Australia: Indigenous Affairs Take Backward Step

Protesters take part in a traditional smoking ceremony at the intersection of Swanston and Flinders street on April 10, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

SYDNEY—The Australian government’s handling of Indigenous affairs has received fair criticism over the years, but plans to close 150 remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia (WA), and the Prime Minister’s comments, highlight concerns that things are getting worse not better for Aboriginal people in Australia.

“It’s worse now I think, than it has been at any time in the modern policy era going back to the 1970s,” he said in a phone interview.

Indigenous affairs in this country at the moment are in chaos, absolute chaos.

— Professor Jon Altman