The Colonial Fantasy Why White Australia Can't Solve Black Problems

Abstract

Australia is wreaking devastation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The evidence is incontrovertible. Whatever the policy - from protection to assimilation, self-determination to intervention, reconciliation to recognition - government policies and programs have made little positive difference to the quality of life of the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In far too many instances, interaction with governments has only made Indigenous lives worse. The successes of a burgeoning Indigenous middle class cannot obscure this fact. Despite this, many activists, and analysts - Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike - still believe that working with the state is..