Well I am certainly not proud of our history lol. But I do see your point about them being Australians and should be treated as such. Except so many people IN THIS THREAD talk about Aboriginals as if they're some pathetic 'lesser' nationality. Although we should see them as fellow Australians, they should, like all Australians, have a right to their own cultural belies and lifestyle. If any individual wants to live a nomadic lifestyle [although that's a bit hard this day and age], they should have the right to that. Everyone is allowed to believe in whatever they want.
But what I'm opposed to is all the sick discrimination towards the Aboriginal culture, if you're just going to blame them and whinge about them getting money then you're not really helping the discussion along.
Take away their welfare payments, what will that really achieve? Do you think Aboriginals will suddenly realise the 'eror of their ways' and decide that it would be best to clean up their act and come join white society? Um, no, I don't think so. They're adults, you can't treat them like a bunch of naughty kids! What the government is trying to do is HELP the Aboriginal community, the problem is so many people want different things, it's difficult to accomodate for all individuals [as is the case with all issues].
So yeh, other than the discriminatory comments and accusations, I see where a lot of you are coming from and this is obviously an issue with no easy solution.