Nothing bothers me more than the continual repetition of poor public policy choices. Whether it concerns the economy, education, public housing, drug laws, higher education, whatever, I like to think of myself as constantly open to diverse ways to engage with, and respond to, well, anything really.
Thus, new ideas to enduring problems are always interesting to me. Australian economist Andrew Leigh (whose blog I have enjoyed for some time now) is someone who is always out there with interesting new ideas. In his blog today, he proposes five novel suggestions for PM Kevin Rudd's [that still sounds odd to me] proposed 'war cabinet' on issues related to Indigenous disadvantage. I can't say that I'm overly keen on all of them, but I like that people are prepared to think from left field. By crikey, if any public policy area is in need of fresh ideas, this is one!
So there I was, arm hooked up to the machine, watching my plasma swirl away into a bag while the morning news dribbled across the screen like a bad fever dream. And what were they showing? A "riot" in Melbourne, allegedly. The sort of riot where the real thugs wear body armour, carry pepper spray and look like they just walked off the set of RoboCop. The people they were beating? A ragtag crew of teenagers and old hippies—probably fresh out of a drum circle, still smelling of patchouli. But sure, let's call it a riot. Now, here's where it really gets good. I mentioned this spectacle to a few people later, thinking maybe they'd share my outrage or, at the very least, give a damn. But no. What did I get instead? A smirk, a chuckle, and—oh, the pièce de résistance—"You should really just let it go." Let it go? Yeah, let me uncork a nice, overpriced cup of coffee, sit back with my legs crossed, and soak in the latest reality TV trash. Why bother caring when ...
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It kind of suggests to me that slotting the disadvantaged into 'immigrant' or 'indigenous' groups isn't the relevant point, it is the fact that some groups don't perform well in the society constructed by others. Whereas, say, the strong entrepreneurial culture of Greeks, Jews and many Asians means they prosper pretty much anywhere they end up, that isn't so for everyone.
Education is at the heart of it, I suspect, and encouraging it has to be A Good Thing. But underpinning educational success is the values system which certain cultures have which place a high importance on education. Simply offering a few pennies to people to turn up at school isn't really going to instill those values.
Do I have any better ideas? No.
Therefore, that’s where we are today. Simplistic patriarchal assimilation policies have been seen to fail. Similarly, simple ‘empowerment’ in the form of ATSIC has clearly failed, so as I said in the original post, I am glad to see people trying to think with a little more creativity to address what is a pretty serious problem. As with everything, it is trying to find the balance between structure and agency in an all too tangled problem loaded with cultural and historical significance.