BBC News Online: World: Asia-Pacific

Aborigines attack welfare culture

Aboriginal lawyer Noel Pearson said the current system had failed and Australia's Aborigines must be encouraged to take responsibility for their own finances, health and education.

Mr Pearson recently said that fuel sniffing was so endemic that "crying infants are silenced with petrol-drenched rags on their faces".

Many Aborigines are almost completely dependent on unemployment and other welfare payments.

With no job prospects, they turn to alcohol and other drugs, which in turn adds to domestic violence, their leaders say.

The conference, attended by indigenous leaders and senior government officials, focused on how the Aborigines' strong family structures could be used to help build economic independence.

Culture

Aborigines, who number around 360,000 people, remain the poorest and least healthy section of Australian society.

They die on average 20 years younger than the rest of the population and are 26 times more likely to end up in jail.

But community leaders said welfare cheques were exacerbating, not solving, the deprivation.

Evelyn Scott of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation said welfare had almost totally destroyed Aboriginal culture and an educational process was needed to get them off it.

Another Aboriginal leader, Joe Ross, said the current situation has starved communities of hope.

He added: "All our people are on [benefits], with no jobs and no opportunities to aspire to the great Australian dream."