Morrison shows his contempt for concerns over Australia Day. He had an opportunity to genuinely enter the debate over Australia Day in good faith. But he has none. Instead, he doubled-down to stoke greater animosity and division and fear and to give the finger to Australian Aborigines. And to the rest of us who are concerned. I believe Morrison is an ignorant, opportunistic racist, and that his religiosity is a THIN guise for being a particularly horrible man.
Hi Gwendo, he is a Liberal with nationalistic tendencies, what do you expect? He is not different to Howard or Abbott. These are the values the Liberals are standing for, true blue hardliners. Stopping the boats, against gay and lesbians, turning a blind eye when our kids are raped by our clerics. God I wished we had more political parties, I tend to vote for Labor and Greens, but also missing a lot..... Reg.
Hi m2catter, Sadly, so true. We seem to be channeling the US with this hideous LNP government. The devaluing and demonising of people is so much on the rise. And the rise of fascism such a depressing and despairing thing. I'm with you, I wish we had more political parties too. But hopefully the LNP will suffer a landslide loss - and that will be a big step in the right direction, at least.
The subject is still being debated and a lot of the reasons for not changing it are just rubbish. There are a lot of things to be sorted out that will change the subject. The best thing is to go on like last year. I do think that radical elements of both sides will up the ante. Morrison however for some ungodly reason seems to think pushing the hard right agenda is the best thing. Instead of just trying to keep the peace, he is aggravating it.
Hate to break into a Lefty Love in but......., If you think Shorten and Labor will change anything, you all have your heads up your own bums.
I get asked whether I support Australia Day for obvious reasons. I tell people that the BBQ starts at midday, but it is BYO. Truth is I don’t care for any of the rhetoric on either side of the argument. It is all crap! The BBQ time won’t change if the date does, and the beers will still be cold if the date doesn’t change. I don’t mean to trivialise the argument, but in the scheme of things it is purely semantics. All those brothers and sisters burning flags and fake crying over a date makes me sick. you know why? Because I don’t hear so much as a whimper from the same individuals when it comes to the horrific treatment of women and children in our remote communities. Do not concern yourselves with what the white debil did 200 years ago, our own people are doing far worse right now under your noses. I guess they are too busy menacing fat white guys in suits to change a date, as if that will somehow change history, rather than getting into these communities, protesting, and ACTUALLY changing the future. Fix the real Fu#%ing problems first! Words mean stuff all in the end.
If the date changes Cat’s it will be done under a government led by your mob. Perhaps in the meantime we can clean up some of the other issues first. God knows we need to, it is a national disgrace.
Well, while I also see a problem with violence and alcohol especially in indigenous communities, I still think we should keep those two subjects apart. However, you are right that our indigenous population need to address their problems somehow. Canberra and the rest of us Australian people cannot fix everything.............. Scott M. is just putting money on his nationalist fascist horse, and hopes he still can win.... Reg.
I don't like Morrison, but Australia Day should absolutely be January 26th. If we had federated on a day other than New Years Day I might have supported changing to that, but alas here we are. I couldn't give less of a **** about the concerns of the indigenous community, as they are silly and divisive concerns. Being brown doesnt make you right. Indeed, roughly half of aboriginals want to keep the current date. It is a legit non issue. Even Bill Shorten thinks so.
Now, I have often said Australia day is not to a day to commemorate history. It is a day to celebrate being Australian. All this crap of what the date represents is just that crap. History is part of the make-up of Australia and Australians. It is what makes Australia what it is today and the people who they are. It happened 200+yrs ago and ANYBODY with a direct relationship is dead. WW1, WW2 Vietnam and Korea happened since then and the hate is not there for that. So, with that said, I have to ask Why do you hate being Australian??? Celebrate it, Stop trying to divide the nation. Stop trying to celebrate diversity and celebrate what brings the nation together. However, Morrison being ignorant, racist and so on. Your being a bit tough on a man, but I do wonder with this Cook thing (and the timing).
Please don't put words in my mouth. Try "Do you hate being Australian?" instead of "Why do you hate being Australian?" And the answer is 'no'. You say "Stop trying to divide the nation", but with eyes to see - the nation IS divided. A fact. And there's nothing wrong with celebrating diversity. Because it means 'inclusion' and that's a good thing. Celebrate what brings the nation together? Ah, but there's the rub. Or the vast abrasion. Because there IS division. And the way around division is to air it/have real discussion around it and be willing and wanting to heal and fix the divisions. Otherwise it's just 'my way or the highway' and that's not right.
The only thing I can see that brings the nation together on Australia day is deep in the mind of the white "good ol boy".
Ok, I note the point of the question, I wasn't putting words in your mouth, but ok... Diversity is inclusion... No it is not. The Nation IS divided and it is divided on racism, bigotry. Yes it is a fact. We see from Again there is division and airing it discussing it may well be way to fix division, but demanding that we live by it is just supporting division. Australia day is about celebrating being Australian. Embracing being Australian, BBQ cricket accepting those who chose to come and join the nation and help it grow and prosper. Complaining that you’re not because you’re something else (which is what is being said) is not inclusive. Now how do you fix a division of this sort which is embraced, demanded with further racism and bigotry??? No, changing the date does nothing but continue to drive division, it continues to promote hatred and ignorance while trying to portray something it is not, tolerance and inclusion.
Aboriginal people call Australia day invasion day... but that is offensive to new migrants... not all new migrants were part of this "invasion". Changing it will just rub many Australians the wrong way.... besides it' s not the invasion they celebrate it is the country and it's people. Why don't they just add an indigenous Australia day... I'm sure all Australians would be happy to celebrate on this day also.
I think you are overestimating the number of aborigines that have a problem with Australia Day. The media may be misleading you here. I am sure the inner city warriors are beating their drums, but for the most part those in the regions and in the remotes don’t really think about it because they have other more pressing issues to deal with.
I saw a more violent TV footage an "Invasion Day" protest in Australia, in which the Aussie national flag was burned. I thought brown Aussies are quite racist, based on my personal experience. There was also the Aboriginal flag raised on campus along with the national flag, which may be a symbol of multicultural Australia. Aussies are too apologetic about this issue and allowing a separate national flag will create more problems in the future like ETA in Spain.
Why should anyone apologize for their wrong doing? Would you apologize for the Iraq War? I bet not, and that is the reason why this world is such an ugly place, dealing with the Trumps, Erdogans, Putins and Xi Pings of this world.... Reg.
Patriotism being the last refuge of a scoundrel, seems about right. Morrison fires up on a non-issue. We'll change it when we're good and ready but change it we will.
Dealing with the Trumps, Erdogans, Putins, Xis, Merkels, Maduros, Macrons, Mays, Tusks, Junckers, etc.
Hey Gwen, How it changed to the 26th of January in the early 90’s is interesting, especially at a time when Mabo was prominent. Look the good gestures are as important as addressing broader issues are my thoughts. In fact these gestural issues are easier to fix than the ones that government have failed on due to political game playing. Just change the date I say. Celebrate our federation but just on a different day to the 1st January. Hell, we don’t even celebrate the queens b’day on her actual birth day!
To me that will lead to an even more parallel society, one for the indigenous people and one for the rest of us Aussies. Some might argue that's the way it is anyway. The important question remains, what do we want? Become one nation, or continue to live in different stratospheres..... Happy Australia day to all of you. Reg.
Yes but how do migrants now all change to become Aboriginal... and unless they do we will always have a parallel society. I think we need to accept that we are and try to respect both. Not force new migrants to become other.
What you deem a demand - as in changing the date, I deem rightful, and a symbolic acknowledgement/symbolic baby step towards taking reconciliation seriously. Funny, your last sentence, I would have changed those first few words to, "No, not changing the date..." For me, the sentence made more sense that way. We can just stay polar opposites, garry. It's so flipping hot, don't have the energy for
