CENSUS BOOM PUZZLE

T2013, 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 antiAboriginal society.

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.