Indigenous culture can live on

The importance of such early childhood contact and of Aboriginal sporting successes in brokering mutual understanding between the cultures cannot be underestimated.

The Indigenous art movement has likewise stimulated interest in Aboriginal culture and provided meaningful employment for traditional artists. Other traditional people have found employment in caring for their tribal lands, or in the tourism, mining, pastoral and service industries.

However, most people in traditional communities do not have real jobs, partly because there are too few jobs, and partly because they lack the necessary knowledge and skills for what needs to be done. Houses in bush communities are in short supply and always in need of renovation, cars go unrepaired, stores are often poorly stocked and run, and most service tasks depend on outsiders.

The social disorder and poor health in Aboriginal communities is a national responsibility. It is unfair to use Aborigines as scapegoats, just as it is unfair to lay all the blame on the public servants with responsibility for Aboriginal policy but with limited understanding of the culture.

Despite good intentions, some social indicators have deteriorated. This would not have happened if all Aboriginal people had been as well informed as other Australians, so that they could see their way to a life of meaning and fulfilment, with the freedom to choose their employment, their place of abode, and the education and health services that other citizens assume as a birthright.

These choices have not been available to most Aboriginal people, partly because of poor educational access, but also because of strong ties to land and to family, and the mistaken view that traditional Aboriginal culture could survive unchanged in such a rapidly changing world.

It is likely that traditional communities will survive only by embracing the education and training that will allow them to better understand the social and economic values of other Australians. Leaders such as Noel Pearson and Galarrwuy Yunupingu have trodden that path; they recognise that with more skills, Aboriginal men and women will have more opportunities for employment and be more able to service their own needs.

The role of government is to provide an enabling policy framework. An immediate task is to provide more police to ensure security in dysfunctional communities, to protect women and children and provide remedial programs for alcoholics and offenders.

Treasury has recently acknowledged the strategic importance of Aboriginal education and training. Policies must be rethought, in partnership with indigenous experts, to include specialist training for teachers and new curriculums to help them teach the skills needed for survival and success in both cultures.

Scholarship and exchange programs should be extended. Government should also facilitate the growing efforts of the commercial sector to provide services, training and employment for Aboriginal people, and encourage competition to ensure efficiency and prevent exploitation of vulnerable communities.

Aboriginal and government leaders should agree to pragmatic educational solutions; they should consult those in academe and industry with knowledge of Aboriginal culture and languages, as well as technical experts, and help them develop two streams of a new curriculum.

The first stream should provide cross-cultural education and special training for all government and non-government employees providing services for Aboriginal people. The second should rewrite the education curriculum for Aboriginal children and adolescents to help them make their way in the wider world, and to allow them to understand and preserve the best features of their culture. Such approaches will be welcomed by all Australians of goodwill.