposition of flawed solutions makes people want to drink.<BR/><BR/>In some places it was the practice to marry off a twelve year old to an older man and at times a senile or drunken man reaches out where he should not. The communities can solve these problems if there are sufficiently empowered. Police come in with truncheon and righteousness and make a massive problem out of a minor problem.<BR/><BR/>Work-for-Dole is extensively employed in NT communities but these schemes need to be properly funded as the capitalization per worker is costly. Dripping taps are a great source of unhealthy but it takes money and equipment to fix dripping taps.<BR/><BR/>Noel Pearson talks great sense and deserves to be heard. I hope a lot more are heard. The consultation Canberra aims at is not impressive.TiwiDownlandshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03136541624454870425noreply@blogger.com