Written Material
The Aboriginal community – fostering links with the community welfare sector
A really powerful article concerning Aboriginal people and the mainstream community welfare system. The author argues that the recent Native Title decisions should extend far beyond the issue of land to a recognition of other indigenous rights, such as the right to have a different system of child and family welfare. In this mainstream system, he argues the fiction of terra nullius – the legal myth that was quashed in the Native Title decision- still exists through the exercise of treating people as problems. This desire to be different but also valued made the decision by the National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care organisation (for which Butler works) to become a member of the mainstream Australian Council of Social Services very difficult. The onslaught by governments on the community sector, however, made it a necessity. Keyword: Community development
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