Rudd to bridge black-white longevity gap

Rudd to bridge black-white longevity gap : "KEVIN Rudd has promised to close the 17-year gap in life expectancy between black and white Australians within a generation."

Not just the health and age barriers. All the barriers we have and that will take a big person with a big vision. Considerable progress has been made in NZ because they have brought the white and Maori groups together to create programmes and ideas to bridge the divide. Everything is labelled in English and Maori. The children learn Maori at school and the Maori population has done its bit to educate others. It has only strengthened their country. I can remember my daughter coming home from primary school after an outing with an aboriginal elder who had taught her her class about the Tjilbruke trail by taking them part of the way along it. From her account, which she remembered in great detail he stopped at leaves, trees, birds, rocks...he knew every part of the trail and had explained it to them. Her eyes were shining and her brain was full of knowledge. He had taught her well and she has never forgotten it. Aborigines are magical teachers. We built the Southern Expressway through part of that trail. That was our contribution. We need to use the strength of each culture to start blending our ideas and knowledge. That will take time and thought but he vision simply is not there and it ought to be. The indigenous population know such a lot about our land.