Solutions will not be found while Indigenous people are treated as victims for whom someone else must find solutions.

Even Australians who take a very, very hard line about asylum seekers - and unfortunately there are more than I would like to think - are probably a bit uncomfortable with the kind of treatment that has been meted out to children in detention by the Australian Government, in their name.

Sorry Day falls on the eve of Reconciliation Week, giving us the chance to ask whether we are making progress in the wider challenge of reconciling Indigenous and other Australians.

I think the climate is too important to say we are going to wait until all our economic woes are over before we act effectively.

We are lagging far behind comparable countries in overcoming the disadvantages Indigenous people face.

At the moment people get on boats because they flee terror at home and believe the many years' long wait in UNHCR camps is not a valid option, especially if they have children in their care. After the Vietnam War, Australia took a larger humanitarian intake than at any other period in our history. The Australian community accepted that. They were told why we needed to do it, and why it was the only ethical decent policy that a wealthy advanced country should adopt.

Solutions will not be found while Indigenous people are treated as victims for whom someone else must find solutions.