See the high court decides constitutional matters and by voting yes and allowing a voice to parliament in the constitution means that any decision made in parliament that is against the wishes of this "voice" means it can be fought in the high court as it's a constitutional issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by fted
I know someone who has worked with the aboriginal community in the past and even some elders who are level headed are upset with their own community. Even thought on paper and the media they are united as one nation, behind the scenes they are a very divided community along clan and tribal lines and do not get along - classic example was that smoking ceremony where the other aboriginal confronted that other aboriginal employed to do the ceremony about how he cant carry out the ceremony as it was not his land (clans and tribes) They always want money to fix their issues and usually spend it on them selves and not fix their issues, they are very nepotism based community, another example is council wanting to plant trees on aboriginal land and they hit them up for money to do it.
There have always been an advisory body to the government about aboriginal issues but every change of goverment it is dissolved and replaced, so the whole issue of the voice is to have a permanent advisory body that can't be dissolved, but the reason it is always dissolved by new governments is because the previous ones weren't doing anything beneficial for the community and essentially became a money pit because they always say "we just need money to fix this issue". The Australian government already spends on average $35,000 per aboriginal person per year.
This is a slippery slope as yes they should have a say but at the same time if you give them a solid and permanent foundation that can't be challenged, it can cause problems for everybody because they will fight amongst themselves but also some but not all will try and lay claim to every issue. Aboriginal police officers who obviously know their own culture and practices and who are better suited to being a police officer rather than a white person when dealing with the community and crimes are subjected to abuse by members of their own community as being a traitor when they are just trying to help their own people.
Unfortunately there is still some communities that still promote a culture of hating the white fella and also even members of their own community who try to do the right thing are referred to as "coconuts" - black on the outside but white on the inside.
The whole change to the youth crime incarceration is just hiding the issue for them and doesn't fix the issue, banning alcohol or limiting its supply is a good thing to a certain degree but not foolproof because I've been told stories of long haul truckies buying alcohol at major centres and then driving across the outback and trading bottles of grog for sex with aboriginal girls as young as 13.
