Cowardly History: Australia Day and Invasion
Cowardly History: Australia Day and Invasion
It’s the sort of stuff that should have been sorted years ago in Australia: a murderous, frontier society ill disposed to the indigenous populace; the creation of a convict colony that was itself an act of invasion rather than settlement; the theft of land and its rapacious plunder.
Even some of the rough colonists were not oblivious to such a crude record. Henry Parkes, in planning the Centenary celebrations as New South Wales premier in 1888, was asked by a fellow politician what he would be doing for the poor and needy for the occasion. Wealthy landed citizens had been promised a banquet of much quaffing and gorging. As a gesture, Parkes considered the distribution of food parcels. “Then we ought to do something for the Aborigines,” came the response. The answer from the premier was coldly revealing: “And remind them that we have robbed them?”
This is a man who decries the use of experts. He prefers things rough, ready, pungent with vernacular promise and populist feeling. To be in the front seat of a taxi, no less, is considered a right. But former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, made a trade envoy of Brexiting Britain to much consternation and now fellow of the right wing Australian think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs, is clear: the coronavirus regulatory world is despotic.
In a video presentation for the IPA, an organisation claiming with decidedly arbitrary taste that the quality of Australian life has declined by 28.5% since 2000, Abbott insists that Australia has much to be proud of . But coronavirus rules enacted for our own good were dangerous, threatening freedom and self-reliance . A virus had been allowed to dominate our lives for a whole year, and in the process put safety before freedom, prudence before courage and avoiding danger before accepting risk. Experts had become a high priest
Thursday, 28 January 2021, 1:22 pm
This is a man who decries the use of experts. He prefers
things rough, ready, pungent with vernacular promise and
populist feeling. To be in the front seat of a taxi, no
less, is considered a right. But former Australian prime
minister Tony Abbott, made
a trade envoy of Brexiting Britain to much consternation
and now fellow of the right wing Australian think tank, the
Institute of Public Affairs, is clear: the coronavirus
regulatory world is despotic.
In a video
presentation for the IPA, an organisation claiming
with decidedly arbitrary taste that the quality of
Australian life has declined by 28.5% since 2000, Abbott
Australia Day: January 26 scenes show nation s racial divide
27 Jan, 2021 07:37 PM
5 minutes to read
A man holds a modified Australian flag and the Aboriginal flag, contrasting scenes on Australia Day, show the nation s racial divide. Photo / AP
news.com.au
Tuesday marked 233 years since the First Fleet s arrival at Port Jackson and raising of the first British flag at Sydney Cove.
And as has been the case for at least the past five years, the public holiday saw thousands of Australians take to the streets in capital cities across the nation in protest against what to them is not Australia Day – which politicians uphold as a day of celebration and coming together – but Invasion Day – a symbol of inequity and institutionalised harm for the country s Indigenous people.
The former prime minister believes the nation's way of life is under threat, pointing to rules against people sitting in the front seat of taxis, which he considers a mark of being Australian.