Voting No? You may have this key assumption wrong

If you’re thinking of voting No in the Voice referendum because governments have been spending so much taxpayers’ money trying to “close the gap” without much sign of success, perhaps you need to reconsider. If the Voice to parliament of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is enshrined in the Constitution, obliging our politicians and bureaucrats to listen, chances are that money will be better spent.But I can tell you...

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If only the Indigenous had the worries of the well-off aged

One thing I hate about elections is the way politicians on both sides seek to advance their careers by appealing to our own self-centredness. I suppose when they know how little we respect them for their principles, they think bribing us is all that’s left. The federal election campaign hasn’t started officially, but already the one issue to arouse any passion is the spectacle of the most well-off among our retired screaming...

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Indigenous small business is on the rise

It’s the season of good cheer, so let me give you some good news: we’re not making the progress we should be in Closing the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but when it comes to increasing the ranks of Indigenous small-business people we’re doing surprisingly well. The number of Indigenous owner-managers is conservatively estimated to have increased by 32 per cent between 2006 and 2011, and by 30 per cent...

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We're Closing the Gap, but far too slowly

The latest report on government spending on Indigenous people makes shocking reading. So let me explain it to you before some One Nation-type gives you her version. The report estimates that federal and state spending on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Australians was more than $33 billion in 2015-16, a real increase of almost 24 per cent since 2008-09. That amounts to spending $44,900 a year per Indigenous Australian,...

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