Not all federal intervention is equal

The strange part of the latter is that Aboriginal politics had a perfectly good vehicle for agitation in the 1960s, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. But it fell into disuse as governments took over and funded every conceivable aspect of Aboriginal life.

Aboriginal policy, indeed much public policy, is about government intervention in people's lives. The interventions that afforded Aborigines the same rights as others, the liberalising trend, were unambiguously good. The interventions that afforded different rights were unambiguously bad. Interventions such as collectivisation and self-determination hindered other essential interventions.

As a consequence, state governments do not intervene to enforce compulsory school attendance. State governments do not enforce care and protection orders on Aboriginal children. The courts do not always punish violent offenders.

The commonwealth until very recently did not enforce mutual obligations on social security recipients. Housing associations do not enforce the payment of rent or the forfeit of bonds for wilful damage.

In short, despite the referendum and despite the legislation, governments discriminate against the best interests of Aboriginal people.

Fortunately, the non-liberal policy consensus of the 1970s, which only in retrospect did the referendum appear to embrace, is unravelling.

The 3,000 Aborigines squatting in camps around Alice Springs have escaped from the prison of collectivised land rights. The mock Aboriginal economy is mocked and perhaps now Aborigines will be given the opportunity to live normal lives.