A "Stolen Wages" bumper sticker can endanger your life in Australia. The government stole 500 million in Aboriginal wages, and the public is angry. At whom? The victims!
Mad Drivers?
Stolen Wages were the last thing on my mind when I had to move south for work, from a remote community to an urban neighbourhood. My first thought was, "Bloody hell eh! (sanitised version) The drivers here are mad!"
Taking the kids to school and picking them up was a life-threatening experience. I was aggressively tailgated every inch of the way, and several times a week people would actually try to run me off the road. After a few near-misses where I ended up actually having to swerve off the road and stop to avoid being killed, with my kids screaming hysterically, I decided I wasn't just imagining things. However, when I talked to colleagues at work about it, I was surprised to find that this wasn't the norm at all.
The Offending Bumper Sticker
One day, after a particularly terrifying near-miss, my wife suggested that it might be the bumper sticker on my car that was causing all the trouble. The sticker was in the Australian Aboriginal flag colours, and proclaimed, "Stolen Wages Built This State".
Historical Background
Stolen Wages is a contentious issue in the conservative state of Queensland. Basically, back before Aborigines were recognised as citizens in the late 60's, our cheap labour provided the foundation for the industries upon which the state economy was built. However, the people weren't actually allowed to receive their minimal wages, which were kept by the government "in trust" for their future. The government later diverted these funds, effectively stealing 500 million dollars worth of Indigenous savings. The theft has been acknowledged, and the Government has agreed to return 50 of the 500 million to the surviving workers or their children. There is a maximum payment of 4000 dollars for each individual, often representing the fruits of decades of labour. In the pastoral industry, for example, this meant six days a week starting in the dark before dawn and finishing in the dark at night. It also often meant not seeing your family for most of the year.
Another World
Anyway, I was driving around with this bumper sticker in the Ipswich area - home of the infamous One Nation party. It is interesting to note that the day I removed the sticker when I cleaned the car up to sell it, it was like driving around in a completely different world. I couldn't believe how peaceful it was - no aggressive tailgating, no homicidal swerving at my car, no birds flipped or obscenities shouted.
Public Opinion
When you ask people about the Stolen Wages issue, some are very reasonable about it - yeah, money was stolen, so pay it back. But most are the opposite. There is a very strong belief in the dominant culture, supported by the rhetoric of politicians and the media, that Aboriginal people leech lots of taxpayer dollars, and that we are economically advantaged over non-Indigenous Australians because of this. People like myself who could lie and "pass for white" are even accused of "jumping on the band wagon" for "the benefits". What benefits? Disease? Unemployment? Displacement? I've never seen a penny of the so-called handouts from what One Nation grimly refers to as the "Aboriginal Industry". Sure, lots of money is spent on what I call the Aboriginal Misery Industry, but most of that money goes on the inflated salaries of the vast army of non-Indigenous bureaucrats whose departments administer "assistance" to Indigenous people, and who therefore have a vested interest in sustaining Aboriginal community dysfunction.
But this reality is a far cry from the victim-blaming discourses and myths of Aboriginal economic advantage that infest popular thinking in the wider community. The bumper sticker experience speaks volumes about the widespread resentment and outrage that is still directed towards the Aboriginal community in this era of reconciliation.
