The defiant mass gathering protests that ignored public health orders in the midst of the worst global pandemic in a century over whether “black lives matter” in Australia risk losing sight of the critical insights that Noel Pearson first brought to Indigenous disadvantage 20 years ago.

Mr Pearson did not ignore the legacy of colonisation, but nor did he reflexively rely on catch-all claims of racism. He argued that the social dysfunction – including high rates of crime, violence and abuse, especially against women – stemmed from high rates of unemployment and “passive welfare” dependence imported from the white welfare state.