After more than a decade of willful neglect, the problems of Aboriginal poverty and disenfranchisment have blown up in Howard's face.
Howard is looking to dump the blame on the NT government. But that ignores the fact that such problems are endemic in other states as well.
Since the first days of colonisation, this has always been a Federal problem, and has always required a Federal solution. Unfortunately, the racist, insensate and greed-driven mindset of successive Australian governments, which has consigned Aboriginals to over two centuries of misery, has been alive and well in the Howard government.
A man who cannot even bring himself to say SORRY for past abuses is never going to provide the solution for future generations. What is urgently needed is not just plain, ordinary, human compassion, but a change of leadership.
