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Economically viable communities - land the mob in Sydney

By Graham Ring - posted Thursday, 8 December 2005


Don Watson’s writing is almost as good as beer. The author of Keating’s “Redfern speech” reckons that economists ought to be confined to cupboards, produced occasionally to vomit figures, and returned immediately from whence they came.

I’m not so sure.

I doubt we should even seek an opinion from the bean counters when it comes to matters of culture. I’m not talking about $300-a-seat opera tickets - though if that’s what floats your boat don’t let me stop you.

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For me, it’s listening to Paul Kelly sing songs which help to make sense of the madness. Or reading anything written by Helen Garner and marvelling at the way she can make the words dance. It’s knowing that I saw almost every game Nicky Winmar played at Moorabbin. It’s having Christmas dinner at Mum’s place. In fact, it’s all the little bits and pieces that add up to a life.

I’m not sure it makes sense to ascribe dollar values to joy, magic and imagination.

But if we have to turn the searchlight on “unviable communities” there are one or two other locations in this wide, brown land that warrant critical examination: like Tasmania. The post-Apple Isle has all the hallmarks of an economic basket case.

The previous owners, the Hydro family, went bad and sold the troubled triangle on to a Mr Gunn who got rather carried away with the pruning. You can only woodchip a tree once - and he has.

Sadly, dear old Tassie is looking a bit problematic. So make room for a truckload of Taswegians in this land of milk, honey and economic viability - wherever it is.

The best laid plans of mice and monsters sometimes go off the rails. The economists are far too cagey to keep all their nest eggs in the one basket, so they have a cunning fall-back plan in place.

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If they can’t transform 10,000 blackfellas from remote communities into public service clerks or telephone call-centre employees, then they’ll just turn them all into dolphins.

Everybody loves dolphins - and there’s a quid in them.

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First published as 'There's no accounting for taste' in the National Indigenous Times issue 94, on November ,2005.



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About the Author

Graham Ring is an award-winning writer and a fortnightly National Indigenous Times columnist. He is based in Alice Springs.

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