Indigenous homes built on despair

AS Australians have confronted the depth of the social and cultural breakdown in remote indigenous communities, there has been a growing discussion around their very viability, and whether these communities should continue to exist. The previous government, especially under former senator Amanda Vanstone's indigenous ministry, started to articulate and implement a policy that sought to grapple with the question of the viability of remote communities. Measures were introduced that discouraged decentralised settlements, otherwise known as outstations or homelands. The viability of remote communities is an important discussion, but it is not one that can properly be led by senior bureaucrats and politicians. We must never forget that the congregation of Aboriginal people into settlements such as those on Cape York Peninsula was not by the choice of the people themselves, writes Noel Pearson.

Aust 5 Jan 2008