Jon Altman makes a resounding point in his piece on indigenous disadvantage in this Crikey edition.

Why after better than a decade of vast federal surplus, after half a generation of substantial national profit, does so much of black Australia grapple with issues more common to the most squalid pockets of the third world? And there’s more. Why is childcare an unresolved, underfunded hotch potch? Why do our hospitals lack basic resources? Why do state-run schools scrimp and save? Why are the technologies that might rescue our environment still fledgling and in need of investment? 

If there’s one thing our “best and brightest” might resolve this weekend it is to reinvest in our economy and all its human, natural and mechanical infrastructure. They might conclude that the profit of the nation’s hard work and enterprise should no longer be squandered on featherbedding the political future of incumbent governments. And that would be a breakthrough thought.