Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
But in the 1990s, legal authorities began to investigate the dealings of Alan Bond, and
of many other players in West Australia Inc. Bond found himself in court and spent four
years in jail after pleading guilty to Australia's biggest corporate fraud.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN BLACK & WHITE
Like other Aboriginal Australians in the rest of the country, the 70,000 or so who live in WA are the state's most
disadvantaged group. Many live in deplorable conditions; outbreaks of preventable diseases are common, and
infant-mortality rates are higher than in many developing countries. Indigenous employment in the resources sec-
tor is slowly increasing, but the mining boom has not alleviated indigenous social and economic disadvantage to
any large degree.
In 1993, the federal government recognised that Aboriginal people with an ongoing association with their tradi-
tional lands were the rightful owners, unless those lands had been sold to someone else.
Despite this recognition, the issue of racial relations in WA remains a problematic one, and racial intolerance is
still evident in many parts of the state.
