oh my goodness...the lunatic fringe re gona go ape

A political platform of no more dole payments for Aboriginal school leavers.........

.......the left-wing, bleeding-heart, black-arm-band, spend-my-money brigade are going to go absolutely ballistic!!!!

Oooooooopppsssssss!!!!!!!!!!

Hang on........its a senior highly prestigious Aboriginal leader suggesting this!!!!!

Oh well...then its OK....

This will never be allowed to fly!

Ban black kids' dole, says Pearson
By Tony Koch and Scott Emerson
September 11, 2004

ABORIGINAL activist Noel Pearson has called on the incoming federal government to immediately abolish welfare support for Aboriginal school-leavers, saying the system of payments made made it too easy for young blacks to avoid work.

Mr Pearson said whatever party won the October 9 election, it should have as its most urgent priority the reform of welfare for Aborigines.

He said that while governments were now responding positively to the issues of alcoholism and violence in Aboriginal communities, the efforts would be wasted unless young Aborigines embraced personal and family responsibility and a proper work ethic.

"If you are introducing a work scheme and you have social welfare such as Jobstart available, how are you going to get people involved in the work scheme?" Mr Pearson said.

"We need a real, fundamental shake-up of the welfare system affecting our people, and this is the most urgent policy question facing Australia. "I don't care who gets elected, but we must continue the momentum for change."

While Mr Pearson's comments were made in the context of his Cape York people, they had an immediate effect on federal frontbencher Kerry O'Brien, who will launch Labor's indigenous affairs policy tomorrow.

While Senator O'Brien stopped short of supporting Mr Pearson's call for a welfare shutdown, he said a Latham government would be prepared to "work closely with indigenous communities, including on Cape York, to identify local problems and local solutions".

Labor's "learn or earn" policy would ensure all 15-18 year olds were either studying, in work or undertaking an apprenticeship, he said.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews said he shared Mr Pearson's concerns.

Mr Andrews said his department was reviewing the Community Development Employment Program, which targeted jobs in indigenous communities.

"Our number one aim is real jobs for indigenous youth and indigenous Australians that offer the prospect of independence, greater self-esteem, greater security and improved living standards," he said. "The best form of welfare for all Australians is a job. That importance cannot be underestimated."

Mr Pearson, who was reared on the Lutheran Church-run Hopevale mission on eastern Cape York, created controversy in 1999 when he declared welfare a "poison" that was killing Aborigines.

He blamed social security payments for the alcoholism and domestic violence rife among remote-dwelling Aborigines who were not equipped for or motivated to work.