Thank you, Janin, I appreciate your response.

I do, however, have reservations about the notion that "... they got financial benefits". I don't dispute that large amounts of money has been spent to supposedly 'benefit' First Australians but whether they have ever actually benefited is, I think, debatable.

The reality for First Australians since the invasion and occupation has been abominable and to a significant extent it continues to be so today. Conservative governments, in particular, have taken a particularly condescending approach to the traditional owners of this continent, (though they didn't perhaps see themselves as owners so much as curators). Sadly, even under relatively compassionate left-wing governments, the real issues have only been given lip-service.

Although, today, it is claimed that the First Australians have essentially the same opportunities as other Australians, it is a blatant misconception and not supported by the facts. Racism is still rife in Australia and far too many non-Aboriginal citizens still see First Australians as 'less than' and/or a threat. They may not say it out loud but the recent referendum result is evidence of it. Those same people will argue that First Australians have only themselves to blame for their poverty, disadvantage and problems. Such an attitude is redolent of their attitude to any group in disadvantage and is encouraged by a culture that favours materialism and fame and wealth and the hypocrisy of the notion that anyone can be anything to which they set their mind. It is a myth.

You are right, however, to emphasise the vast difference between what I take to mean the life-style and culture of First Australians as compared with that of the colonists.

Only when we acknowledge that this continent belongs to the First Australians and that, given that there is no chance of them being a sovereign nation in their own right, they should at least have the chance and resources to decide their own futures, will the 'problem' go away.

First Nations people are not "The Problem", our culture, actions and continuing belief in superiority that gives us, we think, the right to ignore the culture and feelings of those whose land we occupy, whenever it might get in our way - that is "The problem" and that is the reason for any complexity it holds.

There need be no complexity nor even any problem. Compassion, commitment to equity, and the humility to accept that it is, we, the non-Aboriginal Australians who are in debt to First Australians. ☮️