Is Pauline Hanson a Dinky Di Aussie?
By Redcuchulain
How we define who is Australian and what we mean by “Australian” has become strong focus over many years. With the rise of nationalism in Australia, there are those who insist they are the authority on this.
Redcuchulain asks why do nationalist monarchists like Hanson believe they have the legitimate right to dictate to the rest of us who we are? Does a true Australian worship the Queen, or do they stand in solidarity with an Australian President of an Australian Republic? Would Hanson pass the citizenship test?
Australian Citizens
One of the most wonderful things about Australia day is the number of people who choose to become Australian citizens. They make a permanent commitment to this country. It is easy to understand why.
I still look back fondly on the day when I became an Australian citizen. Yet, I can still imagine what those people are feeling as they take their oath. I fell in love with Australia the first time I visited here. For me it is the egalitarian outlook of most people, the beautiful country. It is also the freedom from the old baggage which holds other places back that makes this country great. We are still young enough to shape our own destiny.
I could not help noticing the oath this year and the irony that some people in the public eye now who claim to be bastions of Australian values would not be able to take the oath with a straight face. “Australian society values equality of opportunity for individuals, regardless of their race, religion or ethnic background”
How could Pauline Hanson seriously take this vow and not choke on the words? Or: “compassion for those in need and pursuit of the public good” when she recently voted to support the LNP’s latest round of cuts to welfare recipients and pensioners.
Maybe it is because Pauline still sees our allegiance to a foreign Queen that she is so out of step with the values of modern Australia?
Perhaps if she was made to take the education, citizenship test and oath herself she may realise who is really a threat to our culture and way of life.
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Return to home pageA very worthwhile thought to contemplate.
I too remember as a refugee who escaped with my parents from a horrible civil war and persecution, how proud and chocked up I was when as a 14 year old I became a citizen of Australia. I suddenly felt safe , a part of a wonderful nation.
I never felt anything but Australian till ignorant people, like the ilk of Pauline Hanson ridiculed me for eating salami, for wearing black when my grandmother died. I would have been cool today …but not back then.
I remember falling in love with native flowers, and picking an armful on my first visit to the Blue Mountains…. being terrified when told by a kind person that I could get into trouble and had to throw them away.
I had a wonderful headmaster who used to quote poetry like “I love a sunburnt country” to an assembly in a school that was very working class. Hence my love of poetry, literature.
So this how my love affair with Australia started.
Since then I have travelled to many parts of the Australian breathtaking landscape. I find myself feeling that once the red dust had gone from my car it is time to go back to the wide red wilderness.
In relation to Pauline and those who think like her;
I read a post somewhere and it goes something like this,
You can medicate for mental illness,
You can educate for ignorance ( although I am starting to wonder about this)
BUT there is no cure for stupidity
We are all earthlings on this planet. Deep down we are all the same, no difference.
I think Hanson sees herself as the quintessential white Australian. I’m sure she would support the return of the white Australia policy but knows she can’t get away with openly expressing the view. Not yet anyway.
wow a beaut read but, a la trump ‘was she born in Australia??
johno we are all different nobody is the same. But some are closer than others which allows hansons to thrive.
The cure for stupidity is in the hands of the media and the end to slogans and fake news.
Phil, no not yet but Hansonites advocate for the return of the White Australia Policy by stealth in the denigration of anyone who isn’t pure silky creamy white.
Wam, I agree but also add that every school should start the day by singing the song ,
“I am , you are, WE ARE AUSTRALIAN”
Wam your message to jhono;
reminds me a bit of Animal Farm,
Hopefully I can remember it accurately;
” all animals are created equal but some animals are more equal than others” ??????
The dinky di aussie is a mythical creature designed to help with the stories we like to tell ourselves about ourselves. White australia was founded on a lie and lies continue to form a basis for the narrative of what it means to be ‘aussie’. That oath is a lie, that is not what Straya is all about at all, never has been. Very few ‘aussies’ could take that oath and mean it.
Who cares, not I. Dinky Di, or not, why do we elect politicians like her….???
I’m also always baffled by the so-called unique Aussie values…. Good values are international, they speak in many tongues 🙂
I found myself thinking, while watching the ceremonies on Australia Day, is anyone thinking of all the poor, imprisioned people on all our horrible off-shore detention centres? They have come here looking for asylum, and have been locked up for years for committing no crime. All the songs sung with so much enthusiasm on Australia Day where about how diverse our population is. How ironic!
In my happy times, I can see the beauty as Ella sees it. In my disgusted days, I see as Deanna says.
Everyday I want to contribute to move the narrative from false self-adoration to compassionate, inclusive, progressive and luminous with imaginative enterprise.
the woman is a dangerously stupid person, with a capacity to persuade others that she speaks the truth.
After Malcolm Roberts’ idiotic remarks about moving Labour Day ( I wonder when he will suggest the date for One Nation Day) I have come to the conclusion that we need a basic intelligence test for anyone seeking public office. And it would also be a good thing to have all politicians carefully read and understand the oath of allegiance new Australians make. There are a few who would not pass either.
Yes, Jocelyn, there’s Turnbull all full of emotive speak, whilst trying to flog those 2000 poor souls to Trump.
Take them in yourself, action, not just talk…They have been assessed and found suitable, I feel we are seeing them as cattle rather than human beings. Shame on you Mal&Dutton.
Helvi, they are definitely being thoroughly de-humanised for the purpose of political expediency, just as Nazi Germany did with Jewish people, queer people, people with disabilities etc. We go along with this evil every single day, that’s the ‘true blue aussie’ for you.
From the One Nation site
Australian values. Australia is for Australians and under our constitution only Australians decide our laws and obligations, decide who will enter and live in our country, and decide how we ensure our nation’s safety and economic security.
Australian values include honesty and speaking openly, directly and respectfully with complete freedom of speech and expression to ensure integrity and accountability.
PRINCIPLES & OBJECTIVES
To abolish divisive and discriminatory policies, such as those related to Aboriginal and Multicultural Affairs.
To stop the teaching and infiltration of Islam and its totalitarian ideology, that opposes our democracy, way of life and laws. To ban the Burqa in public places, government buildings and schools. To make genital mutilation of young girls a criminal offence, carrying heavy sentences. To stop islamists and their families from receiving welfare benefits; we are a Christian country, only one marriage is recognised. Ban the building of any more Mosques.
To oppose Sharia Law ever being allowed in Australia. We are a Christian country with one law for all.
One Nation will continue to stop illegal immigration by way of boat and air and support temporary protection visas. One Nation supports the refugee programme, but we must have a say in who comes in. We must be mindful of taking people that are Christian, and genuine refugees.
********
Could someone please explain to Pauline that we are, in fact and law, a secular nation.
Deanna, I’m sad, but all this talk about Dinki Di, True Blue and the real Aussie values, whilst treating other human beings like dirt, makes me also very angry….( and I’m not often angry 🙂 )
Hanson’s definition of “Australian” is simply anybody who looks and thinks as she does – an intolerant, reactionary angry white woman who doesn’t know what she wants but is certain about what she doesn’t like.
As a politician she thinks that all our problems (unemployment, unequal distribution of wealth, poverty, homelessness etc) can easily be solved by banning burqas and Halal certification.
As for the Halal matter, Wally Butterworth was here long before her when he ranted about kosher foods but the sentiment is similar.
[audio src="https://ia600203.us.archive.org/22/items/WallyButterworthKosherFoodBlackmailOfAmericanHousewives/00_butterworthJews_butterworthJews.mp3" /]
At least Butterworth’s Christian Voters and Buyers League was open about being a front for the KKK.
Wam… agree to disagree.
From 2009…..
THE Ku Klux Klan says it has infiltrated an anti-immigration party preparing to contest seats at the next federal election.
David Palmer, the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in Australia, said several Klan members had secretly joined Australia First, a far right party that announced yesterday that it had the numbers to register as a political party.
“We aren’t interested in actually registering as a party,” Mr Palmer said. “Our main idea was we would move in and take back what we consider our Aryan parties. [The Klan] is a white pressure group; a white social group for white families. But also a reserve in case the ethnics get out of hand and they need sorting out.”
When he made similar claims about the infiltration of One Nation, the party formerly led by Pauline Hanson, two of his associates were expelled from the party
Mr Palmer said: “Members don’t necessarily have to be Christian. As long as they’re white it’s OK.”
Early yesterday the NSW Treasurer, Eric Roozendaal, negotiated a deal with the Labor Party’s national secretary to guarantee no Labor preferences would go to Australia First.
Mr Roozendaal said: “One Nation got a foothold in Queensland due to one factor – Coalition preferences. This must not occur again.”
http://www.smh.com.au/national/we-have-infiltrated-party-kkk-20090709-dewk.html
helvityni,
I too feel very sad…why can’t we accept that as humanity we will either sink or swim as one…?
But at times like this I draw on memories for hope;
the memory of a miner on the road to Broken Hill , who helped me when I had a flat tyre and was scraping the red dust from under my flat tyre by hand …dressed in my city clothes.
When a while later I walked into a public bar for the first time in my life , covered in red dust and another miner said
” you look like you had a bad day love..let me get you a beer”.
I hope these memories make you smile in such sad and dangerous times.
Ella, three smiles for that, 🙂 🙂 🙂
I think this is one issue that will really divide those who warm to Hanson. It does make her look like a hypocrite. Australian this, Australian that – judging who isn’t Australian and then wanting Australians to pledge their allegiance to a foreign Queen. Sounds really Aussie to me.
I think a republic will pave the way for greater inclusiveness, as we cannot move past the ‘Adoration of the Western Canon’ which Abbott always carries on about, and the Motherland, unless we move forward. Otherwise, so many things we do are ingrained in English tradition and not our own. It is time for us to decide who we are, as an entire country.
Great link, Zathrus. This would make a fine parody of an ignorant right wing racist rant. I cannot take it seriously.
People confuse archetypal images with being Australian. Tanned blond white male on the beach. The drover. The Man from Snowy River. The swaggie. The beer drinker at the barbeque. These images are very limited; they are white Anglo-Saxon, male, self-sufficiently part of his environment.
“I love a sunburnt country” … second verse only. Written by a homesick 18 year old girl. It is all about a limited image as well. An empty country awaiting the hand of the white man to transform it. Essentially a shallow, though beautiful, evocation of a landscape.
The ‘real’ Australian is a city dweller in a suit with a brief case, getting across the road with the lights; It’s someone who feels comfortable on a train. Someone who enjoys the experience of living in such a multi-cultural society that a black face at church, an Indian in a turban at the railway station, a Chinese-looking police officer, a market stall selling gozleme made by women in hijabs, a school which proudly lists names from a hundred countries among its students … are markers of a society with the maturity to recognise that we are all different, but we can share a common nationality.
We are still in transition from the White Australia Policy which was an aspect of that mythical better time in the 50s. John Howard and his white picket fence symbolised this Australia: a male-headed family unit, safe in its little castle… but the package that comes with that nostalgia is racist and ignorant. It is not my Australia
“Could someone please explain to Pauline that we are, in fact and law, a secular nation.”
Indeed the fastest growing religions are non-Christian or Christian sects Hanson would not classify as her type of Christian, and the fastest growing groups are non-religious or anti-theist whilst the fastest shrinking groups are those she would think of as her Christians.
It seems to me that if you are an Australian citizen, you are Australian. There was a time when people of Aboriginal descent were not considered to be citizens, and did not have the right to vote, but that time is, thank heavens, gone. (This is not to say that there are not millions of ‘second-class’ citizens, including many, many Aboriginal people.) So if we accept that we are all Australians, we need to also accept that we are all ‘true’ Australians – We mightn’t all be nice, but we are all Australians. We truly are. We exist as individuals and groups within the wider group, ‘Australian’. A Reclaim Australia thug with his face and identity obscured by a flag is just as much a part of what Australia is as I am. It might be unfortunate, and I think it is, but it’s true. So if what I’m saying is sensible, there can’t be anything within our society that is ‘UnAustralian’. Unconscionable, nasty, even downright wrong, depending on your point of view, but not UnAustralian.
Jennifer, ‘Everyday I want to contribute to move the narrative from false self-adoration to compassionate, inclusive, progressive and luminous with imaginative enterprise.’ Thank you.
It was— and is— the rise of the Horrid How-Hard years starting with the ill treatment of the sick and desperate souls suffering on the scorching hot decks of The Tampa-and the How-Hard little man jaw pouting tough talk address at the LNP re-election address-stating -“We Will Decide”–and the deliberate lies and government cover up of the children overboard incident– and the -HowHard small man US deputy sherriff of the Pacific-that allowed the ignorant Hansonites to swarm as one and ligitimise the horrid hateful doctrines of the Horrid Hateful Howard Years
Yes, too true Lance, and Johnny’s disciples Tones, Pauline and Mal are staying true to his doctrines with Morrison and Dutton as eager assistants…doing the dirtiest jobs…
Lance you have hit it.
Not only are we still suffering the damaging social and economic Howard legacy nearly a decade after he’s gone, we will continue to suffer from it for at least a decade more.
Jocelyn January 29, 2017 at 9:24 am…excellent comment totally agree
King 1394
whilst you view of what an Australian and Australia is valid…BUT it is view of a person living in the city.
Are you suggesting that view of a person living in the country is the same as yours.
What about the view of the unemployed, the vilified, the old, the young …they may view what Australia is and what an Australia is differently
and yet just as valid.
I would accept the view of
Kate Ahearne as closer to reality.
YET, living most of my life in the country;
“I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea
Her beauty and her terror-
The wide brown land for me.
This is how I see Australia…the good the bad and the ugly.
A positive, upbeat statement of being Australian today –
inclusiveness, tolerance and freedom of religion etc.
I fear insularity, prejudice and anti-Islam are the hallmarks
of many (maybe older, white males) flocking to One Nation
in WA and Queensland – and they have to be recognized
as Australians too – repugnantly and outmoded as their
attitudes and actions are.
I also think the Queen v Republic thread in the article is
not the real reason for the repulsive ockerism attitudes
and actions – I feel it comes down to US v THEM,
whoever they are [xenophobia].
Ella Miller, @10.32am. Loved your story about Broken Hill miners. You’ll find that we are still pretty much like that out here in the ‘Hill.
But alas we too have that creeping malaise that is Hansonism and city-shitism.
I guess being such an isolated community we rely on each other for help in rough times and give help as a way of paying back to the community for the help we have/may receive.
If one is unfortunate to have a flat tyre on the way to the ‘Hill ..you will, to this day, still have ‘Hillites’ pulling over and asking if you need a hand….that’s why we have the reputation of being the ‘Friendly City ‘. Cheers
LOVO,
I am hoping to return to the Hill this winter…..can’t wait…loved the art, the humour, the welcoming friendship…even if I was covered in red dust….LOL
thanks.
I’m trying a new tactic with her on Twitter. I’m treating her account as if she is a satirical drag act Pauline impersonator (like Ms Pantsdown), and will comment on her tweets appropriately. Since it will be impossible to ever change her opinion, I might as well just find a quiet way to extract the urine.
Joe Eisman,
I’m afraid it’s no parody. Wally Butterworth was a very real person and his recordings can be found here – https://archive.org/details/TheWallyButterworthCollection
The only thing that’s changed since those days is the window dressing, the technology and the marketting.
The race-hate and religious intolerance product is the same.
DINKUM – Dual Income No Kids Unbelievable Mortgage
Why don’t we just calling Hanson by the name of her first husband? Pauline Zagorski … then everyone would laugh at her racism.
It intrigues me when the main stream media attack the person and not the message. It seems as if they have paid trolls to do the sledging. Very zionist behaviour. As Australian Citizens we are assets owned by the Crown and the City of London. As Australian Nationals we were bound by our own Constitution, and Queensland was the only State with direct access to the Privy Counsel and the Queen of England. That was back in the time when we were the Commonwealth of Australia. Now if you observe, we are controlled by the AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. It is a subtle change to the use of Upper Case terminology which changes how our society, laws, security and privacy apply to every day Australian Citizens. For a better explanation of how all this works, I found the website of Judge Anna Von Reitz to be extremely accurate and informative. I am sure if more Australian Citizens understood the implications of these changes, they would call our politicians to account!