It is well-known that aboriginal people suffer more sickness and live shorter lives than other groups of Australians. They also find it hard to succeed educationally, to enter university and to have the most desirable careers.
Because of years of negative discrimination, and not being allowed to be part of the 'white system', aboriginal people do not enjoy a 'level playing field' - they start off in a position where they are disadvantaged and have an unequal chance of success.
This has lead to some people to advocate 'positive discrimination' or 'affirmative action' - i.e. in some circumstances giving preferential treatment to aboriginals so as to even things up. For example, allowing a quota of aboriginal medical students each year to enter university even though other students with better qualifications cannot get in.
Here is a short article about 'positive discrimination':
riaus.org.au/articles/positive-discrimination-is-it-an-oxymoron/ Here is an article linking racism and depression:
www.news.com.au/national/beyondblue-to-launch-a-new-campaign-highlighting-the-link-between-racism... Here are some relevant statistics:
www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/CaSHome.nsf/Home/ISS+Indigenous+statistics+for+schools What do you think? Is this fair?