Lands of Shame: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 'Homelands' in Transition

Renowned economist Helen Hughes brings her many years of development experience to bear on an analysis of the reasons for the appalling standard of living in Australia's remote Aboriginal communities, and argues passionately for a radical and wide-ranging reform program to improve Aboriginal lives. Her powerful case is augmented by her anger arising from personal experience among the people of these remote communities. Hughes presents the case that the well-intentioned but separatist policies of the last thirty years have failed Australian Aborigines, as they have other Indigenous communities worldwide. In particular, she contends that lack of resources that other Australians take for granted has led to endemic welfare dependency, drug abuse and violence, to the extent that this is destroying, rather than promoting, traditional Aboriginal culture. She maintains that indigenous people have the same needs, and respond to the same economic and social incentives, as all people everywhere, and that separate programs for Aboriginals are not only "reverse racism" but entrench discriminatory practices. The bulk of the book is an unflinching depiction and analysis of conditions in remote Aboriginal communities, covering: substance abuse, violence and the law; how common land is (badly) administered, land and property rights; joblessness and incomes; education; health; and housing. Hughes also highlights isolated success stories and discusses why these programs are working where others have failed. She concludes with a blueprint for reform that, with political will, she asserts would take the 'Aboriginal problem' out of the 'too-hard basket' and encompass a decent future for all generations of Aboriginals, current and future.Hughes, Helen is the author of 'Lands of Shame: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 'Homelands' in Transition' with ISBN 9781864321357 and ISBN 1864321350.