The name is absent

I * i^u f

143

customs from further encroachment and destruction.

Aboriginal values are an intrinsic part of
Australia's culture and heritage. We are part
of each other. Without mutual respect and support
for each other's cultural integrity, we cannot
secure our personal identities (Liberal and National
Country Parties' Aboriginal Affairs Policy, 1975).

Thus Government policy, at the 'theoretical' level, recognised
*

the interaction between the psychological reality of identity
and the psychological world produced by theorizing. At the
same time it moved back from policies of autonomy to a particular
interpretation of integration and self-management that may be
categorised as therapeutic in intent, rather than being concerned

4
with the promotion and recognition of an alternative identity.

Nevertheless, the theorizing is positive in its tone. The
identity offered to Aboriginal people, within the limitations
of the conceptualisation of the policies, is not one of socialization
into negative identity.

There is recognition, as in the case of the Labor Party,
that Aborigines are not a monolithic group.

There is recognition of the need to leave options open so
that the people may choose an identity.

It must be asked whether the statement "we are part of each
other" is merely a sentiment or whether it can be seen to be supporting
other theorizing; whether the differentiation of Aborigines
into worlds where they "retain their racial identity and traditional
life-style, or where desired adopt partially or wholly a European
life-style" is supported in other theorizing.

The possibility of testing whether such a policy may be
seen as rhetoric rather than reality may be found in examining
whether or not the assumptions made, and the policies projected,
can be meshed into overall policy without losing credibility.

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