40th anniversary

This year is the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum to give the Federal Government power to legislate for Aboriginal people and to count them as citizens. Disadvantage persists. This time of year is also an anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report and the Mabo case. Indigenous people on average have higher infant mortality rates, higher incarceration rates and higher rates of heart disease and diabetes than non-indigenous people, and lower incomes, lower job participation and lower school retention rates. There’s a 17 year gap between indigenous and non-indigenous life expectancy. Land was taken: white people grew strong.

Locally, the prospect of a dam on the Clarence River looks like another taking. Malcolm Turnbull’s SMEC Report doesn’t contemplate the existence of important Aboriginal cultural values attached to the Clarence. Too busy with dollars and demand projections.