[eggstoocool]

WOW what a topic... well now lets see just where do I start??

Kangaroos, well they can i believe also be found in small numbers in Papua/New Guinea... and Im lead to believe that their is a community of Wallabies living on the Moors somewhere in Lancashire, must be the ashton-under-lyne region, that apparently escaped from some kind of wildlife zoo a few years ago and have thrived there.

It seems to me that the media always make these situations seem much worse than they really are, however i this instance yes there has been some talk of authorities going into aboriginal communities and taking action. I have quite a number of Aboriginal friends, i grew up right next door to a coastal aboriginal community, and have stayed in contact with the people i met in school. The Koori folks (aboriginals own name for themselves) that I know are the first to say that their people shouldnt be allowed alcohol, they become aggressive and destructive more than anyone else i have ever met after just a few drinks.

Let me go back a few years.... when i was at school, about 25% of the kids in my school were aboriginal, the rest were a mix of many other cultures, Australian, British, American, European, African, Indian, Asian.... and so on. I lived in a very multicultural neighbourhood... The Aboriginals however were the only ones that had everything at school provided free... uniforms, books, pencils, school lunches, even breakfast was provided for them, the costs to go on camps and other field trips was all covered for them. This has continued throughout the years as other peoples education costs have risen year by year. Another thing provided free is childcare, which costs the rest of us around $60 - $80 a day... (around 25 pounds a day). They also receive a higher rate of welfare from the government if unemployed than the rest of us, and thats just how most of them choose to stay... unemployed... the houses i read about in a post earlier in this topic, are also provided free for them.... and I can respect that they may not want to live in a dwelling where one of their family or friends may have passed away, but that doesn't mean they should be lighting fires in the middle of the living room and totally destroying those houses.... you will find whole communities of destroyed houses.. with the residents living in the streets... and id be willing to bet that they weren't all houses someone had died in!

What other people in Australia are asking... is where is the discrimination really... are they being discriminated against having everything handed to them.... or are the rest of us the ones being discriminated against by not being given the same things. Im not really sure about where the black and white schools comment earlier came from, because i have never known any segregation in schools here at all, I went to school with all colours and cultures and so did my children.. they all saw and did the same things and all had the same opportunities for education and career.... however i can say that the aboriginal folks often kept their children home from school, and guess what, even if they had missed half the year, they still passed.... but if the rest of us missed even half of the time they did, we would have failed..

I work with number aboriginal people, and while most of them are great, there are a few of them that ring in sick every other day... you can probably guess what im going to say next.... I work 40 hours a week over 5 days... fairly normal full time employment.... but how long do you think I, or any of you, would keep your jobs if we took off 5 out of every 10 days we were meant to work? Not long i can tell you.... but do these people lose their jobs? no way... because if they did, then the aboriginal affairs people would be screaming discrimination..... again i ask.. where does the discrimination in that really lie?

A lot of Australians (and I use the term Australians quite liberally, because Australians are from many many cultures and nations) are getting a little tired of not being treated equally, and getting a little tired of having to apologise for the way our forefathers may have treated aboriginals in the past..... (and i mean in the early days of settlement, and all the perpetrators and injured parties are now long gone) How many times do we have to say sorry and try to make it up to them by handing everything to them on platters... just to have it thrown back in our faces over and over... They have become like a culture of spoilt children who just put out their hands when they want something, and its given to them..... but like all parents know, what our children want isnt necessarily good for them.

Im not a racist in any way, my friends and neighbours number folks from all kinds of cultures and nations, and you can believe that the general aussie public are up in arms about the things we have been hearing in the media.... There have however been reports coming out of Aboriginal communities.... I believe some very isolated communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.... that the welfare benefits they receive are mainly being spent on alcohol and cigarettes, and not on providing for the needs of their children, and that some children have been subject to mental and physical abuse, and some even having sex for money to provide more funds for the family.... these reports were first brought to light by other aboriginal people living in the communities in question, and subsequently investigated and apparently proven to be true.... so yes perhaps the government does need to take a hand and keep back part of the welfare to make sure the children receive food and clothing and other basic needs, and maybe some of the badly abused children do need to be removed from their homes..... and lets face it, if you or i were found to be abusing our children in these ways, would not child protection authorities move in the same way? All I know is that if these reports are really true, then something has to be done about it... and just how does one handle it.... how does one suddenly stop spoiling a child they have given everything to their whole life, and hold them to the standards and laws the rest of us are held to, without creating uproar of some kind?

When it comes to Aboriginal land rights, Im of the opinion that places that are sacred to them culturally and religiously, should be definitely be preserved.... they are often beautiful peaceful places, full of the history of the aboriginal people.. no one has the right try to take those places away, or to do anything that may endanger or destroy them. Im with the Aboriginals all the way when it comes to their land rights.

I dont believe that australia is such an openly racist place at all.... we just have strange ways that other people dont always get.... name calling seems to be part of it.... its a mateship thing.... I wont even bother trying to explain it!!

Well enough from me i think.

Eggs xx