Yes, I suppose that some of you are offended because you realise that I’m only shortening the “Welcome To Country” by one syllable for Tony Abbott. While others probably think that I should take out the “Welcome” when it comes to the ex-PM because he was clearly not welcomed at the election where the voters of his electorate preferred the Independent candidate, Zali Steggall.
Of course we all understand that Tony Abbott’s views are the sort of news that’s worth reporting. As someone who was once Prime Minister of this fair land, his opinion is worth a lot more than mine or yours because we’re all equal and to set up something like the Voice is, well, it’s just like Apartheid in South Africa because having the Indigenous population given that sort of recognition in the Constitution would lead to people like Mr Abbott being just as oppressed as all those poor South Africans who were forced to stick to Whites Only areas.
And Dutton certainly has a point when he says that the Albanese government is spending too much time on the Voice when the cost of living situation is so dire that the Opposition are going to oppose the two-for-one prescription legislation in order to ensure that Pharmacies aren’t affected by it. Still, it’ll be too late for those ones that lost everything and gone out of business as soon as Labor even thought of the idea. I remember the Pharmacy Guild head, Trent Twomey, telling us this just before he told us that he definitely wasn’t going to be a candidate for the Liberal Party at any upcoming election even though he was a member of the party.
The Opposition have made the point about Albanese’s obsession with the Voice in Question Time by ensuring that just about every question they ask has some connection to it, including Michealia Cash’s supplementary one about did they know where in Canberra the Voice would be located. Labor didn’t answer that question and it’s this lack of detail that should worry everyone…
On Twitter there are many people making the point that you can oppose the Voice and still not be racist, just as having a white sheet over your head doesn’t make you a member of the Ku Klux Klan. After all, it could be Halloween and you could be going as a ghost and, all right, it’s several months away but you need to check that the sheet fits, don’t you and just because you’re wearing it on the same day as the Referendum, well, both events occur in October.
An example of one of these non-racist people is this tweet:
He or she is not the only person concerned about “fake aboriginals” (sic). It’s been a theme of Andrew Bolt even though he had his free speech seriously curtailed by a court which said that he had to be accurate.
Of course, the irony is that someone connected to the “No” camp was guilty of actually creating something using AI which the “Yes” camp inaccurately tried to suggest was a fake Indigenous person, but as the creator of the campaign, Philip Mobbs explained:
“Our society is made up of a rich tapestry of people from nearly every corner of the world, people of colour are effectively the audience that makes up Australia. My view is, just because I used a person of colour, doesn’t mean it was an Aboriginal person. I found it perplexing they assume it was an Aboriginal person … it never crossed my mind, I wanted to communicate to the majority of Australians by reflecting a multicultural society.
Members of the “No” campaign were outraged that the “Yes” campaign tried to make something of this when it was nothing to do with them and that Mobbs was a completely different person who they don’t know and so it didn’t happen.
I’ve also seen several tweets along the lines of people should stop expecting government to help them and that if Indigenous people wanted a better life then they should work for it and get an education.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you should flaunt your success by dressing well. After all, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price complained that Linda Burney was “dripping with Gucci”. Burney’s office did clarify that she didn’t own any Gucci products which is lucky for Price, otherwise Gucci may have been sued for suggesting that their products somehow melt.
Yes, if you’re a First Nations person you should take responsibility and try to make something of yourself but if you do:
So there you have it. If you’re an Indigenous person with any sort of problem, you should solve it yourself, but if you’re a success you should be out there helping those “true unfiltered Aborigines”.
Strangely, when I responded to this tweet (or should I say “X”?) in a true and unfiltered way, I was blocked, but there you go!
Confused? Mm, well, if you don’t know:
Ask questions and find out!!!
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Those who vote no are racist. They choose to believe all the lies and conspiracies.
I don’t know what it is with these racist fools, but many of them think that plastering the profile pics with Aussie flags makes them look more patriotic than the rest of us.
These No Voters with the Australian flag in their profiles are trashing the national flag in the name of racism, and are the shameful dregs of Australian society.
Every time there is a genuine effort to promote reconciliation, there is an over the top reaction, that uses false information and exaggeration.
* Mabo- “they will take your backyard”
* The apology – ” this will cost billions and billions in compensation”
* The voice- “it’s a conspiracy to undermine our parliamentary system”
…but calling opponents “racist” is counter productive.
We must make every effort to promote the voice as a mainstream, fair and inclusive development that is no more radical than the earlier changes that some.were in a flap about.
The coaltion and One Nation’s approach in trying to block the two-for-one prescription Bill has come under fire from the Australian Medical Association president Professor Robson. He said the decision to move the blocking motion in the Senate clearly showed the signatories to this had buckled under an irresponsible scare campaign by those opposed to the measures (i.e pharmacists).
Professor Robson said :
“Let me be clear, this policy was recommended by an independent expert body — the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) — because it is safe and has enormous benefits to the community.
It saves consumers money, and it frees up GP time, which the health system desperately needs.
This capitulation to an irresponsible and orchestrated scare campaign is beyond disappointing, because it will prevent consumers saving up to $180 per year on selected Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme funded medicines.”
Good on you Professor Robson !
It looks as though the coalition and One Nation will back off in their opposition which was only ever obstructionist.
Hating equality is this racist? Well, it may be partly racist. But some sections in the community reckon they deserve to be more equal than others. They just do not want equality for everyone. That is why they urge you to vote ‘no’.
A Commentator,
Have you hacked us? I’m putting together a piece about that very thing. 😁
I might borrow some of your words if that’s OK as I have a severe dose of writer’s block.
I remember defending somebody who said that they had an Aboriginal great-grandparent against somebody who said, “Either you’re Aboriginal or you’re not.” To which I said, “How a person identifies is their personal choice.” And despite what the ignorant say, you cannot walk into your local office and say, “My name’s Joe/Jo Bloggs. I’m an Aboriginal, I want this, this and this.” The person will say, “Hold on a moment, Mr./Ms. Bloggs, that payment is means-tested, so we need to see bank statements, pay slips and the like.” And if the person is fair-skinned, they need to be able to show birth/death/marriage certificates, such as, “Groom’s Name: Chee Chin Hoy, Bride’s Name: Patricia O’Neale, 1875, Baby Born, 1877, Michael Chin, Groom’s Name: Michael Chin, Bride’s Name: Oodgeroo, 1902, Baby’s Name, Margaret Chin, Groom’s Name: Michael Kleinschmidt, Bride’s Name: Margaret Chin, Baby’s Name, Louise Kleinschmidt, 1946, and so on.
Tone the Botty needs to learn that he is not as sick of Welcome To Country as we are of HIM! He may be a former Kirribilli Occupant, but he didn’t last two years, and he was the most incompetent nincompoop to occupy the premises! Indeed, Warringah would be hardly likely to vote Labor, but once a more progressive candidate, as opposed to a dinosaur, came along, Tone the Botty was told his time was up.
A Commentator
Unfortunately it is this sort of thing that is causing so much damage to the YES case in regional areas :
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12391599/Indigenous-man-tries-block-police-travelling-public-road-Aboriginal-land.html
TM, the coalition is only looking for any policy to oppose. Because, when you have no idea you have to destroy any idea.
As for the racists who argue for a NO, there is no law against stupidity, unfortunately. As 30% of us fall into that catergory, thats easy pickings for arsholes. Apart from discriminating against them. what else can you do? You cant argue with logic, they are beyond reason. The waters have been that badly poisoned. Dutton the mutton just has to make it deniably plausible and the 30% go hallelujia.
Also the Orwellian doublespeak to confuse and mislead other voters, against The Voice, diversity etc. e.g. No voters &/or armies of social media accounts gaslighting everyone claiming the Yes Vote is racist because it’s against Australians, nasty etc. etc. etc.; LNP is looking for a divisive Brexit or Trump like campaign, to be relevant.
As Uta H suggests, it’s become part of the modus operandi of authoritarian Anglosphere media and paranoid inducing messaging especially influential Murdoch media, and a related font of sociocultural agitprop and techniques is Koch Heritage Foundation’s The Daily Signal.
The latter could be the inspiration for FoxNews, while in US both groups actively promote all Biden conspiracies, inflated anecdotes or personal experiences of victimhood (vs. Dem, woke etc.), dodgy polling, attacks on public officials, Dems & centrist GOP, Trump as a victim etc..
Seems that all the Anglosphere ‘right’ inc. LNP, Tories and GOP have, is through support of fossil fueled think tank networks and allied RW media cartels vs. the 21stC, science, empowerment and enlightenment.
Attack anything sociocultural they disagree with, while quietly trying to implement permanence in the background whether voter suppression, withdrawing behind borders (Brexit), tampering with school/higher ed curricula etc. through targeting ageing less educated/diverse voters, especially regions, for approval.
Abbott seems to have made himself or been adopted to run negative sociocultural agitprop throughout Anglosphere where Murdoch exists, while acting as a Trade Advisor to the UK Tories, attending Koch linked think tank events, and Hungary too; transnational ‘architecture of influence’
Well Roswell, it’s most unusual that anyone would wish to repeat my comments. .
But of course you’re entirely welcome to use them.
~~~~~
Yes, TM. There will be trivial incidents that will be used as part of a scare campaign.
The reply is simple – consultation doesn’t bestow any form of veto, there is no downside in consulting with people.
As Andrew Smith has reminded us about Orwellian doublespeak, I would like to point out that Mr Albanese could easily and successfully legislate “The Voice” through Parliament and simply ignore the opposition who do not have the numbers to block it. Problem solved. We would soon find out how effective “a voice to parliament” is and if it works then the privilege could be extended to other groups of people who deserve to be heard on legislation that affects them in particular. Like the unemployed and the disabled who are dependent on welfare payments to get by, or tenants obliged to pay extra rent to cover rising interest rates on their landlord’s property investments.
Instead, he has embarked on an unwarranted constitutional referendum campaign to have the barn wall repainted with the words, “All animals are equal but indigenous animals are more equal than others.”
If you don’t get it, Mr Albanese is creating the unnecessary precedent of a costly and difficult constitutional barrier that could block any alternative requests for voices to parliament no matter how deserving those voices need to be heard.
The Country Party/Naional Party formed in 1920 is a powerful VOICE in Parliament. The rationale for farmers and graziers VOICE to Parliament was that farmers could have significant political influence by encouraging primary producers across the country to seriously engage with the idea of having influence on matters relating to them. They were so successful that they convinced almost everyone living in rural ares that they were there to represent their needs also, there is absolutely no record of the Country Nats of ever having supported a wage increase for their workers, that’s just incidental. Nevertheless the Country/Nationals have been extremely successful in garnering government support for the socialist farming community.
Aboriginal and Islander people spend their lives coping with institutionalised racism. Many Australians are not only unaware of their racist beliefs, attitudes and practices but deny their racism.
I consider these people and the common Aussie racist to be 40% of us and I hope that few of the 60% left are frightened by murdoch, dutton and sussoneverything into voting ‘no’. One of the saddest comments I have read: ‘Until the shiny black Africans came to melb…’ Do melbournians think, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is African? ps Can anyone reconcile the rabbott as a Rhodes Scholar??
wam: Rhodes Scholars are chosen by a committee consisting mostly of previous Rhodes Scholars, the originals having been chosen as being in the image of Cecil Rhodes himself. Nothing to reconcile. 🙂
Comments on the repulsive Abbott, the coming voice position, the state of our nation, remain entertainingly disturbing, for nobody seems to feel that better is assured in future for indigenous Australians, regardless of the vote outcome. Rural people cannot guarantee a steady, assured income easily, with seasons, weather, markets, peace or war, costs, all factors. Unawareness, greed, fear, disillusionment, these can be countered, but not eliminated. Murdoch alone has voices, fingers, organs everywhere. He usually gets what he wants and says it directly and indirectly, but constantly. Perhaps many other well established voices are needed.
That photo of Abbott and all I can think is: “Now just make sure you don’t get any older so when I need a photo op they can snap me condescendingly patting you on the head and looking suitably caring.”
The entire basis of British law is founded in unscientific anthropological myth, religious bigotry, gender bias, racism, exploitation and land theft. It is the foundation of aristocracy, and the hallmark of the divisiveness of the Crown, and its plausible deniability charade via secretly commissioned piracy, such as Drake, and corporations such as the City of London, Swires, the East India Company, etc., and their standing mercenary armies.
It is embedded in their (and our) judiciary via them swearing fealty to the Crown, and the adversarial word-salad system of judicial operation, as opposed to an enduring quest for the truth.
To that extent, the ‘separation of powers’ is a farce.
From the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance, the ordinary folk benefitted firstly by the Romans, then later by the commission of the abovementioned by the Crown (and aristocrats), and from a diversity of income available at the onset of the industrial revolution. The benefits to the ordinary folk did not accrue for long, as the aristocrats and the Crown’s increasing greed and quest for power saw them as disposable collateral and canon-fodder. But throughout the continuing brutality of the Crown (aristocrats) and the judiciary, of course, one must not forget the final component of the tryst of deception, the age-old tried and tested bogey of bling, the placatory churches and their inculcations of god-given rights of the Crown and aristocracy, and the faux care and placatory (read intimidatory) counsel of their predatory officials. Beware the faithless barbarians.
Europe finally learned its lessons, introducing the common market and ultimately the EU, with Briton only whilst it was convenient. Come the mid 20th century, with the collapse of religiosity, and the perditions of Thatcher and Reagan, the underlying bitterness of the ordinary folk, thrown again to the wolves of corrupt corporatization, had cause to rise. But the old guard doubled down, particularly in Britain (Brexit), America and Australia. And then came the busting of the systemic evils of the churches. Bitterness skyrocketed, but those uneducated and vulnerable to the addiction to bling, clutched to the ludicrous notions of old glory, and opted for the most easily inculcated fears and subjects for blame, otherness and racism. Beware the faithless barbarians.
So the Voice NO campaign is orchestrated by exploitative corporatised corrupt power-seeking politicians and their flunkies, and targeted at unevolved, uneducated and vulnerable folk looking for somewhere to point their underlying bitterness. Exemplified by Dutton, Ley, Littleproud, Mundine, Price, Joyce, Hansen, Palmer, Abbott, Johns, Bernardi, Antic, Babet, Anderson and a few others – none noted as important in Oz culture or for fairness in principles of equity for Oz in its entirety, but who in the alternative worked to punch down on the unevolved, uneducated and vulnerable.
With the diverse YES campaigns just starting to hit the straps, the premature ejaculations of the naysayers are leaving themselves with less and less wriggle room, and deaf ears to their whining. Never mind the duped pollsters, I’m punting for at least a 60% YES.
Clakka, re. ‘canon-fodder’, an honest typo no doubt but nonetheless salient, to the extent that we’re all subject to the promulgation of myth and its repetitive iteration. Thanks for your thoughts, indeed a timely reminder of the forces at play both locally and on a larger scale.
Yes, Totaram, I realise how they are mainly chosen by ‘who’ not ‘what’ and it was probably the turn for a catholic but, unlike abbott, all the ones in my years seemed pretty good in the ‘what’ category.
ps
Even with the recent WA decision, I am with you clakka.
Card carrying members of the LIARBRAL Party are a dying breed and so the recommended policy is to incarcerate them on Manus & Nauru for the term of their remaining natural lives without communications, health services & housing so that their last days may be spent contemplating how they stuffed up Australia for the benefit of foreign owned multinational corporations. This is the traditional way that Australian governments eliminate political embarrassments.
@ Lawriejay: I am no longer a single voice crying in the political wilderness!! Corporations have a Voice in Parliament, called LIARBRAL politicians. Farmers have a Voice in Parliament called the Nazional$ supporting rural socialism for property owners. Somehow Australian voters have been supplanted by these Voices when ever it comes to spending government revenues.