28 Jul Why has our indigenous policy failed? (Sydney Morning Herald)
TO answer this question, it would be easy to list the usual suspects, such as fluctuating political will and commitment; dependence on the political cycle; the lack of consultation; inadequate, mismanaged or misdirected service delivery; failure to address root causes; and a focus on symptoms.
But the answer might be deeper. When considering the purpose of indigenous policy as framed by successive governments, policies at all levels and by all political parties have been formulated to address ”the indigenous problem”. This mindset may be at the heart of policy failure – indigenous people have been, and continue to be, defined as problems to be solved.
Whenever I wrestle with indigenous issues to which there are no simple solutions, I am drawn back to my own people in western