White Out

A controversial call for debate about Australia's failure to improve the lives of Aboriginal people.

'An independent and fearless book which deftly negotiates a passage between the romanticism of the Left and the hard-heartedness of the Right. We badly need books of this kind.' Robert Manne

Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy almost twenty years below that of other Australians. No other wealthy country has a worse record. But this provokes no sense of national outrage.

Since it was adopted 30 years ago, the promise of self-determination has been distorted and betrayed by idealists and conservatives alike. Despite billions of dollars of government spending, indigenous Australians remain far more likely to suffer unemployment, poverty, domestic violence, imprisonment and low levels of education.

The first step in resolving the indigenous emergency is recognising that it exists. Instead, argues Walkley Award-winning journalist Rosemary Neill, meaningful debate has been paralysed. The Left blames complex problems entirely on the past; the Right looks to that same, discredited past for solutions.

Politics is killing black Australia. White Out engages us in a frank and fearless discussion of the most pressing moral issue confronting this nation.