freediver wrote on Jul 2^nd, 2025 at 5:30pm:


... let alone what brought on the retaliatory raids dubbed 'massacres' ... apparently from reports they were pretty good at massacring and genociding one another... maybe they just confused the skin colour in the dark...

Aside:-  at the rate they kill women it's a wonder there are any left from breeding at all..

75% wiped out by diseases and they call it genocide.

I guess the diseases were genociding the rest of the world too then.

That is not history; it is tarted up propaganda. Having rejected the ancient Roman axiom of justice, “Audi alteram partem” (hear the other side), the commission assumes its claims are true, or at least useful to its cause, and on that basis attempts to clothe them in as rhetorically effective a form as possible.

Why, then, would anyone take its report seriously? There is surely a patronising element of condescension at work, as if we should not hold Indigenous Australians to the standards we would demand of anyone else. That is not just unfortunate; it is completely counter-productive.

To begin with, it incites the unvarnished arrogance that pervades this report. Why did the proposed voice to parliament fail? Because “beneath the rhetoric of reconciliation” most Australians “did not want to hear the truth”. The possibility that the proposal was ill-conceived is never contemplated, much less examined.

Even more important, the condescension encourages demands that are increasingly extreme and increasingly poorly founded. Why have the enormous, ongoing transfers – of land, of royalties, of public subsidies – failed to alleviate entrenched disadvantage? According to the report, because they just weren’t enormous enough.

The possibility that, like all forms of crony capitalism – which flourishes where political insiders control resources and allocate them to their relatives, friends, and supporters – the transfers enrich a privileged elite while condemning entire communities to hope-destroying social pathologies is, again, conveniently ignored.

Nor does the commission consider the risk that being gifted valuable mines, forests and fisheries will discourage, rather than promote, the ingenuity and effort that underpins enduring wealth creation and human flourishing. Transferring wealth is simple; what is difficult – and this is what the commission studiously avoids addressing – is making it possible for people to do anything without trapping them in a life of doing nothing.

It would, however, be wrong to blame the commission alone. It is the faithful mirror of a fatuous political culture that has for decades amply rewarded those absurdities: not because it cares too much but because it cares too little. After all, as Montesquieu caustically observed about “the class of superior people”, it is “a thousand times easier, and more pleasing, to seem good than to do good”. Yes, keeping up appearances is costly; but what is public spending for, if not to paper over society’s cracks?

The Yoorrook commission’s work is now over. As the Victorian government prepares to introduce a voice to parliament and negotiate a treaty, it will undoubtedly be followed by others.

But for so long as hard realities are not faced, rather than erased, Indigenous policy will continue its rush on the road to nowhere. The savage pity of it is that so much needless misery will be inflicted on the truly disadvantaged along the way.
Henry Ergas



Black fatigue - Aboriginal crony capitalismt propaganda is taken less and less seriously.

So it's sort of the opposite of a truth and reconciliation commission. More like a lies and division commission.

He's like Sydney Chinese running Anglo Aussie Tourist culture shops.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jul 2^nd, 2025 at 7:20pm:


You probably have. 

[quote author=Frank link=1751427187/22#22 date=1751597953]

Aye! A Stewart for sure, the eyes, the red hair,
Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender, would recognise him at a glance.

One would hope that in the process of ‘’Truth Telling’’ that the New Pretender of Victoria gives due mention of his Scots ancestry.

Brian Ross wrote on Jul 2^nd, 2025 at 1:33pm:



With regard to colonisation, the Commission’s summary report states: “First Peoples’ lives are profoundly shaped by the enduring impact of colonial invasion…” Really? Could invoking the past be more about excuse-making in the present? Stan Grant, in his 2016 Quarterly Essay, wrote: “But history—the history of dispossession and ensuing suffering—can be an all-too convenient explanation for what ails us.” Could that be what is happening here? The final report states that “the brutality of coloni­sation” has in part contributed to “higher rates of drug and alcohol issues, family violence, housing instability and home­lessness” for Aboriginal Victorians.

Those problems affecting Aboriginal people just described are real. We all agree on this. However, the cause isn’t colonisation. Or at least it’s not a major factor. Were it a major cause, then all Aboriginal Australians could claim to be suffering and unable to move on. However, many Aboriginal Australians are doing very well today — and have done so for decades. How well are the Aboriginal authors of the Yoorrook report doing? Has colonisation held them back? It wouldn’t appear so.


...
Colonisation, or a person’s past more generally, is but one factor among many that determines  behaviour and wellbeing today.

In Australia it doesn’t matter how unfortunate your past or current circumstances are, there are always fellow Aussies, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, ready to lend a helping hand. That’s what we do. Utilising the help available is what enables people to thrive.

Perhaps people are not victims of the past, but only victims of the lies they have been fed about their past?

Of course, the term ‘cultural safety’ featured prominently throughout the report. To give but one example:

Cultural safety and stability is the first thing that is needed to help young people in cus­tody. There is nothing better for rehabilitat­ing a kid who has been in custody to be able to learn about their roots, find connection in that with their family and kin, and return to Country once they are released.

I agree that safety and stability are crucial for laying a good foundation in life, but what exactly is ‘cultural safety and stability’? I guess it’s like ‘white privilege’ and ‘systemic racism’. You’re just expected to know what it is.

...
How well has the separatist approach worked? Former Norther Territory politician Alison Anderson, an Aborigine, has stated: “The idea that separate development was the answer provided hope for many and jobs for an increasingly powerful few. However, it has failed.”

We know what works: recognise that Aboriginal Australians have the same fundamental needs as other Australians. Recognise that the commonalities between both groups far outweigh any differences. And of course, never forget that Aboriginal affairs is everyone’s business.
Anthony Dillon