Article in the Australian comments on the problem Australia has been wrestling with for over a sixty years and that is how to provide Aborigines living in remote communities with economic opportunity. See the article: Billions spent but Aborigines still live in the third world I think the problem is that it is almost impossible to provide meaningful economic activity for large numbers of people living in remote communities. I think that this applies not only Australian aboriginal communities but to Indian and Inuit Communities in North America. In Australia the majority of Aborigines live in the major cities and generally participate in the mainstream economy. A possible solution is to encourage the young Aborigines from remote communities to leave, and to go where the work is. Some will fail, but to remain means failure will be almost certain; to move means the young have a chance of success. We should try to deliver welfare to those who cannot leave in a dignified and caring manner, but for those who are young, we must encourage them to leave. Perhaps a scheme involving boarding houses in the cities, help with jobs and regular trips back home to see the relatives might provide youngsters from remote communities with at least half a chance of making the transition from a remote community to the city. Electing CLP Aboriginal members of the NT Parliament will probably not solve the problem. Their electorates did not vote them in, for them to encourage the young to leave. Their electorates voted them, in the hope that they might be able to provide economic opportunity for their communities. That is unlikely to happen; therefore the welfare cycle will repeat itself, but just with different people managing the process.
The first nations in Canada face a similar dilemma. Their scattered population centres used to be completely self sufficient, but in the last two or three generations, they have become reliant for nearly everything from outside.
