that was a good post skint.
1. ""Aborigines were still living in the Stone Age when Europeans arrived. They hadn't even invented the wheel."
i've read guns, germs and steel as well and i know its terrible to say and will get the lefties all up in arms but yes, aboriginal society WAS INFERIOR to western society. if the situation was reversed and white people were hunting / gathering in australia and black people were surviving extremely harsh conditions in europe then it would probably be whites demanding the apology, but its not, it happened this way and the fact remains western civilisation was technologically, culturally, socially (although this could be argued) and economically superior to aboriginal society. not because they are black, not because they are aborigines, but because they were stone age and we were becoming industrial. the mass settlement of europeans to the new world was part of evolution, the same as globalisation is today.
2) "Aborigines should just snap out of their problems, get a job and be like the rest of us."
you raised some good points and i agree with you, it's not just a case of yelling at them to change because they got screwed over. however it is vital that the aborigines take a good long look at themselves, have some internal debate among their people and set themselves a framework for progress. substance abuse, crime, sexual abuse and welfare dependence don't really seem to be doing it for them but CHANGE MUST COME FROM WITHIN, and it seems it takes a maverick to tackle the issue head on (noel pearson for one). wider society is carrying the aboriginals and it's not fair to society any more than it is fair to the aborigines. so while i agree it's not just a simple case of "snap out of it", the aboriginal community needs a fierce internal debate about their direction and now is a good time to be having that.
as to your last point we'll probably differ here. australia was built on misery, pain, and hard work (the convicts as well as the aborigines) and it was defended with blood (white australians mostly) but NOW we have a stable, prosperous, first world, multicultural society. from this point every culture in australia could make a claim against another culture for historic wrongs, and as long as people go on about it then it will never get resolved.
race relations need open debate, people need to vent, vitriol needs to flow like pus from a wound and THEN we can all sit down and negotiate a settlement which lets us all move on. so this can also relate to mofras quotefest.
aboriginal leaders have been clamouring for an apology for ages apparently, thats great, so just to clarify, do these aboriginal leaders speak for all the aboriginal people? and the part-aboriginals? will they accept the apology? but more importantly, will the aboriginal people now begin to take control of their own destiny and build their society back up? if not, then the whole thing is a waste of time and we'll keep carrying a dysfunctional society forever.
if australia as a nation acknowleges the past against aborigines, and offers compensation and a proper apology, then that has to be the end of it. the aboriginal people have to accept the apology and from then on take responsibilty for themselves, the same as the rest of us do. anything less is just a half-assed political stunt that will achieve nothing and lay the seeds for future resentment to and from the aborigines.
this debate is all black and white though (mostly white), i'd also like to know what asian australians think because they certainly don't have any reason to apologise but they continue to pay for it.