An interview with Gary Foley: history will judge Howard's reforms

“You will see that in some of the stuff we were talking about 30 years ago, some of things people praise Pearson for; getting people off welfare and getting economic self-sufficiency or independence of community, that’s the sort of stuff we were saying in the 60s”.

The money, he argues is being “pissed up against the wall”.

Though Foley believes Howard’s reforms will do more harm than good, there exist just as striking inadequacies in his rhetoric. In his eyes, a detailed historical understanding of Aborigines is more than essential if Australia is to address the inequalities of Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal history, however, covers about 40,000 years: with such a huge time frame it wouldn’t be defeatist to think it difficult for “White Australia” to access such a rich and complex history.

Despite this, the inequality suffered by Indigenous Australians is definitely complex and deserves more thorough attention than the hasty “reforms” pitched by Howard. The inequality does not exist in isolation with the sexual abuse of children like the government would have you think. Health, life expectancy, education and economics are but a few sectors where Aborigines are grossly disadvantaged and denied opportunity.

Foley’s era of activism is slowly but surely being outmoded, but his encouragement of a learned history is valuable. History is a useful means to craft decisions; a way of making sure blunders are avoided and that successes may be repeated.

After all, what unites Aborigines and White Australia is as Foley says “your history and my history: our history”. These “reforms” are yet another chapter, of which history will be the judge.