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Howard urges Aboriginal patience

By Phil Mercer

30 May 2005 - BBC (UK) - Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has warned the process of combating disadvantage within the country's Aboriginal community could take years.

He has been addressing a conference on reconciliation in the capital, Canberra.

Opposition politicians are demanding that the government apologises to aborigines for past injustices.

The prime minister said the way forward for Aborigines was to reduce welfare dependency.

Native communities should take more responsibility for health and education, he added.

Mr Howard told the conference that he was optimistic that things were moving in the right direction, but he cautioned there would be no quick solutions.

In terms of living standards, employment opportunities and rates of imprisonment, many Aborigines are far worse off than their non-indigenous counterparts.

'Dismantling barriers'

Drug and alcohol abuse is rife, and Aboriginal men can expect to die 20 years younger than white Australians. The prime minister has acknowledged that his government's plan faces some tough challenges.

"It must harness our shared commitment to overcoming community disadvantage, dismantle the barriers that hinder indigenous Australians from sharing in the bounty that this great country has to offer," he said.

The leader of the main opposition Labour Party said the government should formally apologise to indigenous people for the way white Australia has treated them in the past.

Kim Beazley has also said that efforts to address Aboriginal disadvantage continue to fail.

Some of Australia's newspapers are more upbeat. One report over the weekend insisted that Aboriginal welfare was about to be revolutionised.

It said new social agreements would require indigenous communities to help themselves if they wanted more assistance from the government.

Source: BBC

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