Australian Aboriginals
Tony Abbott‘s indigenous affairs spokesman Nigel Scullion has attacked both sides of politics for an obsession with “boats” over indigenous Australians, arguing the bigger crisis was with closing the gap.
In comments that criticise the current focus on border security, the Northern Territory senator said he thought this issue should have a higher priority.
Senator Scullion said closing the gap on health and poverty for Aborigines should replace the national political debate over asylum-seekers.
“I’m a person who aspires to become indigenous affairs minister and I think this is more important than boats,” he said.
“If we made it a more important issue, it would help us close the gap.
“If we had as much space given to this as border control, it would help change the situation.
“I would hope that during the election we could focus on a broader range of issues, the plight of first Australians being the first one.
“Why isn’t this a first-order issue? On the first day Kevin Rudd prioritised the boats, why wasn’t this on the list? There is a fixation on this by both parties, and I think it’s become an absolutely singular issue.”
Source: The Australian – Indigenous crisis a bigger issue than borders: ScullionRelated articles
- Australia’s Aborigines blame racism for poor health standards (craighill.net)
- Indigenous Australians over-represented in serious crash data (caradvice.com.au)
- Indigenous incomes still not keeping up with Australian average (guardian.co.uk)
- BFI to host Indigenous Australian film program (australiantimes.co.uk)
- Yirrkala, 50 years on: Kevin Rudd flags fresh push on Indigenous constitutional recognition (abc.net.au)
- Weaving with Indigenous Australian women of the Northern Territory (thecultureclassroom.com)
- Indigenous incarceration rate a ‘cancer’ (bigpondnews.com)
- Honouring Indigenous Australians During NAIDOC Week (mangosalute.com)
- What’s Ours is Ours: asylum seekers, native peoples, and the nation state. (womenintheology.org)
- Australia’s ‘stop the boats’ policy is cynical and lawless | John Pilger (guardian.co.uk)
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Posted by curi56 | August 4, 2013, 03:14