Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to spend a week in an aboriginal settlement later this year to raise national awareness about the indigenous people’s grim plight.<br /><br />In parliament, as he announced his trip to the outback, he admitted that Australia is still failing to meet key targets on Aboriginal welfare.<br /><br />He said: “After 226 years of intermittent interest at most, why shouldn’t Aboriginal people finally have the prime minister’s undivided attention for seven days?” <br /><br />The country’s 600,000 or so aborigines are deeply disadvantaged, with poorer health and greater social problems than other Australians as well as a lower life expectancy.<br /><br />Abbott will spend his week in remote East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, where indigenous people are striving to keep their traditional culture alive.
