Vyper - Unfortunately, reading doesn't convey the issues entirely accurately, for a number of reasons, most significantly that the non standard viewpoint (i.e. not blaming the government for everything that's wrong wih Aboriginal australia) tends not to get printed all that often, nor does reading really give you a sense of what things are like on the ground (Case in point - before I came up north here, my perceptions about Aboriginals were totally different to what they are now - you really do need to see some things.
All that said, I'd rather this just be a happy Australia day thread if that's at all possible. 
To be fair, aborigines are definately disadvantaged in Australia; 80% of the houses inhabited by 10+ people are aboriginal, the life expectancy is about 20 years shorter for Aborigines (with awful records of trachoma, for example, and increasing incidence of final-stage renal failure; already 20 times higher than the rest of the population), and a government budget that is increasing at a level lower than the non-indigenous budget (education up 9% for indigenous education, when the total education budget has risen 42%). And, I believe, Howard has consistently cut the budget for things like Aboriginal health programmes, hasn't he?
But the reality is that declaring anywhere to be the 'worlds greatest country' tends to stir up peoples emotions a bit.
