I’m finding the Yes response to the disaster underwhelming
By Anthony Haritos
On the day Australia said “NO” to the planet’s oldest surviving First Nations people, we all must have a story to mark that famous day, surely.
I’ve got two.
Story one is more of an observation. The Greeks also have a day when they shouted a resounding No! “OXi” Day, October 28, 1940, was when the Greek PM rejected Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s ultimatum to surrender in early-stage WWII, leading to delays in Hitler’s grand plan and arguably to the Germans invading Russia on 22 June 1941 – too late in the northern summer.
The difference between the two days? Greeks may continue to celebrate their declaration day long after we are all dead, rightly too, if it so pleases them. Whereas here in Australia …
The second story I won’t forget. Assisting my 91-year-old mother Helen to vote at the polling station on Saturday, I pointed out the allotted clearly marked rectangle as where to write her vote. Helen stared at the paper then said, “I can’t see it.”
I said, “There, inside that rectangle.”
She replied with a shaky voice, “Well, I can’t see a rectangle,” nodding her head with frustration. “This is what I’ve come to.”
I took hold of the bottom of the pencil and placed the graphite tip inside on the left-hand side of the rectangle.
I said, “It’s in position to write now Mum.” She scrawled. The Y was inside okay, the E straddling the bottom line 50-50 at an angle, and the S was completely outside below at 45 plus degrees.
Gawd. I placed the tip where the E should be, and said “Okay, try writing just the letters E and S again.”
My brain was squirming, just like that toad. I felt a sudden plunge into … pity. I felt so sorry for her. Again, the exercise of placing three letters on paper was a mess, but it had to do.
A year ago, I had taken Helen to an eye specialist where learning the full extent of her macular degeneration was a shock. I’ve been with her again the past three weeks. But this act brought it home. Bang.
At Dinah Beach Yacht Club I recounted the episode, adding, “Mum, with all the difficulties you face I’m really proud of you. How you keep getting up every day is amazing really.”
“Really? You are proud of me, Tony? Thank you. No one’s ever said they were proud of me before.”
I could close this with, “So we beat on, boats against the current …” but I won’t. It’s one appropriation too many. Then again, it’s small beer compared to appropriating the image of some Aboriginal elder someone downloaded from the internet, that someone then allocating some wise belief system to him. This happened time and again. Is this appropriation or misappropriation? Dunno. But it’s fucked. I do know that. And you’d hafta be a complete retard to do that. To go through the motions of carrying that out.
You’d have to be a kind of person I can’t put my finger on.
It was now well past midnight. I really did hope winners were being grinners down at No HQ, that they were all high on some kinda hog whooping it up, congratulating each other on … I really do. Congratulating each other … on what though? Can’t figure just what that would be.
Love to be a fly on the wall. What would they all be yelling at each other? Well, spitting on each other by now.
“I say, excellent appropriation there in Week Three! Brilliant use of that dead old blackfella with his cute little regulation-issue spear, paint and naga!! Fuck we got some good hits outa him. Had heads spinning, and that’s what we want. Hey old fella, you can relax now. I gotta say, you punched well above your weight there.”
Surely not? They wouldn’t be that witty. Not with an anchor tied to their ankle. Or necks. You’d hafta be a psychopath.
Yeah, hope they’re hog high cos I reckon, reckon tomorrow there’ll be that little bit, bitta niggle, you know … or maybe a deep dread …
The Yes crowds. Where are they? All off crying, weeping, sobbing … what did they expect? Get up, go on, lead, this is your time, laugh right back at ’em I say. Open season’s on them now, not you. Give ‘em both barrels, along with a spicy bitch-slap for luck.
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Terence Mills
Return to home pageThe LIARBRAL$ & NOtional$ are floating the idea that puppet Price & Waza Mundane are such a wonderful ”success” (at reading propaganda scripts) that puppet should jump on board the Notional$ gravy train and become ”leader”.
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Well, THAT would appear to be a long shot if ever there was one. Perhaps the proponent(s) failed to look at the current NOtional$ ”leader” …. (maybe they did) ….. and saw that it was a self-serving misogynist male. But did they wonder how the remainder of the Boys Club would behave if a mere WOMAN put their hand up to nominate for the leadership position ….. especially an ABORIGINAL woman, one of the class of persons denied recognition in the Australlian Constitution ….. by the action of their very party!!
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Now consider the reaction at regional saleyards and cotton gins ….. In some regional, especially Queensland, electorates the ”No” vote received over 80% support, emphasising the 19th century colonial thinking common among farmers whose progenitors took part in massacres and poisonings of Aboriginal people well into the 20th century. Are these MDB water bandits likely to continue funding the NOtional$, or would they depart with their funding to Handjob’s ONe NOtion?
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Naturally that would leave the unelected political hacks in the NOtional$ who control pre-selection and promotions with a desperate financial situation to maintain the life-style they currently enjoy, so the trucking industry would be called on to make up the difference.
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Perhaps it would be better to acknowledge the fifteen seconds of notoriety in Murdoch Media Monopoly mastheads then leave her to scowl in silent remembrance of what should have been, but wasn’t because of her actions.
So, hairy toes, a bit obscure here and there but I get the message, you think both the yes and no voters were rooted, yes? But your particular contempt is reserved for the nay-sayers. Someone today referred to it as a pyrrhic victory for Dutton because it won’t help him win back seats lost to theTeals and he certainly isn’t going to pick up Labor seats, even those where ‘no’ voters were in the majority. At best he might turn a Hansonite. As for Jacinta, and I won’t use the Indigenous name she claims because I don’t think she has a right to it any more, she will be re-elected for the reasons we Territorians know only too well: always was one each, always will be. But the figures don’t lie, it’s not First Nations people electing her, it’s the grumpy and racist whites. She is certainly articulate, if incomprehensible word salads count as articulate, and her apparent success as a no-voting Indigenous will make her attractive to the aforementioned racist and grumpy voters, but any elevation in status or position won’t amount to much as time in the electoral wilderness grows longer. I hope both she and spud enjoy it. They have proven they have nothing to offer.
The result confirmed what I already knew,yes,in my “confirmation bias”:-
The majority of people in this country are ignorant, gullible, and lack the proper critical thinking skills to tell truth,from lies.
Sure the racists were always voting no,I believe they were the minority of the No side.
The majority clearly showed. Just because they think something, doesn’t mean they are right. FACTS are still FACTS, same with lies. Regardless of what the stupid majority (don’t) think.
We are the ignorant country.
I wonder if by Xmas this year Aussies will be told a Joint Parliamentary agreement on a Makarrata Commission Bill is in the pipeline and there will be a Treaty by late 2025. That’d be one way to end the Uni-party good-cop bad-cop routine.
Sometimes one thinks, what’s the point in Australia when any vaguely forward looking and community positive initiative is attacked and buried by our narrow/shallow monocultural RW MSM, channeling US ‘free market’ (ie. authoritarian) think tanks and almost directing then promoting LNP policies, while MPs are simply performative for an ageing audience with the attention span of gnats and the moral compasses of used car salesmen, looking for short term self gratification to fill a need for nasty ‘collective narcissism’, and outright bigotry.
An example over past generation has been the bipartisan white nativist related obsessions on refugee border security, immigration restrictions and attempts at ‘sustainable population’ control, informed by US Tanton ZPG linked NGO, influencers in media & politics. Not only defies basic maths, environmental science and social science analysis, but dec. white nationalist John ‘passive eugenics’ Tanton himself was an admirer of white Australia policy, and hosted by SPA when visiting….
Recently UTS academic Walker released a paper showing how the US fossil fueled Koch Network or Atlas influence locally and especially on the Voice ‘No campaign’ inc. the IPA, and CIS to which Price and Mundine are closely linked (also where pro-Russia geo-political ‘expert’ Mearsheimer has presented too; whiff of fossil fuels & anti-EU/NATO); it’s in plain sight but no RW MSM will highlight ever, but ABC did give Walker an interview (IA & offshore DeSmog did).
ABC
‘The ‘mother of all think tanks’ could be behind disinformation about the Voice referendum. A non-governmental organisation known as the Atlas Network could be behind some of the biggest disinformation campaigns on climate change and the tobacco industry.
And one research paper (embedded via link) suggests that the network could also have inspired some of the tactics being used by the Voice No campaigns in the lead up to next weekend’s referendum.’
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-drive/atlas-network-voice-referendum-no-campaign/102930444
Both the Tanton and Koch mobs share ‘Donors Network’ in the US, in the public domain, but like locally, manage to fly under the MSM radar so that the electorate is not informed, even if they cared.
Bob Menzies would be proud – once again White fellas made a decision for the indigenous peoples. They make up just over 3% of our total population, and they voted overwhelmingly in favour of YES.
But we couldn’t have that now could we – let them choose their own future??? Oh no, that would be disastrous, they aren’t capable of that. Anyway according to Senator Price colonisation wasn’t all bad for them. So we can happily go on with our lives knowing that we’ve made the decision in their best interests.
To the NO voters – next time anyone asks your opinion I will slap my hand over your mouth and tell you I know what’s best for you.
White Australia continues to rule.
WHO ARE THE MAIN DONORS TO THE ”NO” REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Truebelievers1/posts/4162804907570970/?comment_id=4163460310838763¬if_id=1697525229245273¬if_t=group_comment_mention
A Crikey analysis revealed earlier this year, in the 2021-22 financial year Advance reported receiving $2.45 million — $723,422 in amounts that were over the mandatory disclosure threshold of $14,500. Of those disclosed donations, 12 associated individuals and groups were responsible for at least 30%.
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These include:
$112,500 from Louis Denton and Rayleen Giusti, who both have links to the Garnaut property family.
$75,000 from various members of Sydney’s millionaire O’Neil family.
$75,000 from JMR Management Consultancy Services, directed by Brett Ralph, co-owner of transport company Jet Couriers, who owns a 20% stake in the Melbourne Storm NRL club.
$45,000 from Gabrielle and John Hull, a Queensland couple who’ve frequently donated to both the Liberal National Party and Advance.
$25,000 from Ian Tristram, CEO of the 100-something-year-old company Trisco Foods, which created the Trisco soft drink before selling it to Cadbury.
$25,000 from Telowar Pty Ltd, a company linked to the owners of Taylor Wines.
$20,000 from Andrew Abercrombie, a multimillionaire Liberal Party powerbroker and chair of buy-now-pay-later company Humm. A cocktail party at his luxury Aspen chalet in 2020 was ground zero for a COVID-19 cluster affecting wealthy Victorians.
$20,000 from Marcus Blackmore, the scion of the Blackmore supplements empire.
$20,000 from Siesta Holdings Australia, a company which lists storage king and longtime Advance backer Sam Kennard as one of its directors.
Particularly noteworthy is the contribution of retired investment banker Simon Fenwick and his wife Elizabeth, who have poured several million into Advance in recent years, much of it gained via investments in the kind of woke capitalism the group purports to hate.
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Mining billionaires
Billionaire miner and chaos agent Clive Palmer threw $2 million to the No camp, while Gina Rinehart — who became Australia’s richest woman after starting with nothing but a dream, a relentless work ethic and a multimillion-dollar mining company she inherited from her dad — was quieter about her views; the fact she snuck in to support Northern Territory senator and No breakout star Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and that she made an appearance at the “jubilant” No victory party on the weekend probably gives you an indication.
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Think tanks
Similarly, the Institute of Public Affairs, which we understand runs off what Rinehart finds in the pockets of clothes she hasn’t worn in a while, insisted it did not “support or oppose the Voice to Parliament” — despite producing a lesson plan (as part of its “Class Action” program, pushing back against apparent woke indoctrination in Australia’s classrooms) that felt pretty skewed in one direction. No such equivocation on the weekend. The 14th was a “proud day” for Australia, according to a press release.
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Also apparently neutral was the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) — although this is a hard claim to take seriously from the organisation that made Price and Nyunggai Warren Mundine its spokespeople on Indigenous affairs. CIS board members include a host of investment bankers, high-level consultants, former CEOs and even a couple of knighthood recipients.
Sorry that your elderly mother had difficulty finding the Yes/No box. If anyone has difficulty voting, an electoral officer present at the booth can be asked to assist. This even includes coming out to your car for a person with mobility problems.
Cocky, 95% of the population would have no idea what you’re talking about and 94% couldn’t give a rat’s arse,and therein lies our problem.
Keep an eye out for black Suburbans.Any ‘reality’ TV shit on tonight?
If Albo really wants to make a difference,he could do worse than instituting a Royal Commission into Rupert, the unburied garbage peddler.
This won’t go away. A nice polite, and conservative request has been denied — denied by lies and misinformation.
We should respect that the Aboriginal leadership has gone away to be silent, mourn, and work out what the next step is.
However, some of us as still active, and I have not hidden my disgust on Facebook.
We must make Australia aware of this disgrace. The real quiet Australians must “make a noise and make it clear”.
NEC: On IPA & CIS, think the UK end of DeSmog has detailed profiles inc. donors, astroturfing campaigns and fear of younger generations; interestingly not a whisper in local media 🙂
IPA had foreign donations from both of the infamous US Olin & Bradley Foundations in ’90s; both highlighted by New Yorker’s Jane Mayer in ‘Dark Money’ see https://www.desmog.com/institute-public-affairs/
CIS (Price & Mundine are linked to) gains a paragraph in recent DeSmog article (12 Sep ’23) ‘Meet the Shadowy Network Vilifying Climate Protestors. The Atlas Network is behind the effort to brand climate activists as extremists and pass anti-protest legislation….
In Australia, Atlas members took to the media en masse to protest the young protesters. The Australian Taxpayers Alliance — which usually sticks to, unsurprisingly, issues around taxes — got a young intern to go on Sky News and sneer about how climate strikers should stay in school. The Centre for Independent Studies worried in a blog post that literacy was taking a backseat to activism in Australian schools. The Institute for Progress suggested teachers take the opportunity to inform the students who weren’t striking that “our world would collapse without fossil fuels.”’
At no stage has it occurred to me to do anything other than answer YES in the referendum.
I was born in England, and I am not proud of their legacy..
I have lived in Australia for over 50 years and see it as having a high level of racism.
I think Albanese overlooked the fact that the English language and a knowledge of Australia’s history meant that many who are from a migrant backgound might not understand the extent of the deprivation or the need for consideration of restitution for First Bations people.
The fact that people can elect Dutton is alarming!
@ Harry Lime: A Royal Commission into the Murdoch Media monopoly may not be necessary thanks to A US hedge fund seeking a quick strip profit by taking over the empire.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/murdoch-under-pressure-from-us-hedge-fund-to-break-up-his-media-empire-20231018-p5ed42.html
Cocky, the question we should ask..are they any better, or what are their motives?There’s so much bullshit out there I’ve almost lost the will to care……Almost.Besides,I’m not expecting much from Albanese,so far he has demonstrated that he is out of his depth,and against such a dreadful opponent like the brainless boofhead Dutton,he should be kicking goals.He’s been presented with a lay down misere,but he keeps dropping his cards.
Harry, so you think Albo is out of his depth. How deep in trouble do you think the “brainless boofhead Dutton” is. Currently Labor is compiling information about Dutton’s involvement in evil exploitation of migrants.
Rupert Murdoch has pretended to step aside in his company of lies, dead scared of being destroyed, as New England Cocky has suggested. And Shane Dowling on his Kangaroo Court website also suggests that the self-confessed liar is deep in trouble.
Here, Harry, you say Albo is dropping his cards. He is way ahead of boofhead. Just look at the giggling goons on the Opposition side. It is only the mainstream media with its lack of real news which leads voters astray. Nevertheless the right-wing Opposition is dead scared of the possibility of Royal Commissions.
As well, there are all those foul comments spread around by foul NO sayers who know nothing about Indigenous history. But now we have told the world we do not care about the people who have lived on this continent for the past 65,000 years and have been treated badly since invaders came here just 235 years ago.
How much future do we have with climate change actively threatening and too many people NOT LISTENING?
Ian Joyner, what you call Aboriginal Leaders, I call Government Consultants. This whole Voice thing was concocted by Pearson and some Liberal “think tank” (if that’s not an oxymoron) in 2013, then slipped into agenda and recommendations at a Conference in 2017.
The Referendum Council had this cunning plan to get Constitutional Recognition in a form palatable to First Nations’ Peoples, but to keep His Majesty’s Government in charge of the whole apparatus, including its “composition, functions, powers and procedures.”
Now, where were we? Oh that’s right, Truth Telling, Treaties, Sovereignty. What a distraction that proved to be.
I am guilty of assuming the issue of Aboriginal people from all over Australia having input into the closing the gap measures and laws that ONLY affected Aboriginal people. Only the most overt racists would say no. Ergo the referendum would pass as easily as same sex marriage. Sadly the antipathy against our Aboriginal people, as demonstrated by the AFL booing from people who did not believe their actions were race based, (Sam summed it with his attitude that Adam’s war dance was ridiculous and deserved booing)became an outpouring of intense dislike and mistrust of Labor. QED NO. The real tragedy is Dutton is now electable, the loonies loom in 5/6 labor seats and the teals are no Haines.
Wam, “ I am guilty of assuming the issue of Aboriginal people from all over Australia having input into the closing the gap measures and laws that ONLY affected Aboriginal people. Only the most overt racists would say no.”
The question that was asked in the referendum was ‘should Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders be recognised as the First Peoples of Australia?’ Are they in fact the first peoples? I don’t think so. It is 2023, not 60,000 BC. They are a bit late to claim the title of first peoples of Australia, which may actually belong to an extinct species of humans only discovered in 2010, the Denisovans. What the referendum was really asking was for contemporary Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and their descendants to be formally and for ever after be recognised as the First Peoples of Australia to somehow justify giving them the inherited and privileged entitlement to a constitutionally guaranteed voice to Parliament. Why was the voice made conditional upon recognition of something that in all honesty we cannot recognise as true? Why was the voice made to be conditional upon dividing Australians into a tiny group with hereditary privilege and a much larger group not entitled to that privilege based only on the basis of birth?
There is a gap between the poor and the rich. If you are poor your life expectancy is lower, you are less healthy, you have less opportunities in life and you are more likely to go to prison than you would if you were rich. If you think being poor is worse for Aborigines than for everyone else, well… Don’t you think that other poor people would like a bit of privileged input into laws that adversely affect only them? We could justify it by spending half a billion dollars having a referendum to recognise them as the Poor Peoples of Australia. And if wouldn’t have to be a hereditary privilege either.
Thanks B,
As a registered simpleton, what has your post to do with the establishment of an Aboriginal voice in the constitution?
Did the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders of 60000 years ago are dead influence your vote?
The Māori have political and judicial power through a treaty so MunPrice have kept their hopes of power alive as the voice would not have given a treaty.
wam, what are you talking about “the voice would not have given a treaty”?
The Flowcharts at the end of the 26 page Uluru Statement of the Heart doc
malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/26-page-Doc-14-Uluru-Statement-from-the-Heart.pdf
clearly show what happens if the Referendum fails, which it did. I don’t know why YES voters find it that difficult to see that the end point of this exercise is Treaty / Treaties and that the goal remains unchanged by the NO win.
Labor, Indigenous corporations & individuals and UNDRIP are working towards Treaty.
The failed $345M referendum was an attempt to pretend that the majority of voters want a Treaty.
B. Sullivan,
Speaking about Indigenous Australians, you say: “Are they in fact the first people? I don’t think so. It is 2023, not 60,000 BC. A bit late to claim the title of first peoples of Australia, which may actually belong to an extinct species of humans only discovered in 2010, the Denisovans.”
So who are the Denisovans?
We can find out quite a bit about them in that name ‘Denisovans’ in Wikipedia’:
“Denisovans are known to have lived in Siberia, Tibet and Laos…
Little is known of the precise anatomical features of Denisovans since the only physical remains discovered so far are a finger bone, four teeth, long bone fragments, a partial jawbone, and a parietal skull fragment…
Using coalescent modelling, The Denisovan Cave Denisovans split from the second population about 283,000 years ago, and from the third population about 363,000 years ago.”
Those dates do not seem to match the dates for when Indigenous Australians arrived in Australia.
In fact, B.Sullivan, you seem to be in a total muddle about which Indigenous people the referendum is talking about, 2023 or all the Indigenous people going back from now 95,000 years.
In fact, non of the NO campaign people seem to know much about Indigenous Australians at all in any shape of form. We cannot forget the horrific killing of Indigenous people after 1788 and the shocking mistreatment delivered out today.
Og course the First Peoples of Australia were in 1901. Prior to that, and even after that, there were only British Colonial Subjects plus People of the Aboriginal Race who were exlicitly excluded from being Australians.
I found myself explaining to a UK relative why the referendum failed and whilst there are many nuances I could have mentioned, I kept it simple and just said .
The NO campaign opposing the proposition recruited two prominent people of Aboriginal heritage
(Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Nyunggai Warren Mundine). Whilst I voted YES I can understand that many people would have thought that if prominent Aboriginal leaders are opposed to having a Voice to parliament, then so be it.
Isn’t that what just happened ?