This is Greg Kelly, editor of TSWI. I'm not surprised that the story we did on the Basics Card in Australia provoked the number of intense reactions that it has. I'm from Canada originally, and stories featuring native peoples there tend to do the same. First I have to admit our error and say that getting the name of NT wrong is inexcusable, and ... Read Morewe've discussed that here. To the point made by some that our coverage was unbalanced, my response is that our coverage doesn't end with this one program. We're seeking aboriginal voices who may have a different, more positive, experience with the measures taken. Those voices have proven exceptionally difficult to get to, but we're still pursuing them. If you can help us, please let us know.

I can see the point of Australian people who complain about the missing context. When we are talking about context how about more historical context on how the aboriginal people came to the state where they were using all their pension in substance abuse. Did it just happen naturally or there is more to this story on systemic devastation of Aboriginal people in Australia. A question I want to ask is, the rule of substance abuse causing 50% of your pension/unemployment to be only used food only, does that apply to all Australian? If not why not? So if in another territory if the rate of substance abuse goes above some threshold (same as Northern Territory) should all Australian in that territory be subjected to this all. I think making laws or rules for a particular race is not democracy but racism. Aboriginal people should have same if not more rights than any other people living on their land.

How do I find the interview of Hawaiian elementary school teacher Kimo Kila(?) of Hilo, Hawaii broadcast on NPR on Sunday 10/10/09?

What a can of worms you have opened up. Yes, it certainly is paternalistic to require Indigenous Australian welfare recipients to spend 50% of their pensions on the necessities of life and if it weren't for European colonialism, Indigenous Australians almost certainly would not, when free to regulate their own welfare spending, choose to spend 100% of their pensions on alcohol. However, given the present circumstances, it seems a very reasonable move to quarantine 50% of Indigenous pension payments for the provision of the the necessities of life, rather than substance abuse.

Australians should hand back Australia to the Aboriginals. They are the REAL Australians every other white person in Australia are originally from Europe. It's not your country!! First it was White Australia migration policy where non whites were not allowed to migrate to Australia. Then Aboriginals was not seen as human until 1970s, they were classified as fauna and flora. Do you white Australians know it's not even your country? Shame on all you Ozzies!! I don't think the Aboriginals wanted you there in Australia the first place!

The report on the Basics Card in the Northern Territory was easily in the top five worst pieces of journalism that I have been exposed to in the ten years since I was capable of judging. I'm sorry to say it, but your presenter was a disgrace to intelligence. As Anonymous @6:01am above has pointed out, if anyone with a Basics Card wants to spend more than 50% of their welfare payment on basic items, then he or she is welcome to dip into the other 50% which they receive in cash. An issue only arises, then, if people are finding that they'd prefer to spend LESS than 50% of their payment on basics and therefore the rest would be in some sense wasted. Your presenter's failure to comprehend this simple point beggars belief! And it is hard to believe that an editor ran his or her eye over the piece without picking this up either! These are personal epithets, but your inexcusable error has had professional consequences also, because the fact that virtually the only comments you broadcast of the two women were along the lines of 'we can't buy food because we'd need to spend more than 50% of our payment on it' leads your audience to believe that this is their main gripe, which plays into the stereotype of Aboriginal Australians as people who blame others and whinge about things that are actually under their own control. (It's possible that this was in fact the only thing that your interviewees did complain about, in which case the stereotype would be justified in this case, but since you stunningly failed to point out their error of logic I am left with the assumption that they did have other realistic complaints that you chose not to air.) My above comments refer exclusively to the aspect of this situation that can be explained purely in terms of money and where it is spent. The much more important aspect of this situation, in my view, is the question of paternalism, and especially the question whether or not the degree of social breakdown experienced in certain Northern Territory communities justifies a level of paternalism that would otherwise be unacceptable (as pointed out by Charles Macdonald above). This might lead to a discussion on how to balance the rights of children and women not to be routinely abused with the rights of welfare recipients not to have their lives interfered with by the state. Your presenter, to his credit, did mention paternalism, although the fact that he merely devoted a few sentences to it and spoke the word like it was the heading of a Year 7 high school project indicates that he entirely missed its importance to this issue, preferring instead to focus on standard tear-jerking images like people having their groceries returned to the shelves from the checkout. Lift your game. By the way, it is gratifying to learn that idiocy is not confined exclusively to radio presenters but also finds a home quite comfortably in people who comment on their shows. Gary Wakelin, I suggest you look up the word "paternalism" in the dictionary. Re "At what point are the taxpayers of Australia (obviously different to every other taxpayer in the world) in that they are not alowed to have some control over how their taxes are spent.": you have entirely missed the point. Does this occur with ANY non-Aboriginal Australians? It certainly doesn't for those on welfare payments due to being out of work or due to being students. P.S. I won't bother with the other 50,000 rants you managed to squeeze in towards the end there, but just incidentally may I suggest taking a breath between sentences next time? Otherwise you'll run the risk of coming across as a bigoted, dim-witted, redneck loser and then you'll feel sad.

Excellent Program. Should be aired on Network Television. I was especially touched by the story of the Mattapoi Tribe. Americans are so narrow in their views of other cultures and so very disrespectful. When will they ever learn!