My thoughts...

Mike, re: aboriginals sitting in the booth. The very idea that they would be sitting there because the cafe was somehow \"segregated\", which is what you seemed to be implying, is absolutely absurd. They were sitting there because they chose to and I think comparing anything in 1990s Australia to Apartheid is dishonest and reprehensible. 
 
That being said of course there are a hell of a lot of racist yobbos in Australia, but the same amount as everywhere else (which obviously isn\'t a good thing). And yes the government is a collection of backwards old men, but the opposition looks set to win the next election. They did support the legislation too, but not blindly or without objections. The fact is though that the legislation is overwhelming positive and needed to be passed yesterday. 
 
And as for the NT intervention, two more things. The military are there for transport and communication purposes- trying to use the troops there as evidence of some sort of over-zealousness is incredibly dishonest. As well as this page I have read some other articles from the international press, including an idiotic editorial in The Guardian, criticising the legislation. This editorial says that the Aboriginal communities need the same infrastructure and opportunities that the rest of Australia has, and I don\'t know anybody who wouldn\'t agree. But that will take years, and in the meantime there are thousands of women and children being beaten and abused. 
 
There has been other criticisms calling the legislation unnecessary and paternalistic. One of Australia\'s most well known and respected Aboriginal spokespeople, Noel Pearson, had a great reply to this, which I will paraphrase: \"The kids crying in the corner don\'t care about paternalism\". Indeed it shouldn\'t matter whose feelings get hurt, it should matter that abuse stops. This should have been done earlier. 
 
Comparing the intervention to Nazism is dishonest and disgraceful. To even mention the two in the same editorial is offensive not only to Aboriginals and Australians but to the millions of Jews, Gypsies and others who were killed in circumstance with zero relation to the current situation.

Guest