Ahmat, Executive Director, Cape York Land Council, ’3
Richard Ahmat, “Doing Indigenous Social Business and Enterprise: the View from Cape York,” Address to the Indigenous Enterprise Summit, Canberra - 21 May, 2003, http://www.partnerships.org.au/Library/doing_indigenous_social_business.htm [D8T]
We do not believe that there is any fatal contradiction between our culture and identity as an indigenous people and the development of a real economy. Indeed we argue that the greatest threat to the long-term survival of our culture is our passive welfare economic condition. It is our situation of dependency which is breaking down our social fabric, and this social breakdown is resulting in the loss of our languages and our culture. The cultural traditions of socially dysfunctional people will not last long in this world - they will soon pass away. Cultural survival therefore makes economic development urgent and necessary.
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