Stan Grant’s much-publicised new book, Talking to My Country claims the nation is yet to be held properly to account for its historic crimes and injustices against Indigenous people.
He argues Indigenous Australians experience different outcomes in life to other Australians because the history of colonial oppression.
This is a questionable explanation for contemporary Indigenous disadvantage.
The original sins of Australia’s founding were acknowledged in the 1970s when they formed the basis of the policy of Aboriginal self-determination, which was specifically intended to right the wrongs of history by allowing Aboriginal people to live in traditional ways on their traditional country.
Ironically, the most disastrous event that has caused the greatest suffering for Indigenous people has been the implementation of the policy of Aboriginal self-determination to address the legacies of racism, imperialism, and colonialism.
The dysfunction that blights Indigenous communities is not due to the nation having done too little to address history’s sins, but due to having addressed these sins in a way that has ultimately condemned too many Indigenous Australians to poverty.
Grant does not see it that way. Instead he writes, that due to colonisation, Indigenous people are “without land” and “people with no land are poor.”
This is profoundly untrue. Aboriginal self-determination has meant that the poorest Indigenous Australians, who live in the remote homeland communities with the worst problems, are those who have continued to live closest to a traditional manner and on their traditional country.
The richest Indigenous Australians might not own their ancestor’s country, but they are healthy and wealthy because they have seized the opportunities of education and employment in mainstream Australia. They have escaped the ‘dream’ of self-determination — a dream that has long turned into a nightmare.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Self-determination dream has turned into nightmare
Self-determination dream has turned into nightmare
He argues Indigenous Australians experience different outcomes in life to other Australians because the history of colonial oppression.
This is a questionable explanation for contemporary Indigenous disadvantage.
The original sins of Australia’s founding were acknowledged in the 1970s when they formed the basis of the policy of Aboriginal self-determination, which was specifically intended to right the wrongs of history by allowing Aboriginal people to live in traditional ways on their traditional country.
Ironically, the most disastrous event that has caused the greatest suffering for Indigenous people has been the implementation of the policy of Aboriginal self-determination to address the legacies of racism, imperialism, and colonialism.
The dysfunction that blights Indigenous communities is not due to the nation having done too little to address history’s sins, but due to having addressed these sins in a way that has ultimately condemned too many Indigenous Australians to poverty.
Grant does not see it that way. Instead he writes, that due to colonisation, Indigenous people are “without land” and “people with no land are poor.”
This is profoundly untrue. Aboriginal self-determination has meant that the poorest Indigenous Australians, who live in the remote homeland communities with the worst problems, are those who have continued to live closest to a traditional manner and on their traditional country.
The richest Indigenous Australians might not own their ancestor’s country, but they are healthy and wealthy because they have seized the opportunities of education and employment in mainstream Australia. They have escaped the ‘dream’ of self-determination — a dream that has long turned into a nightmare.
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