Many commentators are concerned that Western democracies appear incapable of dealing with the recurrent crises confronting them. It strikes me this problem is particularly resonant with respect to Indigenous policy and politics. Australian Indigenous politics seems to be in a perpetual state of crisis since we resolved to dismantle the barriers to a full and inclusive citizenship for Indigenous Australians. Crises in Indigenous policy and politics seem to be the norm. This begs the question: is it possible to be in a chronic crisis?

The problems that confront Australia’s Indigenous society are well documented; indeed, they are recorded in clinically precise terms. Successive Australian governments have developed sophisticated accountability systems for reporting on Indigenous outcomes and the problems are long-standing and familiar.¹ Despite our deep familiarity with the chronic challenges that beset Indigenous communities, Indigenous policymaking exhibits a recidivist pattern of crises. Two are in play at the time of writing—the threatened closures of remote Western Australian communities and the persistent problem of domestic violence.² The Northern Territory Intervention in 2007 is another recent example.