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not Australia Day again (Read 1293 times)
cods
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not Australia Day again
Jan 17th, 2019 at 7:02am
 
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/changing-the-date-is-not-my-priorit...


As Australia Day approaches the twittering classes are again obsessed over the date.

Last year we saw protesters cheering on calls to burn down Australia. This year GetUp is organising rallies claiming Australia Day celebrates massacres. Green-left dominated inner city councils are refusing to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January. The angst over the date is overshadowing the purpose of the day.

Put aside the date for one moment. Australians have every reason to be proud of this country and celebrate its national day with patriotism.

Our country is unique in hosting one of the youngest nations in the world (Australia, established in 1901) as well as the oldest continuing nations in the world (Aboriginal first nations). Our young nation was founded on great principles and institutions of democracy, free markets, rule of law, separation of church and state, social pluralism, individual right, Westminster government, common law, liberal rights. There are no better foundations.

In 1967 Australians rejected racial segregation with the highest voting result in Australia’s history before or since. We’re one of the most successful multicultural nations in the world; our population descended from over three hundred ancestries. People from every continent, ethnicity and religion have settled peacefully and contributed positively. We have taken refugees at record levels globally and continue to do so.

Australia Day is a celebration of these and other achievements, not a celebration of massacres.

But the activist mindset sees patriotism as the same as racism. These activists don’t really want to celebrate Australia on any date. They aren’t proud of Australia’s achievements, culture or way of life. Australians can see this and now associate the push to change the date with hatred and shame of Australia. In fact, the Green-Left GetUp crowd’s aggressiveness and national loathing have guaranteed the date will remain on 26 January.

The activist mindset condemns Australia as a racist nation with a shameful history. This is wrong. No nation has a pure history. History is messy and brutal; not about heroes and villains but real people with successes, failings, virtues and vices. I regard British colonisation of Australia as an invasion. I also believe the British institutions and Western principles on which those colonies were founded have contributed to Australia’s greatness. That’s the cognitive dissonance of history.

If you follow my writing you know I support moving Australia Day to 1 January, the anniversary of Federation and the actual date on which Australia was founded. For me, 26 January signifies conflict and conquest. I want to commemorate 26 January (and believe we should keep it as a public holiday for that purpose) but not celebrate it.

Unlike the activists I support a date change because I want to celebrate Australia, not because I want to condemn it.

However, changing the date is not a priority for me. It won’t close the gap or improve Aboriginal people’s lives. Frankly, I’m sick of talking about it.

If only Green councillors and GetUp could be half as passionate about real problems facing Aboriginal Australia. Like the epidemics of violence against Aboriginal women and sexual abuse of Aboriginal children. Or the suicide epidemic in Aboriginal communities. This month five Aboriginal girls across Australia aged between 12 and 15 have taken their own lives. At an age they should have the most to look forward to, these children were in such despair they saw death as more desirable than life. Where are the activist campaigns about these tragedies?

Activists believe these problems are caused by colonisation and racism. Rubbish. The social breakdown in Aboriginal communities has increased since segregation was removed, racism rejected and land rights won. It’s not grounded in 26 January. It’s grounded in lack of economic participation.

RELATED: Why are our indigenous youth committing suicide?

Why aren’t these activists marching in support of Aboriginal people being able to own their own homes on their own land like other Australians? Or to find jobs for Aboriginal people suffering chronic, intergenerational welfare dependency? Or to improve economic opportunities for remote Australia so Aboriginal people can get jobs and start businesses? Why don’t they march on state and territory governments to protest nearly 80 per cent of Aboriginal children in very remote areas not attending school enough to get an effective education?

If you listen to Aboriginal people across Australia outside of the urban, activist crowd you find these are the kind of issues they care about. Not the date of Australia Day. I know because I do it for much of the year.

Australians have every right and reason to celebrate Australia. And to do so in the very Australian way over a BBQ, a beer and a swim.

Enjoy it and be proud that there is no better country in the world — for all of us, including Aboriginal people — than Australia.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO is author of Warren Mundine — in Black and White and chairman & managing director of Nyungga Black Group.

on ya warren!!
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cods
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #1 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 7:03am
 
I would like to meet Warren...

he speaks the most sense I have read in a long time...



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Captain Nemo
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #2 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 8:06am
 
...
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Brian Ross
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #3 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 10:55am
 
Australia Day should be the 1st of January, not the 26th. The 26th commemorates the establishment of the first colony on the Australian continent, not the establishment of the modern nation of Australia. That occurred on 1 January 1901. That is the day we should be celebrating. NSW is welcome to the 26th January as it's establishment day.

I remember answering exam questions at Uni way back in the late 1980s about the appropriateness of Australia celebrating the 26th January.  As the 26th only became an national holiday in 1988, I think it is fair to allow some controversy over it's celebration.  I note that unusually, this year in this bout, it is the Government which is leading the argument.  ScoMo thinks he's on a winner here, methinks.    Roll Eyes

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Someone said we could not judge a person's Aboriginality on their skin colour.  Why isn't that applied in the matter of Pascoe?  Tsk, tsk, tsk...   Roll Eyes Roll Eyes
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Captain Nemo
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #4 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 11:37am
 
yep, 1st makes more sense - or a new date when reconciliation day becomes a reality.
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Gordon
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #5 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 12:24pm
 
Whe need Evolution Day for aborigines, if it ever occurs.
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cods
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #6 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 1:30pm
 
Captain Nemo wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 11:37am:
yep, 1st makes more sense - or a new date when reconciliation day becomes a reality.



the first is already a PUBLIC HOLIDAY  crook would never stand for that...

maybe at the end of the day  we are ashamed after all...

it is just a day out of 365  it is just a name we all call ourselves....dont celebrate it if it isnt for you...I get that....

but it is history   no different to Columbus Day in America.. which as far as I know has never attracted these hysterics each and every year.....

whats that old sayin

a Rose by any other Name is still a Rose Roll Eyes
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greggerypeccary
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #7 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 1:38pm
 
cods wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 1:30pm:
Captain Nemo wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 11:37am:
yep, 1st makes more sense - or a new date when reconciliation day becomes a reality.



the first is already a PUBLIC HOLIDAY  crook would never stand for that...

maybe at the end of the day  we are ashamed after all...

it is just a day out of 365  it is just a name we all call ourselves....dont celebrate it if it isnt for you...I get that....

but it is history   no different to Columbus Day in America.. which as far as I know has never attracted these hysterics each and every year.....

whats that old sayin

a Rose by any other Name is still a Rose Roll Eyes


You know, our Kiwi cousins have 2 public holidays at the beginning of the year.

January 1 - New Year's Day

January 2 - Day after New Year's Day

That's what it's actually called: "Day after New Year's Day".

They know that everyone still has a hangover on that day, so they declared it a national holiday.

I love New Zealand   Smiley
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cods
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #8 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:02pm
 
lol.... they dont seem to have the problems with history like we do...

maybe thats the answer ..

the day after Australia Day...one day off isnt enough these days is it..

lets talk to Sally!
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #9 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:07pm
 
cods wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:02pm:
lol.... they dont seem to have the problems with history like we do...

maybe thats the answer ..

the day after Australia Day...one day off isnt enough these days is it..

lets talk to Sally!


Our Kiwi cousins have a much better track record on national policy and attitudes to Indigenous peoples.

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cods
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #10 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:18pm
 
greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:07pm:
cods wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:02pm:
lol.... they dont seem to have the problems with history like we do...

maybe thats the answer ..

the day after Australia Day...one day off isnt enough these days is it..

lets talk to Sally!


Our Kiwi cousins have a much better track record on national policy and attitudes to Indigenous peoples.




seriously   you think we ill treat people here... Roll Eyes Roll Eyes Roll Eyes

I can only speak for myself....but to me  all we hear from our indigenous chums is complaints  whinge whinge whinge  I dont hear that from the Maori.....they get on and make their own lives they either mix in or do their own thing.....they dont constantly ask for MORE...and expect others to solve their problems 

I believe in God helps those who helps themselves..

and I dont see that much from out chums.   to be honest...

Warren is like a breath of fresh air... if only they would listen to him.. instead of those half baked whiners   who imo  teach aboriginals to be complainers....
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #11 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:48pm
 
Mundine is a piss weak 'Uncle Tom' token wanker.  Maoris had the huge advantage of a Treaty.
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Brian Ross
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #12 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:51pm
 
The Kiwis have had their angst.  The Treaty of Waitangi was written in two languages - English and Maori.  The English claimed they were identical.   They weren't.  This resulted in a massive court case which the Maori finally won in the mid-1980s.  The Whites of New Zealand were not happy but went along with the court decision - rather like some whites in Australia of Mabo and Wik.   Today, the Maoris still have lower age expectancy, higher infant mortality rates, alcohol and drug dependency problems, etc.
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Someone said we could not judge a person's Aboriginality on their skin colour.  Why isn't that applied in the matter of Pascoe?  Tsk, tsk, tsk...   Roll Eyes Roll Eyes
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Brian Ross
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #13 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 3:01pm
 
cods wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:18pm:
greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:07pm:
cods wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:02pm:
lol.... they dont seem to have the problems with history like we do...

maybe thats the answer ..

the day after Australia Day...one day off isnt enough these days is it..

lets talk to Sally!


Our Kiwi cousins have a much better track record on national policy and attitudes to Indigenous peoples.




seriously   you think we ill treat people here... Roll Eyes Roll Eyes Roll Eyes


We have, until quite recently.  In some parts of Australia, it still occurs.  Indigenous Australians are the once more often than not kicked by white Australians, if by nothing else but their ignorance of what occurs, Cods.   Roll Eyes

Quote:
I can only speak for myself....but to me  all we hear from our indigenous chums is complaints  whinge whinge whinge  I dont hear that from the Maori.....they get on and make their own lives they either mix in or do their own thing.....they dont constantly ask for MORE...and expect others to solve their problems 

I believe in God helps those who helps themselves..

and I dont see that much from out chums.   to be honest...

Warren is like a breath of fresh air... if only they would listen to him.. instead of those half baked whiners   who imo  teach aboriginals to be complainers....


You seem to be assuming that the squeaky wheels are representative of the mainstream of Indigenous Australians, rather like many here believe that Terrorists or Islamists are representative of the mainstream of Muslim life in Australia.   They aren't nor are the whingers and whiners.   Certainly, things could be easier for most Indigenous Australians but they not quite as hard as is made out.

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Someone said we could not judge a person's Aboriginality on their skin colour.  Why isn't that applied in the matter of Pascoe?  Tsk, tsk, tsk...   Roll Eyes Roll Eyes
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Re: not Australia Day again
Reply #14 - Jan 17th, 2019 at 3:10pm
 
Brian Ross wrote on Jan 17th, 2019 at 2:51pm:
The Kiwis have had their angst.  The Treaty of Waitangi was written in two languages - English and Maori.  The English claimed they were identical.   They weren't.  This resulted in a massive court case which the Maori finally won in the mid-1980s.  The Whites of New Zealand were not happy but went along with the court decision - rather like some whites in Australia of Mabo and Wik.   Today, the Maoris still have lower age expectancy, higher infant mortality rates, alcohol and drug dependency problems, etc.


You got a link to that?  I had a google and could not find it.

It was an odd situation.  There was no written Maori until 1820, and the Treaty was signed 20 years later.  There is no way all (or perhaps even any) of the Chiefs could possibly have understood English historical concepts like what the word 'sovereignty' means and entails.
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