Archive for August, 2008

  • The latest issue before us is a policy presented by Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin to suspend the welfare payments of parents whose children do not attend school. Even if this policy is implemented nationally it hugely discriminates against Indigenous parents, because many Indigenous people in Australia live in situation that are wholly different to other Australian.  Yet indigenous parents in North East Arnhem have adopted a wide range of strategies to try to improve their children's prospects. We look at some examples...

    Punishing Parents – forcing attendence using welfare

    The latest issue before us is a policy presented by Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin to suspend the welfare payments of parents whose children do not attend school. Even if this policy is implemented nationally it hugely discriminates against Indigenous parents, because many Indigenous people in Australia live in situation that are wholly different to other Australian. Yet indigenous parents in North East Arnhem have adopted a wide range of strategies to try to improve their children's prospects. We look at some examples...

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  • In Yirrkala on the 23rd July 2008, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his cabinet were presented with a petition by a dozen key Yolŋu Indigenous leaders. The petition requested that the Federal Government begin the process of negotiation with Aboriginal people in order to recognise and protect Aboriginal rights in the constitution. How did Mr Rudd respond?...

    Closing the Gap Part 2 – A Yolŋu petition and an Ivory tower.

    In Yirrkala on the 23rd July 2008, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his cabinet were presented with a petition by a dozen key Yolŋu Indigenous leaders. The petition requested that the Federal Government begin the process of negotiation with Aboriginal people in order to recognise and protect Aboriginal rights in the constitution. How did Mr Rudd respond?...

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  • Have you ever noticed how it seems that other people just seems to know what they are doing when it come to relating to other people? I believe that no one really does know what to do, how we act and what we say in...

    The socially awkward, and the extrovert in other cultures

    Have you ever noticed how it seems that other people just seems to know what they are doing when it come to relating to other people? I believe that no one really does know what to do, how we act and what we say in...

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  • The Federal Government has embarked on a process they call

    Closing the Gap Part 1 – Symptoms & Causes

    The Federal Government has embarked on a process they call "Closing the Gap". It recognises that there is a gap between the outcome for Indigenous people and rest of Australia in key social indicators. Indigenous people and their communities face poor health outcome, poor job prospects and poor educational outcome compared to the rest of Australia. As Australians attempt so help to rectify such social problem we must distinguish the symptoms from causes, and ultimately find a way to treat the cause/s. Let me illustrate the difference between a symptom and cause using a parable.

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