Population boom a puzzler
THE Aussie Census recently threw up an interesting statistic that seems to highlight the real truth about how racist this country is.
Since the last Census in 2011, 17 per cent more people identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
This figure is too high to be attributed to birth rates, and indicates simply that more people are ticking the “indigenous” box on the Census form.
The reasons for this aren’t known but the question must be asked: Would people be clamouring to highlight their black roots if Australia was – as we’re constantly told – a nasty, racist country?
If it was so unpalatable and terrifying to call yourself indigenous, why are 40,000 more people coming out as indigenous?
This is on the back of findings by Charles Darwin University that from 1981 to 2011, the number of indigenous Australians increased by about 185 per cent.
As reported by conservative commentator Andrew Bolt, the researchers stated:
“Although it is difficult to get a precise figure, much of the growth we have seen in the indigenous population is from people who did not previously declare they were indigenous, doing so in later censuses ...”
Activists delight in spreading lies about how white racism is holding back Aboriginal prosperity.
If this was remotely true, no sane person would willingly announce their membership of that group.
If being black automatically – as activists claim – consigned you to a life of white oppression and daily fear of harassment, you’d expect the numbers of people identifying as indigenous to sit around the birth rate, or maybe even decline as Aborigines desperately tried to avoid the horrors.
It’s obvious that those who now acknowledge their black ancestors don’t see the sort of racist negatives some would have us believe exist.
Evidence of how “unracist” and culturally senstive Australia is can be found in a lot of places. There are “in- digenous only” sporting teams, Murri Courts, exclusive hunting and fishing rights, native title, and exclusive-use computer rooms at universities.
According to the Productivity Commission (and reported by Bolt last year) governments spend twice as much per Aboriginal person than on everyone else.
In a recent speech to conservative think tank, The Centre for Independent Studies, federal MP Alan Tudge highlighted how many people are trying to end Aboriginal disadvantage.
He said the Auditor-General’s office found that Aboriginal communities now have one service for every five residents.
At the time of writing its report in 2013, it found that Wilcannia in NSW had 102 funded services from 18 state and federal agencies, with 17 more proposed. That’s 119 services for an indigenous population of just 474.
But the Aussie system allows anyone to identify as Aboriginal, no or only minimal proof required.
And companies are so keen to hire indigenous and diverse workforces that I know white people who have started ticking the “indigenous” box on job applications and memorising what Google says about their local native people in case they’re asked in an interview. At least one has reported more callbacks and offers of help than when he didn’t tick that box. Hardly the actions of an inherently anti-Aboriginal society.
There is more than enough evidence – if not proof – to show many Aborigines’ own actions, not racism, is the biggest cause of disadvantage.
As long as there are separate rules for blacks and whites, there is a divide and that divide is fuelled by activists who falsely claim they want to unite.
By having exclusive services and courts for Aborigines, we’re saying “you are different, you aren’t part of white society, you can’t make it on your own, Australia is a divided country” and this feeds the “racism is holding me back” narrative.
Meanwhile, prominent indigenous voices such as Jacinta Price and Anthony Dillon – who preach cultural change among their own people – are largely ignored by our elected leaders.
Rather than more services exclusively for Aborigines, there should be fewer if not none, so that people aren’t partitioned by race, but by their status as Australians. Surely this is the most logical path to unity, especially in light of repeated, abject and costly failures of the current divided system.