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Frank
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Reawakening Aboriginal linguistic vibrancy
Not since the advent of gravy trains has there been a bigger gravy train than appointment to a taxpayer-funded board, membership of which requires little by way of contribution aside from showing up to the monthly meetings.
It is a laugh, one of the greatest giggles in the corporate spheres of government. Money for nothing, cheques for free.
But if there was an unstated rule of this racket it’s simply that appointees avoid any vulgar behaviour that could bring their organisation into disrepute. Such as recording oneself angrily swearing into the lens of a phone camera, as Indigenous artist Fred Leone has done, and telling the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong they are “c..ts” and can both go and “get f…ed”.
For practically anyone, this behaviour would fall within the bounds of immediate dismissal. Not for Leone, an Aboriginal songman. He’s keeping his ministerially-appointed job on the Music Australia Council until the term expires at the end of the month. Which is surprising, given his crude remarks.
Leone’s upset over the PM’s statements on the recognition of a Palestinian state, which is odd because Albanese is very warm to the proposal, as is Wong. It’s just that in a rare flight of sanity on this topic, the government has actually made that support conditional on the release of Israeli hostages and Hamas laying down its arms. The gall of them.
In posts published online over the weekend, Leone took issue with this, calling Albanese a “money-grabbing dog” who “bitched out like a dingo with its tale (sic) between its legs”.
He called Wong a “f%cktard (sic)” and then clarified by saying that both she and the PM were “a pair of dogs”.
Bad already, Leone went further, filming himself calling Albanese a “weak-as-piss c..t” and warning him not to approach should they see each other at an airport because he, Leone, would “f...ing rip you in front of everyone”, which sounded a bit like a physical threat.
Leone then levelled his anger at Tony Burke, the minister who appointed him to the Music Australia Council, saying: “F..k that weak-ass minister for immigration, Tony Burke, you can all go get f...ed.”
Membership of the Music Australia Council, an appendage of Creative Australia chaired by its CEO, Adrian Collette, attracts a modest salary of $24,540 per year, although it’s not the money that’s important here.
Burke had the opportunity to sack Leone more than a year ago when the musician vowed to boycott Jewish and pro-Israel artists in the music industry. Then as now, he didn’t take it.
“Hands up all the proud zionists in the Australian Music Industry! Wave ya flag instead of hiding behind ya money and power. We are boycotting you! Across the board, you don’t get to thrive here any more,” said Leone, who later removed the post and issued a statement vowing to stop expressing personal opinions while on the board of a government organisation, presumably so Burke wouldn’t sack him.
We put it to Burke that self-publishing a video calling the prime minister a “c..t” and being told himself to “get f…ed” might trip a boundary line and warrant dismissal, amid a recurring pattern of similarly revolting behaviour. Burke’s response was short. “His (Leone’s) language escalated as soon as he was told that he wasn’t going to be reappointed to Music Australia,” as though gentle non-reappointment is indicative of leadership and consequence on this issue.
But it’s not, and it feels like affirmative action at work because anyone else would have been fired on the spot. A set of rules for Leone, and a set of rules for everyone else.
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