This plan is just another consequence of the failed Leftist fantasy that traditional Aboriginal ways are best

The Albanese government’s $4bn pledge to build hundreds of homes in the Northern Territory is another example of politicians paying Aborigines to live as museum exhibits out bush.

Anthony Albanese has a tragic plan to spend an extra $4 billion to make Aboriginal disadvantage permanent.

If the Prime Minister’s plan offered hope of real change, I’d sign up in a heartbeat. I’d pay double.

But what Albanese announced on Tuesday is an ideological catastrophe that will just make things worse.

If you think I’m just showing an anti-Labor bias, note two things.

If the Prime Minister’s plan offered hope of real change, I’d sign up in a heartbeat. Picture: Lukas Coch

I made the same criticism of Liberal Prime Minister John Howard’s doomed plan in 2005 to spend millions on remote Wadeye, where dozens of homes have since been burned or destroyed in riots.

Plus consider the following.

Albanese promises to spend $4 billion over 10 years to build up to 270 houses a year for Aborigines, and claims this is critical to “getting kids to school and getting people educated, and getting people the opportunity of a good, well paying and secure job”.

Wrong. The critical thing about these houses is where you actually build them.

It’s claimed the $4bn investment is critical to ‘getting kids to school and getting people educated’.

These house will be built in exactly the wrong places – in remote communities, where there’s almost no work, no “good, well paying jobs”, and no role models to show children what staying at school could lead to.

This plan is just another consequence of the failed Leftist fantasy that traditional Aboriginal ways are best.

It’s one more example of politicians paying Aborigines to live as museum exhibits out bush, although the statistics show that’s where Aborigines are most likely to suffer terrible rates of unemployment, domestic violence, and children skipping schools.

It’s in cities where Aboriginal living standards are highest, so these new bush houses will trap another generation in poverty.

And look at the cost. Albanese’s $4 billion will help 10,000 Aborigines, claims the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, who signed up to it.

That’s $400,000 for every man, woman and child. Is there seriously no better way to spend all that money on them?

The plan also works out to building those houses for almost $1.5 million each. That’s three times more than the price of building an average home, according to Bureau of Statistics data.

Albanese couldn’t see the problem, saying this accounted for inflation, training locals, and building in “very remote communities”.

Yet with the same money, he could build three times more houses in Sydney, where there’s a real housing crisis – and real jobs.

Instead, he’s spending it where’s there’s no work and no future. He’s giving failure a home.

Originally published as This plan is just another consequence of the failed Leftist fantasy that traditional Aboriginal ways are best