Why It Would Be A Mistake To Call Peter Dutton A Racist
Yesterday, the Coalition called for a Royal Commission into spending on Indigenous people and child abuse in Indigenous communities.
Normally, I don’t comment on how best to solve any problems in these areas because I have no expertise… Well, apart from being an old, white male which is usually enough to make one an expert on just about anything.
But I was slightly confused because all through the Voice Referendum, we had Dutton and various others tell us that it would be wrong to “put race into the Constitution” because we shouldn’t be treating one race any differently from the others but now we need to audit how this money is being spent… Because well, it’s important to get value for money for the taxpayer and it’s not racist when you only want to audit how it’s spent in one area, any more than it’s racist to suggest that it’s only worth holding a Royal Commission into child abuse in Indigenous communities because, well, as Dutton told us:
“The depth and feeling when you speak to people in Alice Springs, as I’ve done with Jacinta Price, it is palpable. When you speak with people who are involved in community services, in policing – they are heartbroken. They are exhausted,”
Those poor people involved in policing and community services! If they’re exhausted and heartbroken we need to do something about it. And they have depth and feeling, so when people have depth and feeling we should listen to them… It means that they’re speaking from the heart and when people speak from the heart then we should take it on board.
Yes, there’s an urgent need for action and what better way to deal with something urgently can there be than to appoint a judge and let him speak to lots and lots of people and then go away and write a report which tells us all what needs to happen. The government can then consider this report urgently, but not in a rushed way, because that would be a mistake.
Yes, apparently a Royal Commission is what’s needed because – while it was wrong to waste money on a referendum – establishing a Royal Commission is an excellent use of money because at the end of the process, we’ll have a range of recommendations that’ll fix the problems just like the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody fixed everything. Or at least, it made a series of recommendations about how things could be fixed.
Or rather than waste money on a Royal Commission, perhaps we could send the army in again just like Mal “Who?” Brough did when John Howard was PM. That certainly fixed everything in much the same way that the invasion of Iraq removed all the Weapons of Mass Destruction: Once they got there they discovered that the alleged reason for the invasion was greatly exaggerated but it enabled them to say that they’d fixed the problem.
Yes, it would be a mistake to call Peter Dutton a racist. Ok, he did walk out on the Apology to the Stolen Generation but he’s admitted that was a mistake. And yes, he did talk specifically about African gangs frightening the people of Melbourne as though they were somehow more frightening than Collingwood supporters. All right, he did accuse that Biloela family of having children as “anchor babies” because foreign people who get married don’t normally have children for any other reason. And he opposed the Indigenous Voice to Parliament but lots of people did that so it would be a mistake to call him racist for that…
No, it would be a mistake to call him a racist because then we’ll get bogged down talking about how much evidence has to be there before it’s clear that they are, instead of sticking to the one basic fact that should be clear to everyone:
Dutton is adopting the same approach that Tony Abbott used where you just disagree with everything the government does and makes it impossible for them to achieve anything. Of course, this might work well in Opposition but, as Tony showed, it means that once you take charge, you have no idea what to do, because just about the only thing that Abbott did was set up a number of Royal Commissions.
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Return to home pageHe’s not a racist.
More like a zombie walking around mindless and dead eyed attacking every living thing at random and degrading their brains.
Brilliant as ever Rossleigh.
He has one aim, and that is to be the next PM.
I’ve never followed the callings, writings, sayings, works, careers of any obviously negative people. The best of human culture in history is there, by creativity, by reseach, concepts, reasoning, analysis, investigation, development, insight. A Dutton on the body of human development would be a serious flaw, perhaps a wart or tumour. We deserve a decent go, and no attitude to race, religion, culture, pigmentation or “differences” should interfere, for if we deserve a fair share, all of us do. As with Trump, an ulcerous depravity still walking and talking, Dutton remains an object, for me, of derision, disgust, condemnation, unfit…it is a rotten world out there currently, worse than it might be, and quiet reflection reduces my commenting. One feels powerless and a Dutton becomes quite hateful, though there are too many, just so many. Where is the drive for peace, negotiation, compromise, talks, diplomacy?
In this gambling obsessed country, I wonder what odds you could get that Dutton will NOT be Prime Minister before he finally retires, hopefully, appropriately humiliated, from Parliament. That is, will NEVER be Prime Minister. I would put money on that. Oh and yes, Rossleigh, brilliant as ever. Especially the bit about (we) old white males knowing everything.
Royal Commission.???
Better to do nothing.
Something being done is not the right thing.
Hmmm…I wonder if anyone considers that there really is only one race – the human race. There are ethnicities in different regions but we all share the same DNA. I wish people of all political/religious ilk would wake up see their fellow humans as EXACTLY that – human, just like themselves! /sigh
Well said Rossleigh – the truth broached in cynical questioning.
Oh yeah, the LNP (Lousy Nasty Party), Dutton and his conga line of ‘give the crumbling status quo more money’ MPs, have found a new voice; industrialist fascist funded post-truth culture wars, brought to us direct from the crumbling post-empire states of Europe and America.
Of course, it is critical to the industrialist fascist funders, that their political leaders and flunkies and ‘Think Tanks’ (that’ll be the day) don’t have a mind of their own (or stupefy what they’ve got), and relinquish every skerrick of heart and soul.
Accordingly, research, history, expertise, relevance and cause and effect can play no part in their logic. In fact logic can play no part in their discourse. The approved m.o. for this bunch of recalcitrant potty sitters is screeching defiance, perennial naysaying, refusal, obfuscation and at best, deferral by a call for repeated inspections by higher powers – which they will then forever ignore.
Then the madding crowd can be further impoverished and maddened, rise up in revolution, and have themselves shot or incarcerated by the darkshirts. After all, as long as the potty sitters get the reins, in the short term, who needs those who have reasonable demands.
Quite simply, the potty sitters are nothing but arseholes that won’t work.
The complete and utter arsehole Dutton,could be accused of being a lot of things,and they would overwhelmingly be accurate. .One thing that is beyond question,is he is a total C*%^t.I reckon EVERYBODY knows that,including those on his side of politics.
i see that in the USA, the Democrats are producing some very hard hitting adds demonstrating the results of the anti-abortion nuts.
To me, its about bloody time. Stop whinging about the other side, show us how their fuckery affects us all.
We can start with the NBN, now that enough australians recognise the need for decent broadband. Show us all again the asinine remarks Malcolm, ” mr internet” made.
Refugees, gain, it couldnt be too hard to show the cruelty exhibited to the Biloela family. The Billions wasted on overseas detention centers.
Immigration , again, the numbers the libs allowed in under DUTTON’s watch.
The treatment of indigenous under their watch.
the list goes on, the labor people need to BURN and BURY Dutton. Attack him where it hurts most, conspiracy land . You hear me Dutton? Are you still beating your wife?
“Where is the drive for peace, negotiation, compromise, talks, diplomacy?”
Phil, that wish is a fantasy. You show peace and good will to these people and they will shoot you dead in cold blood. Look around, people who preach peace and good will dont have long lives, even JC lived to only 33. Arseholes like the abbott warrior get to live long lives with a second wind.
They need to be totally over powered by shear numbers. Looking around it aint going to happen in 2023.
yes i am a man of peace but i also recognise the real war being waged behind our backs. The real war mongers dont attack us directly, they use proxies like stupid middle australians. Stupid people dont want to believe the facts, but are all too willing to listen to the dickhead in the pub or in the media who preaches even handed debates. Fuck me, are going to debate the earth is flat and have equal time?
Know your enemy Phil. We all swallowed the BS that “australia” has decided and we should move on. Even Walyeed Ali has fallen for this shit in the paper today. The third most powerful man in australian politics was willing to burn australia to score political points and destabilise Abo. That tells me everything i need to know.
Democracy has enabled the arsonist in our midst. The arsonist is laying the fuel all around us. He has politicised the stupid.
What nature has lost through science, it gains through stupidity. As Bill Burr says, we need a cull.
Potty Boy Dutton is an evil, racist, misogynistic, lying bastard! He has no hope of becoming PM!
Andy, I’m going to say that sort of thing over, loudly, AT THE TYPES YOU CONDEMN. But that is what we need noeweven if only a few cop that. It is a combattive, arrogant, deficient, misled world and many need the Louis XVI, Charles I, Nicholas II, Maximilian of Mexico, Mussolini finish…Add in Aambei Bolt, Alan Jucking-Fones, The red haired broom jockey, Abbott the onanist, Morrispong…
The argument that tickles my fancy is that the referendum has “divided the country”. Albo proposed a referendum that was an election promise (one can imagine all the “why haven’t you introduced a referendum as promised?” hypocrisy in Question Time.
It asked us to listen to proposals from the most disadvantaged 3% or 4% of the population according to all the statistics: proposals that would give the same access to Parliament to this minority as the AMA, the RSL or the Farmers Federation.
Thank the gods that the question wasn’t whether we should be a republic or not: there would have been fighting in the streets! But no; a proportion of 60% of the population desperately fell back on “division” as an excuse (and don’t you dare call me a racist!)
Andre,
“Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of various kinds, including those characterized by close kinship relations.”
PS: It’s still in common usage. We used it all the time in anthropology at uni.
Speaking of the NBN, as andyfiftysix did, the head of the NBN is paid ( I was going to say remunerated but that means to pay someone for services rendered or work done, and there is no job on this earth where ones daily sweat could ever be enough to justify payment of $11,538.46 + a day) in excess of $3 million dollars a year in remuneration for the shite show that the NBN is. How good is that.
As for Dutton, be he a racist or not, he is really just a nasty human being.
I never imagined John Howard would ever be PM. Or Tony Abbott. Or Scott Morrison. So… Dutton is a real possibility. This is, after all, Monstralia! https://youtu.be/aIGKCkS01EA?si=-E_MPbsqa6K4yhHp
On race and biology.
I modern lstudy of life sciences, the grouping term of ”race’ ( sub grouping below level of variens or subspecies) tends to be left for the birds.
Since modern studies of human genetics tend to show greater variation within local communities than between distinct populations, the term has lost most of it’s scientific validity, whilst still carrying weighty historical baggage.
‘Genetic heritage’ is the currently preferred term for distinguishing cultural ancestry.
An academic article on the declining usage of ‘racial’ groupings within biological science;
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/71/2/119/6101069
Your comments are right on the button.
As a life long egalitarian it makes me absolutely sick to my stomack to know that for a brief period of 30 years we actually did have governance that worked to relieve poverty, then came Lewis Powell Jnr (the author of the Powell memorandum to the American Chamber of Commerce 1971). Look it up easy to find but an enlightening read.
And then along came Thatcherism and Reaganism followed closly by the IMF and the World Bank and our own Australian dynamic duo Hawke and Keating.
Now we see that the USA has copied Bluey to produce Right Wing centric cartoon to indoctrinate kindergarten chiidren in their sick Neoliberal ideology.
Our Liberal and National Parties are deeply indoctrinated in Neoloberalism whilst our curret ALP is neoliberal lite (sic).
As for dutton (lower case intended) words fail me to even want to make a comment, Patrcia is right, he (dutton) really is a nasty human being.
Thanks corvusboreus,
Thanks for the link. The BioScience article was excellent and well worth the read. I have saved it to file. I am brought back to Rossleigh’s article, and the scurrilous behaviour of Dutton et al in their cabal and their misdirections leading to a resounding ‘NO’ outcome of the referendum.
It appears to bring more than a few strategic problems to the Albanese Labor government.
I am reminded of an article in The Conversation 3 August 2023 on Oz new development aid policy. Author, Melissa Conley Tyler, states:
“At the same time, it aims for “a development program that reflects who we are”. Australians’ desire for fairness is reflected in a focus on gender equality and equity for people with disabilities, while the commitment to embed the perspectives of First Nations Australians into development efforts showcases one of Australia’s strengths.”
The Oz policy document itself, published 3 August 2023, available at Australia’s International Development Policy, aside from the obligatory Acknowledgement and Welcome to Country, makes the following substantive statements about embedding Oz First Nations folk into our development processes:
“- anchor our approach in our strengths, including by embedding the perspectives of First Nations Australians in our development efforts”
“Australia is in the Indo-Pacific and of the Indo-Pacific. We are home to the oldest continuing culture on Earth. First Nations Australians have shared culture and kinship connections in our region for tens of thousands of years and were Australia’s first traders and diplomats, exchanging goods and ideas with our closest neighbours. Today, as a multicultural country, we are home to people of more than 300 ancestries. Our connections span the globe. When Australians look out to the world, we see ourselves reflected in it. Equally, the world can see itself reflected in modern Australia. “
“Finally, the Australian Government is committed to doing the work to improve equality and equity outcomes for Australians, and sharing what we learn. This includes the national journey of healing with First Nations Australians. Acknowledging and reconciling this past enables us to tell our story more honestly and to find common ground with others.”
“With daunting challenges facing the world, we have much to learn from Australia’s First Nations peoples. Elevating the perspectives of First Nations Australians to the heart of our development program will take time and involve new ways of working, but better connecting our domestic and international experiences will create opportunities for mutual learning and benefit us all.”
“- foster cooperation between First Nations Australians and regional partners through the development program.”
“Embedding First Nations Australians’ perspectives in development: Indigenous Pathways is an First Nations Australians-led initiative of the Australian Volunteers Program that aims to expand and strengthen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation and connect Australian First Nations Peoples and organisations with overseas counterparts.
In Papua New Guinea, the South Fly Ranger Program has adapted the Indigenous Australian community ranger model to support remote communities. They now have a cohort of 178 community rangers, 38 per cent of whom are women.
In 2018, two community rangers from Western Province participated in the Indigenous Rangers Forum held in Australia, which brought together representatives of 72 ranger groups from across northern Australia.
Programs like Indigenous Pathways demonstrate the mutual benefits of engaging First Nations Australians in the development program. While modest, they provide a foundation on which we can build. Australia’s Ambassador for First Nations People will lead the efforts to embed the perspectives and experiences of First Nations Australians into the development program and foster cooperation with regional partners.”
In addition to the eyes of the indo-pacific being upon us, in the lead up to the awarding of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, voting African countries expressed concern about how Oz treated its First Nations folk. It was a very close call of votes, Oz : Beijing 45:43. In the lead-up there was a frantic dash around by Oz olympic officials and government ministries. We one by the skin of our teeth.
In pondering that olympic situation, one cannot avoid the fact of Africa’s influence. And in that regard, what of the future? Its population is projected to increase by more than 1 billion by 2050, and well in excess of 2.5 billion by the turn of this century.
The world is evolving rapidly, and to think that the behaviour and attitude any country’s people and its parliament and government is of little consequence to others is naive in the extreme. It will decidedly effect the economy and wellbeing.
It’s not just our fortunate mercantile situation for the time being. The argy-bargy of the Dutton et al cabal, leading up to and beyond the referendum, and the people’s resounding ‘NO’ vote will be of significant consequence to those watching on and making decisions.
Seems that because we cannot give our First Nations folk recognition and a voice, other countries may just block or give Oz what they think we deserve. Or perhaps just vote for Beijing.
Say one word to ” I’m not a racist ” Dutton,….. “Capalaba” and watch his eyes as he looks for a distraction.
Does there need to be a race for Australians to be ‘racist’? As we attribute preferable characteristics to white Australians then any group of people who look, or sound, un-euroean will do as a different race? Australia has the unique history of naming the 100s of distinct groups of ‘found’ inhabitants of every part of Australia as ‘aborigines’, wow “a person, animal, or plant that has been in a country or region from earliest times” then spent 235 years of denying their Aboriginality, not aknowledging their rights to be called Australian, White Australia has a terrible history where Aboriginal people were described as being unintelligent beyond the equivalent of a grade 3 white person, going to die out and . It is tragic that the NT Education year 12 certificate has a minimum standard of grade 3 but Aboriginal students can negotiate. On top of that we have a bi-lingual edeucation system with no requirement for the teacher to have any knowledge of a language or culture, other than English. So if the education system places no value on language nor culture and has no expectations of academic success Who are we to call sam newman, the no people or the boys at my cluba racist for believing, like my ancestors Aboriginal people to be sub-white, with a culture, that cost $billions to preserve, yet which has nothing of value to contribute leaving assimulation, as Aborigines have no throwbacks??? The no was indefensible and the no people
All I can hope for is that Aboriginal people get politically organised with treaties and reparations so frightening to tha lnp that a voice will be bipartisan.
@ Ian Carter: Perhaps you mean the Pinkenba abduction and transportation of three (or five?) Aboriginal teenagers picked up by Constable P Dutton while in uniform of the Queensland Police Force, and carried across Brisbane to Pinkenba in a Police vehicle where their shoes were removed and stolen by Dutton before telling them to walk home bare-foot across Brisbane.
.
Subsequently, Constable Dutton resigned from the Police Force about a fortnight before qualifying for superannuation after ten years service, rather than face criminal charges.
With this background Dutton was obviously a LIARBRAL$ ideal candidate for the seat of Dickson in NW Brisbane.
Boofhead Duddo is not racist ….. he just does not like anybody with a better suntan.