"Dr Nelson said he personally had a "bit of concern about the idea of one generation being responsible" for the past." http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/opposition-slams-planned-apology/2008/01/28/1201369037426.html
This pretty much says it all about Dr Nelson! Funny that the Liberal Party has had no trouble taking credit for our ancestors 'good' deeds. John Howard waxed lyrical about the 'diggers' spirit, for example, intimating that it formed the Australian character, along with the 'fair go', which has been largely mythical but, nonetheless, grew out of the past. There are many examples of the Liberals playing these games, so Dr Nelson is continuing the 'tradition' of all credit and no blame that was so much a feature of John Howard's tenure (see previous article "Is John Howard actually God?", 12 November 07).
Tony Abbott (a truly 'painful' man) has run true to form with his comment, reported in the same Age article, that an apology would reinforce the 'victim mentality'. Please! What reinforces the sense of being victimised is being victimised. Can the Liberal Party find no portfolio where this man doesn't get the chance to demonstrate his lack of humanity?
Dr Nelson also reportedly said: "You have to ask yourself … whether that is the most important issue that's facing Australia when we've seen a decline in the share market, home interest rates go up, petrol get more expensive and a basket full of groceries harder to fill".
Many things come to mind about this comment but I confine myself to two. First, are we capable of paying attention to only one thing at a time? How does a government run if that's the case because our world is obviously more complex than that. Secondly, Dr Nelson demonstrates Liberal priorities yet again (and a lamentable habit of assuming we all think the same way he does and of pushing people's 'fear/selfish' buttons) with all the important issues being about money and none about the quality of our society.
Did being thrown out of government teach them nothing about the values Australians want their leaders to foster?
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Saturday 26 January 2008
Australia/Invasion Day
Today I find myself in the 'place of mind' that I come to every year on 26 January. There are always mixed feelings in 'celebrating' our nation's 'feast day'. We celebrate with every imaginable party trick too, so it's no small thing, this day we stop to ponder what it is to be Australian.
First, I always feel an overwhelming sadness and regret that we, of European heritage, ever came here at all. The displacement - holocaust - of the indigenous people weighs heavily on the mind and conscience to the present time and will do so with increasing intensity until we start to reverse the damage. Increasing intensity because we should know better now. The original invaders had the excuse - if one could call it that - of some ignorance due to an arrogant 'world view' about the value of the 'western' culture they were bringing to the lands they colonised. The other major element of invasion/colonisation, greed, remains a motivation for our failure to take full responsibility and genuinely address the harm done - from which we all benefit to this day - in that original act.
I am strangely relieved at the revision of Cook's history in a recently shown ABC program. He was depicted as a much more humane man than I had heard of before, who actually respected the aboriginal people and was not responsible for the abomination of 'terra nullis' (empty land). Also, it was good to see that his later behaviours were interpreted as aberrant in context with his earlier attitudes and practices, viewed as indicative, possibly, of some mental health problem. For the first time I can see our 'discoverer' as someone of 'character'. This doesn't change the horror of what followed but does, in some strange way, get him 'onside' with the protests against them. In my view, he can now be cited as an opponent to atrocity, rather than just an harbinger of oppression.
Secondly, I am overwhelmed by a sense of wonder and tearful love for this country. Not its government, or its wealth, or its suburbs or any of the other meaningless elements. Rather for itself. This amazing island continent, still expressing itself so grandly, so spectacularly, in the life of our planet. Its geography is stunning (although not always 'liveable'). My emotion, as I muse on what it is to be Australian, almost overwhelms me in contemplation of the grandeur and wonder of the landscape. I'm a city girl, how can this 'country' be so embedded in my psyche that it moves me to tears? I don't really care! I'm just overjoyed that it does. Now if we could only stop digging it up and chopping it down!
Thirdly, I feel a fantastic sense of opportunity each year, as this day rolls around, so close to the beginning of a New Year. It is placed in a 'calendar' time of renewal, of potential for change, of thoughtful assessment of the past and contemplation of the future as we'd like it to be. As a nation, we can take this opportunity to change direction, to 'swear off' behaviours that have not served us well and replace them with ones that make us better. We are, at this point in time, where we are! We can't change what has happened before but we can stop the effects from continuing under our 'watch'.
Australia's history is actually very short in terms of nationhood. We can still get on to a path of genuine reconciliation. We can still mould ourselves into a country with the values we've 'spouted' almost since inception. A fair go, an example of a just society for the rest of the world, a safe haven for those from other places, seeking to rebuild their shattered lives in a new land, an advocate for change in the wider world. All these values - and so much more - are our possible future. Why would we not choose such a future?
First, I always feel an overwhelming sadness and regret that we, of European heritage, ever came here at all. The displacement - holocaust - of the indigenous people weighs heavily on the mind and conscience to the present time and will do so with increasing intensity until we start to reverse the damage. Increasing intensity because we should know better now. The original invaders had the excuse - if one could call it that - of some ignorance due to an arrogant 'world view' about the value of the 'western' culture they were bringing to the lands they colonised. The other major element of invasion/colonisation, greed, remains a motivation for our failure to take full responsibility and genuinely address the harm done - from which we all benefit to this day - in that original act.
I am strangely relieved at the revision of Cook's history in a recently shown ABC program. He was depicted as a much more humane man than I had heard of before, who actually respected the aboriginal people and was not responsible for the abomination of 'terra nullis' (empty land). Also, it was good to see that his later behaviours were interpreted as aberrant in context with his earlier attitudes and practices, viewed as indicative, possibly, of some mental health problem. For the first time I can see our 'discoverer' as someone of 'character'. This doesn't change the horror of what followed but does, in some strange way, get him 'onside' with the protests against them. In my view, he can now be cited as an opponent to atrocity, rather than just an harbinger of oppression.
Secondly, I am overwhelmed by a sense of wonder and tearful love for this country. Not its government, or its wealth, or its suburbs or any of the other meaningless elements. Rather for itself. This amazing island continent, still expressing itself so grandly, so spectacularly, in the life of our planet. Its geography is stunning (although not always 'liveable'). My emotion, as I muse on what it is to be Australian, almost overwhelms me in contemplation of the grandeur and wonder of the landscape. I'm a city girl, how can this 'country' be so embedded in my psyche that it moves me to tears? I don't really care! I'm just overjoyed that it does. Now if we could only stop digging it up and chopping it down!
Thirdly, I feel a fantastic sense of opportunity each year, as this day rolls around, so close to the beginning of a New Year. It is placed in a 'calendar' time of renewal, of potential for change, of thoughtful assessment of the past and contemplation of the future as we'd like it to be. As a nation, we can take this opportunity to change direction, to 'swear off' behaviours that have not served us well and replace them with ones that make us better. We are, at this point in time, where we are! We can't change what has happened before but we can stop the effects from continuing under our 'watch'.
Australia's history is actually very short in terms of nationhood. We can still get on to a path of genuine reconciliation. We can still mould ourselves into a country with the values we've 'spouted' almost since inception. A fair go, an example of a just society for the rest of the world, a safe haven for those from other places, seeking to rebuild their shattered lives in a new land, an advocate for change in the wider world. All these values - and so much more - are our possible future. Why would we not choose such a future?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)