National Interest

To listener feedback, now. And last week we discussed Aboriginal employment - particularly how planned changes to the Commonwealth's CDEP scheme might have an impact on remote communities.

This prompted a good deal of listener feedback. Inge from Canberra has extensive experience in remote communities and she says our guest Jon Altman...

"... shed light on the historical origins of CDEP and why it was created specifically for the remote context and why it is seen as employment by the many Aboriginal people who work in arts programs, community childcare, youth programs, community libraries, Caring for Country programs etc. Losing CDEP will mean unemployment and more welfare dependency for the many people who are engaging in meaningful part-time employment on CDEP."

Dave takes the opposite view. He's just finished a stint teaching in a remote community:

"For our last three weeks on the community our cleaner and assistant teacher took off with her family for an initiation ceremony. This is not uncommon: funerals and a variety of ceremonies take up an inordinate amount of time and always take precedence over other commitments. Despite the money on offer being quite handy and there being plenty of available labour, no one would else take up the offer of employment. In my experience CDEP is a soft option and an excuse for not getting a proper job."

We also discussed the policy of compulsory income management for indigenous Territorians who receive government benefits.

Mitchell, from Melbourne, has a suggestion for any Aborigines who want to get around the system:

"When you fill in the dole form and it asks if you're an Aborigine, you just tick the box that says 'no' and who can challenge whether you are an Aborigine or not, you know? That would be a Supreme Court trial to work that out, wouldn't it?"

Mick is furious that compulsory income management even applies to Indigenous veterans:

"Does this mean that they can go and put their lives at risk and when they come home they are just 'niggers' again?"

And speaking of the N-word, it was my interview with Toowoomba-based academic Stephen Hagan that dominated feedback this week.

After his successful campaign to remove the name 'Nigger' from a local grandstand, Mr Hagan now has Coon Cheese in his sights.

A significant majority of listeners who contacted us on this issue supported the push for a name change:

Here's a taste of the Coon feedback:

"When I migrated here from the USA in 1969, I was amazed to see a product called Coon Cheese. And then I heard my mother-in-law refer to a colour as "nigger brown". 'Coon' and 'nigger' are offensive; there are no ifs and/or buts about it. What other country uses these terms? Can you imagine seeing 'Coon' cheese on the supermarket shelves in the US? I've never bought that product. It's time to show a bit more sensitivity to those who find these names demeaning, racist and offensive."

< i> "I came to Australia, I emigrated here in 2000, and was absolutely shocked to find Coon Cheese on the shelf. And whenever I speak to my Australian friends, they kind of give me a blank look - which shocked me even more. All of my English and European and Kiwi friend that I talk to are also shocked by this product being on the shelves. And I find it really offensive."

Other listeners think the family origins of the brand, make 'Coon' an acceptable name for cheese:

"Hi, my name's Pete. I'm an advertising copywriter, and recently had to do a bit of writing on the Kraft site, and Coon Cheese in particular, and did a bit of research of my own. And it's very clear that the Coon name was the name of people involved with producing cheese. It wasn't to ridicule black people or anybody else. There's just no way of confusing that."

And listener Michael fears we're heading way too far down the road of linguistic correctness:

"As sensitive as we must all be to any form of racist or pejorative expression, I suggest that we need to extract ourselves from our self-made PC cocoon (pun intended). If not, the English language, which is suffering badly, will be the poorer. As far as I know the makers of the cheese have no racist intent. What's next? Since the etymology may come from 'barracoon', the place where slaves or convicts were held, that word will need to be eliminated from the dictionary..."

To add to this debate, or to comment in any way on today's program, call the feedback line - 1300 936 222 or click the 'have your say' button at the top of this page.

Presenter

Peter Mares

Producer

James Panichi