The acceptance of this reality should be asserted on the basis that the broader community understands that much of what is wrong is the product of our history. I have had enough direct contact with the history of my own lifetime to know that we have in a quite brutal way reduced the capacity of many Aboriginal people to function in a way which will enable them to improve their own situation. Government needs to be in dialogue with Aboriginal Australia about the best ways to promote individual family and community responsibility. The spirit should be, we have made this mess, how do we work with you to fix it. What needs to be on offer from Government is partnership in Aboriginal endeavours to deal with these issues.
Partnerships are arrangements which require utmost good faith between parties.
What we are looking for is mutually supportive and respectful arrangements in which the mutual responsibilities of the parties are understood, where each accepts the obligation to act in good faith with respect to the other. As far as land issues are concerned there should be, as the present Government allows, acceptance of the fact that land is a vital issue for Aboriginal people and that they see their relationship with country as being something fundamental and different from the love which we all have for our piece of Australia. The final element of a better framework for solutions is that we need an ongoing and respectful debate on other symbolic issues and in particular on the place Aboriginal people have in this country. It would appear to me that at the moment the majority view within Australia would be that Aboriginal people are another minority in a country with many minorities. That is not the Aboriginal view and nor is it a view which will enable long term solutions to be worked through.