There’s currently not much from which one might take heart in politics (is there ever?) however, the replacing of Brian Martin as the single commissioner in the Northern Territory Royal Commission into atrocities against Aboriginal children, perpetrated at the Don Dale facility, is a flickering candle in the current dark night of the citizen soul.
What this development says to me is that there are individuals who will not bend to the will of the LNP federal government, individuals who will listen to discontent and outrage expressed in the community and respond to that, rather than lick the sticky fundaments of our liberal overlords.
Mr Martin had personal reasons as well, which is fair enough. It was clear from the announcement of his commission that he was the wrong man for the job, optically speaking, and Brian Martin is aware of the power of optics to bring a man entirely undone. No matter what, he was never going to come out of that gig unscathed.
I’m not going to do it, he informed Malcolm Turnbull and George Brandis (perhaps not using precisely that arrangement of words, I wasn’t there) leaving them egg-faced, their decisive agile nimble and innovative solution to the Don Dale outrage steaming and useless as a puddle of piss in a snow bank.
There have been rumblings from various elites that no “eminent” Australian will agree to perform public service if this capitulating to the will of the masses keeps up. Cry me a river.
Compare the actions of Brian Martin with those of Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon, who led then PM Tony Abbott’s witch hunt of Bill Shorten via the infamous Trade Union Royal Commission. Heydon became and remains a laughing-stock (all those vacuum cleaner jokes) an obedient slave of the right-wing of the LNP. His Royal Commission produced little of note, and didn’t unduly trouble Shorten. Perhaps Mr Martin noted Heydon’s fate.
The Royal Commission will now be headed by Mick Gooda and Margaret White, a far more satisfactory arrangement.
We probably don’t need too much more evidence of Turnbull’s incompetence, but true to his long-term policy of giving us what we don’t need, the PM keeps up supply.
Social media must be given some credit for the reconstitution of the Northern Territory Royal Commission. Complain about Twitter all you like: there’s no getting away from the fact that public opinion is conveyed so widely and so forcefully through its use, that politicians and elites who ignore the platform do so at their peril.
The resignation of Brian Martin, and the appointment of an Indigenous man and a former Queensland Supreme Court judge is a win for citizens over the disastrously inadequate decision of the LNP government. Take heart.
No Place For Sheep 
Well said. Agree with all that.
But quite apart from the appointment of appropriate commissioner(s), the proper ethical conduct of the commission, and the public’s acceptance of its legitimacy, there’s another factor, arguably even more necessary to its success – the subsequent implementation of its recommendations in full.
Here’s a letter from Andrew Partos of Seaforth in today’s Sydney Morning Herald:
Since we have had already a royal commission about ill-treatment of our Indigenous people the proper start for Malcolm Turnbull would be to implement immediately, fully, all its recommendations with no ifs and buts. That would prove that he is committed to try to rectify the lack of application to most of it. Otherwise it would be very possible that his royal commission will be also white-washed as the previous royal commission was.
I’m pretty sure Mr Partos is referring to the RC into aboriginal deaths in custody, concluded in 1991. A quarter of a century on, the raw numbers of indigenous people who die in custody have increased, as has the percentage of incarcerated people who are indigenous (the latter doubled, if I recall correctly).
If successive Australian governments lack the will and the political guts to implement a Royal Commission’s recommendations properly, any RC is consigned to history as just so much hot air, no matter how incisive and decisive its conclusions.
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Yes, yes indeed, Arthur, excellent point made in that letter and by you.
Royal Commissions achieve a spotlight on a situation for a period but then what?
Had the recommendations of the 1991 RC had been implemented, the circumstances for young Aboriginals may be different today?
Or not. Racism runs very deep in the Australian national psyche
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I was surprised to hear (on ABC radio but can’t recall who) that many of the recommendations made by the RC into Aboriginal Deaths had been implemented…. BUT…. due to political expedience had been virtually whittled down to nothing.
Which fits, considering all the slash & burn that has occurred during the past 10 years. What was implemented never really got a chance to produce any good, which leaves us back where we started before this inquiry.
We need a new frame of reference for RC’s recommendations be set set above political tactics.
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But as the government sets the ToR, including in this case the NT government I think…
Maybe some independent body needs to be in charge of ToRs.
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Even the concept of “independent” has become corrupted.
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We cannot be trusted to self regulate anything, let alone a target for govt long bent on genocide for political purposes.
The UN should get involved until there is;
demonstrable social justice
all recommendations of the RC into Deaths in Custody are in and working
a vote of confidence in their own welfare from First Australians.
And the development of the north should be legally linked to social justice,proper representation and a treaty drawn up by and for indigenous people.I don’t care if the humanity factor drags the economy to a halt.
That should get the ball rolling.
This is a 200 year+ old obfuscated priority.
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If the humanity factor was factored into the economy along with environment, we would have an economy that worked for more people rather than just the elites.
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It’s a pretty simple formula,D’art.
Begins with respecting the environment and living within the means of it.
In that respect , that would rely on reconciliation with First Australians , who have at least 60,000 years of science and resource management experience/ expertise.
It also requires admitting that ‘growth’ has passed the end point of sustainability long ago.(economy and ecology) No economy can withstand the cancer of unfettered growth, and juggle within it independent economies in a global market, where agriculture and where human (all biological ) survival depend on a stable climate /healthy environment, and where the output component must maintain a balance with the inputs required.
This ^ is a necons worst possible nightmare scenario and why their status quo requires higher taxes and all manner of misery to protect the ‘growth proponents’ livelihoods.They will also use all manner of laws and regs to keep us either constrained,uniformed, or powerless within their ‘desirable orb’.
A topic for another venue…………………
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Everything is interconnected, Hypo. Which is why all we ever achieve are bandaid solutions.
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Speaking of bandaids I just came off my bike on a speed bump then two magpies tried to take out my eyes. Who has jinxed me? Who??
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Certainly not I said the fly.
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Jennifer
If the magpies were Collingwood football players – they just do that…. if the magpies were actual birds- they just do that, nothing personal.
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They were bloody birds & I careened down the road shouting fuck fuck get off me fuck & trying not to fall off my bike a second time
Today has not been great.
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One of those times when shit just keeps on happening, dickheads tell you bad things only happen in threes and you’re up to #33?
Of course, it could be you simply look like a young boy on a bicycle and magpies hate boys.
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Why do magpies hate boys?
I don’t think I look like a young boy. I have curvy curves & a girl’s bike.
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What’s more Di, is that this CLP/L&NP/LNP federal govt knows they are only providing the absolute minimum support, because this is a “people” issue.
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Vis a vis magpies, you aren’t alone:
http://www.magpiealert.com/
They don’t seem to like cyclists . . .
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This is more about being tough on criminals. Lock them up throw away the key. Mandate and longer, harsher sentences, Very expensive and only leads to higher recidivism and crime. The community becomes more insecure.
Focus needs to be taken from punishment, to re-educating, training and building up confidence and skills in those who offend, especially young juvenile offenders.
Cheaper and has better outcomes.
Locking them up should be seen as the punishment, not cruel treatment when imprisoned.
Change this mindset and we will see results across whole of society.
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Rather than deal with the circumstances which breed this behaviour, like poverty and discrimination.
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I don’t believe that Turnbull is fair dinkum he just wants to be seen to be doing something, following his own flawed judgement on the first pick Commissioner. Turnbull is really in the mire his party is being ruled at the moment by the extreme right wing faction, Turnbull is hardly game to make a decision and when he does it is hasty not well considered and the Commissioner resigns days after being appointed. Making the tory government look like Dad’s Army.
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Fred Chaney was about the only regular notable voice in conservative ranks who spoke out on indigenous issues, after Fraser’s faded.
Like I said indigenous people are seen as and treated like an impediment to the LNP.(And many state govts.For 2+ centuries.)
Yep, and Turnbull is useless.His only positive attribute has always been , ‘not Abbott’.
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Hypo, any “people” issues are badly handled by the four party coalition, their main priority is shoveling Australian dollars into mulinational corporations, and don’t like being held up on “people” issues.
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There’s more room in the chest cavity for cash, if you remove the heart.
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Don’t insult Dad’s army by comparing the Truffles mob to them, at least the TV show was frigging hilarious, Truffles is just the same weak cowardly nobody he’s always been.
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[Thanks JW for airing this as you have.]
Wouldn’t a collective of opportunist conservative govts love to get their tentacles wrapped around the cogs of social media?
Oh wait.
The TPP and FTAs so loved by RWNJ is coming to a village near you (eventually).
On the RC to Mick Gooda,good luck and best wishes.It is a monumental task for an indigenous man.
If anyone saw NITVs Message Stick the other day they will know how long custodial torture and murder have been perpetrated denied and gotten away with in this country.
There will be all sorts of hiding,shredding and other vile tactics engaged between now and any exposure of guilty parties.Indigenous people don’t hold their breath for justice any more.The fall is too great.The broader community needs to hold their anger at close quarters and maintain a level of visible support as we see this through.COAG may bring other state authorities to justice, but see above,re, burying facts.
The states with most to hide will be the ones who protest the loudest.Obviously WA and QLD are top of that list.
This is why the local constabulary has the majority of its focus on targeting indigenous individual and communities in all their operations.
Barnett (WA) has already claimed ‘nothing to see hear’. We all know what that is code for.
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Thanks, Hypo.
A friend was just telling me about riding buses in Sydney in the fifties, when if two migrants dared to speak in their own language, they were thrown off the bus.
That is not so very long ago.
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As a child who travelled on many bus & trams in the fifties, the Treatment of migrants was shocking. Much more open than today.
Same for every wave. Same result, they all merged into our society, adding to our culture, making us what we are today.
My mother own a home see turned into small flats. (Housing was impossible to find at the time).
In one of the flatette was a family from war torn Europe. Beautiful people who had suffered badly, 16 year old daughter’s body scarred from being tortured. They deliberately had a baby to celebrate new beginning.
In another flat was Australian couple. Lovely people who exploded a stink bomb, nearly killing the baby.
By the way, the father ended up head of NSW government department.
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I was sent to Coventry in 1960 when I was 7 years old because I dared to play with the catholic kids at my very first recess in a new school. That lasted 2 years but had the benefit of teaching me to read better than most, becoming top of the class and stay there and never play the damn stupid game of pretence that the boys were smarter than me.
I ran into the headmaster of my school from 1960 and he remembers me as the silly 4 eyed swat who sat under the stairs reading all the time.
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To learn to love a book and enjoy reading. Is there a greater gift an adult can confer upon a child?
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Nature
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Only music, PW. And that isn’t greater, it’s on a par.
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I can imagine no better accolade than that, Marilyn.
I learned nothing in school except how to play the piano very well and read.
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You guys are right, there are profound things people can open up for the young to do with what life can really be about. To be born aussie is to win the lottery at birth in many ways. This should imbue a sense of humility in a person, but the good life has us taking it for granted,
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With it coming so commendably early, I was a little surprised by what I thought to be the defensiveness of this resignation. Perhaps it is just me.
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Yes, he seemed pretty snarky to me too.
I bet Brandis and Turnbull were seething.A backdown is a backdown.
Their face, his egg.
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Yes, Forrest, I too noticed the defensiveness…
Mal and his pal did not look pleased, and now Herbert has also slipped away, where’s the mandate now.
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They’re in government by the skin of their gold-plated teeth, Helvi. Not an enviable position & they’re nowhere near as good as the ALP at dealing with very small margins. I predict chaos.
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No, I sensed that as well, decided to let it pass.
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He stood down for exactly the same reasons journalists & other raised when he appeared with PM and Brandis.,
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He was the only one I ever heard mention his daughter, everyone else was worried about his innate racism,
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Then,come the next election, they’ll be saving him a safe Lib seat so he can become the next AG.
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Yes, I never heard the daughter mentioned either.
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Mooka’s political judgement has always been poor, as evidenced by his first term as Opposition Leader (Godwin Grech, climate change, allowing Abbott to displace him, etc) and this is another in the series. But we can award him some points for then selecting Mick Gooda and Justice White as the replacement Commissioners.
If this is all about Malcolm, next week’s 4Corners might be a truly interesting piece. It promises to examine the high wire act for Malcolm, with Abbott and his fellow sharks waiting below in lieu of a net. How long can he keep a semblance of balance?
I give him six months, barring disasters.
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Please don’t predict DQ.It always ends in longer tears.
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Please don’t troll my posts, Hypo. It upsets my octopus.
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Hahaha
Look I want a fair and legitimate govt as much as you.It’s just (octopus aside) your political predictions carry the legacy of a dead albatross.
A wish is not an outcome.
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I predicted that Labor could win in Queensland. I predicted that we’d be stuck with Baird in NSW. I predicted that Obama would win comfortably in 2012. I predicted that Rudd redux had no hope in 2013, and that Labor would win in 2010. That Labor would win Victoria in 2014. And to Bob Ellis’ annoyance that NSW Labor would lose in 2011.
My record is excellent; the octopus runs rings around the polls.
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Blue rings of course, we can’t have any of that red commy stuff.
😛
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Can you show me where you predicted Abbott would win?
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It wasn’t rocket science. Personally I would have stuck with Gillard. Sacking her undermined their entire credibility and brought into question the vituperative criticisms of Rudd by most of his former ministers.
But I announced (to Tabletalk) that I would offer no criticism of Rudd, at least until after the then-coming election.
But I knew it wouldn’t work, not even to “save the furniture” as the proponents of Rudd redux put it.
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?
I thought you were in the ‘Abbott was unelectable’ camp prior to the election ?
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Have you heard the political joke?
– They get elected.
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You can upset his octopus by giving it a good hard kick in the tentacles.
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Now Bob’s gone, somebody has to predict, Hypo.
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DQ, disasters are very likely, When you’re attempting to govern with a majority of 75 to 74 (after appointing a Speaker), any little glitch morphs into a disaster. Someone dies, someone resigns, someone gets sick, someone needs to go to the bog and misses a vote. Potential disasters coming in the window.
75 to 74 is precisely the majority Gillard had to live with for 3 years, and after the relentless daily harassment she got from the imbecile Abbott, I can’t see Labour being all that cooperative this time round. Such exquisite karma. Truffles’ shaky government could be out on their arses any tick of the clock.
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Agreed. Especially if Abbott rolls him. Expect an election within 12 months.
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Katter has come out and said the same thing. Will it get harder for the government when the civil liberties/privacy aspects of the census begin to bite?
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Yes, the karma, oh the karma! I can’t wait to see them come a cropper as they must, sooner rather than later. They don’t have the skills to deal with their situation.
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Disagree, I see Shorten doing all in his power to ensure PM can govern. PM and his party will be responsible when the government falls, as it must because of incompetence.
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^ Most likely
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Truth is Abbott except for refugee legislation had little effect on Gillard. #auspol
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How interesting to have been present at the re-selection process, or did Brandis and Mal do it all by themselves then inform the RWNJs?
Mal has to keep all those plates spinning, wonder if it’s worth it.
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It perhaps not being a re-selection process as much as a covert pre-selection (but not of, or up front known to, Martin) could explain what has been interpreted as defensiveness in his resignation but may in fact be an expression of resentment after a realization of having been used as a stalking horse for the filling of an appointment that was never meant to have been his.
What precise role did White have in the Mabo case?
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Very good question.And what (if any) ‘baggage’ remains.
She will certainly have the upper hand over Gooda, as far as the snakes of law are concerned.This concerns me.I hope he gets his own choice of elite QC to be his counsel.
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She acted for the Qld government. But this is interesting :
“A QC who acted in the Mabo case has said he wrote his newly-updated book because he thought it was “appropriate to explain the litigation to the Australian community”.
Queensland Supreme Court Justice Margaret White will launch the second edition of Bryan Keon-Cohen QC’s book, A Mabo Memoir: Islan Kustom to Native Title, on 17 June in Brisbane.
“Justice Margaret White was my opposing junior counsel during the 10 years of the litigation, so we got to know each other pretty well,” revealed Keon-Cohen, who was junior counsel for the plaintiffs for the duration of the Mabo case.
“I am in a unique position [to write this book] because in my chambers I have about 60,000 pages of court material: barrister’s research notes, witness statements and the like, collected over 10 years of the litigation, and the book is founded on those materials,” he added.”
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/wig-chamber/news/14178-QC-gives-insider-look-at-Mabo-case
So it would seem that Justice White knows quite a lot about it, and is now more than reconciled to the law as it now stands.
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Thanks for that DQ, it sheds useful light on her possible position
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I’m baffled again. If there’s child abuse happening at home, be it sexual or otherwise, it becomes an issue for authorities, the perpetrators are punished.
If all this horror has been an ongoing affair at the this NT detention centre, then why hasn’t anyone called the cops to deal with it.
Does it not matter because the kids are Indigenous, and the crimes are not happening at home or at school…?
Is it happening because that is the old Aussie tough ‘ love’ approach; you punish, you do not rehabilitate.
Already during my father’s school years , kids in Finland were not allowed to be put into a naughty corner; here the cane was used as late as the Nineties ( …or was it made illegal somewhat earlier ? )
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As an institution ,this country has always seen the First Australians an an obstacle to removed at all costs.Apart from everything else they are witnesses of the crimes against humanity perpetrated on them since day one.
The modern MO uses the outcomes of dispossession to herd the remnants of their culture towards adversity and crime.Their is a collective will (especially in conservative govts) to paint a picture that indigenous people are ‘bad’, ‘evil’, ‘inferior’ or any number of negative descriptions.
The only way that this country can redeem itself is for the community to stand up >for without retribution from the guilty or their dark forces left behind) this will have been a waste of time.
Giles should do the honourable thing and resign now.
Where’s the champion of indigenous people, and our next PM Tony Boomerang Abbott?
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EDIT
This part dropped out of the post above for some reason????
“The only way that this country can redeem itself is for the community to stand up >for without retribution from the guilty or their dark forces left behind) this will have been a waste of time.”
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EDIT WTF?
3rd time lucky? (Fingers crossed)
There is nowhere to hide and no excuses left.
This RC will be the last chance for justice,and for RC generally.Because it will either deliver meaningful change,or destroy the highest level of legitimacy of the law.Forcing the RC to become a flaccid farce.
If heads do not roll this time,right to the top,free of payback from the guilty,or their dark forces left behind,this will have been another waste of time.
(Kicking it into the long grass)
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I think RCs have just about had their day. Nobody takes any notice of their recommendations. They are useful for their revelations but then what?
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Trying typing with your toes.
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Sorry, typo. Message to self, “try typing with your toes”..
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Giles won’t resign. Maybe he’ll lose the NT election though.
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The RC should end his days.No way was in he the dark.His very legislation contributed to the outcomes and officers will use that as a defence whether it destroys him or not.
It will be a very messy RC.Seething nest of vipers.
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What happens when you send in a boy to do a man’s job.
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Sometimes they do it better, but not in this instance.
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Yes, Helvi, I’m wondering what is happen on g to those kids as we all churn this over. Are they safe? Do they have better accommodations?
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I’ve read that it’s very difficult to make allegations against detention staff stick, but I’ve also wondered why such obviously criminal acts aren’t being investigated by NT police.
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I haven’t heard anything about the abusers or the abused – the children are still in detention? The abusers still clock off each day after a job ‘well done’?
Standing down the alleged perps and relocating the children to a safe environment should be the first priority, shouldn’t it?
Oh, wait, I forgot, this is Bizzarro world – I thought I was in a rational universe.
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Seems staff are protected in law. The chair, isolation and hood are written into legislation.
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Yes, that’s right, thanks Florence. Those laws need to be repealed.
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That’s a marvellous comment. Caning was on the wane in the sixties compared to the previous Dickensian times, but you still copped the cuts if you played up..we would return to the class as heroes and had our own ways of dealing with that sort of thing. We ended up doing a strike, which sort of put the final nail in the coffin as to my unfortunate years at high school…
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My favourite ABC man, Kerry O’Brian snatched the cane off the punishing teacher hand; I think they run around the desk for a bit…
I clapped when I watched this show (Julia Zemiro sat on top of the school desk, she didn’t need to ask any questions)
God I miss him interviewing Abbott and Turnbull; Tony smacking his dry lips, and Mal saying repeatedly: let me say this, I’ll ENSURE you that we…
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I think Turnbull and Brandis removed Martin to be seen as countering the Abbott forces, who would have preferred Martin and agree it is evidence of the ongoing fight within the Coalition.
As for the government, another ugly factor going back to Andrew Robb and the TPA is now emerging in the form of removal of necessary medicines from the pharmaceuticals list, as evidenced by Michael Taylor of AIM’s loud wail at the discovery that he can no longer afford his diabetic medication, for example.
Notice how this all seemed held back to till after the election?
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I think the fact J Martin ‘under-sentenced 5 Alice Springs young men on the wrist for beating an indigenous man to death,(with true malice) completely screwed any chance of him maintaining any cred during the RC,no matter what findings he made.
Brandis is so out of touch I reckon he would be hard pressed to butter bread without supervision.Shows the depth of the talent pool.
He should never have been chosen,given he was a previous NT judge.
Read this (already linked previously)
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^>
Read this>
https://newmatilda.com/2016/07/28/nt-juvenile-detention-abuse-royal-commissioner-needs-no-introduction-to-black-territorians/
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I have had that in the back of my mind also, because it indicates from where the offence given regarding Martin’s appointment emanated from. Stubborn, anal people these are.
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I read a couple of articles about Brian Martin and his light sentencing over the K. Ryder murder/manslaughter case, and his desription of these boys as of “good character” just “hooning” was quite extraordinary. It was fairly plain he was racially biased. When I heard Martin’s resignation, I noted that he made only a sly mention of this case – anyone who had not read the articles that I had read would not have picked up the reference to this case. And he was unapologetic about this case too. He was obviously a bad pick from the start, and really, he had no choice but to resign.
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Everyone is fishing for Martin. He’s originally from Adelaide would have probably been educated at Adelaide Uni and played league football for green’ n leafy blue blooded Sturt.; further on worked as a league advocate or official (I think).
From there appointed to the NT court and the rest you know yourselves.
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What is it about Adelaide?
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We wonder the same about the rest of you.
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See, that’s what I mean PW 🙂
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Nailed it ,worm.
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Well, he was in for a rough ride if he stayed.
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Oh god, how foul are these politicians going to get?
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I almost said on the last post a mo ago, that the more their ideas are shredded, the more stubborn they become in attempting to impose them on others and Brandis is typical of them.
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@townsvilleblog
“this CLP/L&NP/LNP federal govt knows they are only providing the absolute minimum support”
Thing is minimum support becomes standard support – no steps forward, one step back. I used to work for Human (notso) Services – I really know what I am suggesting here. Our infrastructure has been held together with minimum standards for 20 years now, our uberlords really don’t get the idea of of looking after things and adapting to new circumstances, yet they claim to be conservative.
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Jennifer about the bike prang and magpie rescue.
It seems (by twitter chat) that Lyle’s Sheltons Drum gig, has rounded off your bad day.
IMHO, the bike and maggies knew in advance of Sheltons imminent toxification.
The bike to to render you unconscious for the period of Sheltons form on TV, whilst the maggies (one of smartest birds in the block) were trying to render your eyes unusable (as a back up plan) to save you the curse of glancing at his Neanderthal self.
Maggies are a special indigenous totem.I don’t think they would turn against you,of all people.
>
Long, long ago in the Dreamtime the earth was dark. There was no light. It was very cold and very black. Huge grey clouds kept the light and the warmth out and were so low that the animals had to crawl around. The Emu hobbled neck bent almost to the ground; the Kangaroo couldn’t hop, and none of the birds could fly higher than several feet in the air. Only the Snakes were happy because they lived close to the ground.
The animals lived by crawling around the damp dark earth, feeling for fruits and berries. Often it was so hard to find food that several days would pass between meals. The Wombat became so tired of people bumping into him that he dug himself a burrow, and learned to sleep for long periods.
Eventually, the birds decided they’d had enough. They called a meeting of all the animals. The Magpies decided that they would raise the sky by gathering sticks and pushing the sky up. All the animals agreed it was a good idea, and they set about gathering sticks. The Magpies took a big stick each, and began to push at the sky.
The Emus, the Kangaroos and the Wombats watched as the Magpies pushed the sky slowly upwards. They used the sticks as levers, first resting the sky on low boulders, then on small hills. As the animals watched, the Magpies, pushing and straining, reached the top of a small mountain.
It was still very dark, but at least the Emu could straighten up, and the Kangaroo was able to move in long proud hops. The Magpies kept pushing the sky higher and higher, until they reached the highest mountain in the whole land. Then with a mighty heave, they gave the sky one last push! The sky shot up into the air, and as it rose it split open and a huge flood of warmth and light poured through on to the land below. The whole sky was filled with beautiful reds and yellows. It was the first sunrise.
Overjoyed with the beauty, the light and the warmth, the Magpies burst into song. As their loud warbling carried across the land, the Sun-Woman rose slowly, and began her journey towards the west. Now, each morning when the Sun-Woman wakes in the east she lights a fire to prepare the torch that she will carry across the sky each day. It is this fire that provides the first light of dawn. Then she takes up her torch, and begins her daily journey across the sky. When she reaches the western edge of the world, she extinguishes her flaming bark torch. Then she sits down, and repaints herself in brilliant reds and yellows, ready for her journey through a long underground passage back to her camp in the east. So that is why, to this day, every morning when the Sun-Woman wakes and lights her early morning fire, all the magpies greet her with their beautiful song.
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Hypo! That is just beautiful, thank you! I love the magpies, I love their song and no doubt they have good reasons for swooping bike riders, indeed a couple of my friends were similarly attacked in the same road.
I’m so delighted with this story, Hypo. 🌹
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wondrous stuff Hypo.
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Just passing along a slightly shortened version of a dreaming story.
Most of them are so incredibly relatable to this land for obvious reasons.
Dreaming Stories are one of the jewels in the treasure that is Indigenous culture.
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I was only swooped by magpies once, I was about 8 years old. Never been attacked since. In fact have fed them by hand from my veranda.
They are very intelligent, case in point; when I was married to he-who-shall-not-be-named, magpies would regularly swoop him and avoid me. Those birds do things for a reason. Now I am not suggesting that Jennifer was being punished – maybe mistaken identity? Jennifer has an unknown evil twin?
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Yes >the reason thing.
Go by the same place on foot and the reaction could be neutral.
The rare times I get swooped has always been during breeding season,or after the resident maggies were recently harassed, or they were firing a shot over my bow.
Most often any encounters are this time of year when birds break the very structured social pack to mate/breed/nest.
Magpies are a blessing .They live long,sing beautifully,mimic other bird calls and sounds-even human voices-,and can heal.
And the story of Penguin Bloom
They have wonderful ritualistic events,like coroborees, and are very curious and inquisitive birds.
*Gisela Kaplan (animal behaviourist) has a lot of knowledge,passion and respect for maggies, and has written many a book/article about these beautiful birds.
Professor Gisela Kaplan is an Adjunct Professor in Animal Behaviour in the Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour.
New Eng Uni.
Perhaps it is serendipitous that maggies entered the conversation via JW, as calamitous as the arrival was??
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Hypo
The attacks took place on my then husband every day in the front garden as we went to and fro, during the Magpie Season. HWSNBN was unlucky with animals, there was our Burmese cat which would swipe at anything moving, dangling, swinging…. memories…
I have also just remembered a poem I wrote when very young (after one & only attack) about magpies carolling in the trees – came third in some state wide competition. I looked at the poem a few years ago and wonder why I even got a third prize.
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Possibilities?
It WAS that good?
Collingwood supporters in the judging panel?
People,just love maggies?
Magpies in the judging panel.
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Magpies in the judging panel… they know a crappy poem when they see one – even if it is flattering – you don’t B/S with magpies.
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Word.
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Oh yes, that book about the magpie who came to stay just when it was most needed, I saw it in the bookshop the other day, now I’ll buy it.
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Ha ha those maggies had taste.
They swooped all my friends as well, so I’ve decided not to take it personally.
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Google>> Penguin the Magpie.
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For those wanting more depth, as regards NT justice –
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/41841/74174_1.pdf?sequence=1
Perhaps there is real progress being made, once stereotyping (from both sides) is reassessed.
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Progress?
I think incarceration rates paint a whole other sentiment DQ.
In WA the families of victims of custodial mortality>Walker, Pat, Ward, Dhu and many more would beg to differ.
As would Mr Spratt>
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/man-tasered-13-times-shows-stunguns-fast-becoming-police-weapon-of-choice-ccc-20101004-163og.html
WA police are actively target indigenous people as a priority,Including using science to test effluent,which (coughs) just coincidentally ONLY being done in low income areas where the indigenous populations are highly represented.In short the state is trying to justify its skin colour policing with selective data.No testing in leafy streets of Nedlands, Cottesloe or where the money flows in the streets.
The greatest unanswered questions which will not be asked or answered at the RC go to :
Race based police strategy,incarceration rates,why the drivers and distributors of drugs are further down the list than users,and why the broader community tolerates this at every turn.
Nothing will change unless Australia’s attitude does.We are as far away as ever.
I think the UN intervening is the only way this issue will ever budge.And a little bit off ‘fuck off’ to govt (and their rich snake olier magnates as well) in the top half of Australia, to the plans to rape and pillage for profit.(Northern Development)
As the song says, ‘they know how to wait’.
A poke around at WA and QLD and I bet ,that in many,many ways we are further back than decades ago, in the interactions of law ,policing ,prison and indigenous people.
https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-police-relations
The broom continues…..
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Incarceration rates are horrible indeed. “Law & Order” platforms of the Looters Party in particular but with “me-too”ism from Labor have resulted in idiotic three strike legislation and mandatory sentences.
It is not helpful when activists demand white boys be locked away for decades; if they want less incarceration for indigenous people the way to start would be to support more lenient terms for everyone.
That being said, this offers some hope:
http://insidestory.org.au/unlocking-indigenous-incarceration
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Law and order platforms are almost always led by police..They deliver the data and the ‘alleged’ outcomes to subservient ministers(in all states.)
Make of it what you will,but a minister who stands up to police unions and police agendas is in the realm of hens teeth.
“2 cars speeding,one with dark skinned occupants,who to chase?”
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The article linked confirms the race based agenda in WA and QLD.
The RC needs to have a sub enquiry into both states with all data released.Not just the rubbery crap.
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DQ
“Unlocking Indigenous Incarceration”
A little more hope seeing Mick Gooda’s involvement – despite Turnbull’s wish to keep this RC very narrow, there are many players concerned and organised to impact upon this inquiry.
Although reading Abbott’s comments on the treatment of children in detention:
“Asked then if he felt any guilt about the treatment of children in immigration detention, he replied, “None whatsoever.”
Comments such as this truly sicken me.
Another obstacle towards humane treatment of children (I don’t know why whites are soooo complacent – such abuse is now legal and can be applied to little “Tony JNR” as well) private for profit prisons.
Privatising any service that requires as its first principle “do no harm” is an insult to anyone who can reflect further than a reptile.
Can the Gillian Triggs, the David Browns, the Alistair Fergusons gain some traction on the NT inquiry?
Bloody hope so. Can’t believe what my government is doing to my people.
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D’art,
I think those ppl can get traction.A suitable strategy would look something like a collective of most if not all indigenous communities, making a formal declaration that ; “if the RC into BDiC full recommendations and those coming from this new RC are not implemented in full, (bipartisan support) within a certain time frame beyond this RC they will take their concerns offshore.”
First Australians owe nothing to recalcitrant govts.State or federal.
Such a declaration would also buffer Mick Gooda, from possible collateral damage, which I think is needed.
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Gooda needs to be calling in everyone he can think of.
Meanwhile, on Nauru, seems the only way to trigger public outrage would be graphic footage of a rape or other equally heinous treatment of refugees – surely a blow by blow account (and I mean that literally) would shake the blinkers from the “good” Australian public enough to realise that abuse is abuse is abuse.
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2016/08/03/nauru-refugee-forced-to–marry-for-saftey-.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-03/amnesty-hrw-enter-nauru-undercover-to-document-sustained-abuse/7684342
“Amnesty International, working in conjunction with Human Rights Watch, travelled to and documented the conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in Australian-funded detention on Nauru over the past few months.
They were forced to send investigators incognito after a number of requests for official visits were rebuffed or ignored.”
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The pointlessness of punitive incarceration with no attention to rehabilitation infuriates me.
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DQ, There is this *they get what they deserve* attitude used to justify pointless incarceration. It’s cutting off our noses to spite our faces and contributes nothing to society.
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Victims, and families of victims, are urged and incited to demand severe penalties. Some may want vindictive revenge, even without pressure from media and their wider circle of acquaintances.
I know you have a special interest in forgiveness as a subject but from my observations many people seem to have no capacity to forgive. It is difficult.
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Perhaps ppl demand ‘revenge’ in the absence of any visible form of applicable justice?
In the case of indigenous Australians not only is justice a unicorn, it is in fact a commodity so rare because they have endured (and remarkably withstood) 200+ years of ‘authorised activities’ aimed purely at either wiping them out or hiding them from view.
Refugees in their own homelands.
We all know how we treat ALL refugees,don’t we?
Ironically the refugees (here and abroad) are those we created.
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Nah, people just like revenge, Hypo. I get that. I’ve dreamed about it now and then myself, but it is a dish best eaten very cold.
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My interest isn’t in the traditional, religion riddled concept of forgiveness, DQ. I see it as more benefiting the victim than the perp.
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This sequence of comments, starting with JW and incarceration, are meaty and go to the heart of the matter. First, JW expresses sorrow and bafflement at the mindset operative. Then DQ, for good reason, tries to stop the rest of us getting drawn into the sort of mindset that must be a normal person’s response to right wing populist politics, I think he is pleading that we don’t let these bastards get us down or hook us in to their madness and anger lest we become gut haters also.
But Hypo’s last comment is a gem…even if we can’t change things just now, it is no excuse to just accept the unacceptable and I believe that this time DQ would concur that Hypo’s comment is a righteous corollary to his own counsel, because that is about not allowing oneself to be over run by despair to the extent that sight the main game is lost.
DQ sees far enough ahead to understand that the worst of the hard right is pitiable-forgive them, they know not what they do- which does not preclude but increases the resolve Hypo talks of, to resist the nonsenses of mad people, no matter how depressing their behaviours.
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All of the Right is pitiable. The weakness – and the strength – of the Left is to be able to pity the bastards.
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The right is an alien pathogen.
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For which we have no antidote
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Scullion should join Giles and quit immediately.What a disgraceful humanoid.
There is no way a RC can work with either of these ghouls while they have jobs in govt (in any capacity)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-04/scullion-admits-receiving-official-abuse-briefing-last-year/7688546
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Oh, yes, DQ, of course you are correct.
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Yes, the hard right is pitiable, but then so are serial killers and we don’t let them roam free.
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Bill Leak proves he is a racist cunt, after adding indigenous ppl to his list of targets.
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https://newmatilda.com/2016/08/04/artistic-arse-the-great-racist-works-of-cartoonist-bill-leak/
No doubt a TV gig awaits this fucktard.
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Why isn’t he a racist prick?
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I called him cunt for the same level of disgust you used it for in an earlier rail.
Nothing more,nothing less.If I could find a different word to adjust it to a higher scale I would.Your suggestion?
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Expletive Etiquette
Blacks can use the word ‘niggers’.
Homosexuals can call each other ‘faggots’.
Women can call others cunts.
Men can use ‘prick’, ‘dickhead’.
It is all about ownership.
Not difficult.
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There is also underlying respect for others, but that is probably way too PC for manly men like Hypo and DQ.
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Respect for others, D’Art?
Oh yes,from the top down.It is so suffocating,innit?
Please draft a list of words you permit me to use,how to use, and the rule book ISBN thereof.
I missed the vote on that one…….
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I was completely puzzled by this from DQ:
“Nothing wrong with cunt. It’s a fine old word for a very interesting piece of anatomy.
It has rightly or wrongly a particular impact. The male counterpart ‘prick’ just doesn’t stand up.”
Please consider why cunt is so much more of a pejorative than prick?
Of course DQ has excused himself because he lerves the ladies.
He has reminded of an old joke about a fisherman who caught himself a mermaid, his mate was astounded at his happiness, “She has a fish head!”.
“Aye, but the bottom part is all woman.”
Just makes me feel so proud and happy about myself… I feel so validated, so respected, so valued… after all my upper half doesn’t really matter does it?
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OK so you are you are seriously offended over the choice of the word .
Me?
Well I’m actually more interested in the underlying issue. because it is so fricking grave.
Look People booed Cathy Freeman for draping her peoples flag on her shoulder =
They hate us.
They booed Adam Goodes ditto.
There’s lots of instances.Then an indigenous person succeeds in public life,they like us .
Back and forth back and forth.Then dults get cooked,tasered,beaten to death and kids get tortured they hate us.
Then we call a RC.Oh looks like We care.
Then a fucking nimrod undoes it all and fires up the black white hate fest by deliberately race baiting.I’m sryy I offended your precious sensibilities.
This is why indigenous people swim backwards in treacle. Because everyone argues around the edges.Semantics,stereotypes,look over there. etc.
Maybe you can explain the reason that is to your closer indigenous friends at your next barbie,why that is.?
Run the ‘cvnt’ word rule over them.I mean we have been using their words ( their land/water/ flesh/blood for centuries.
Mens words,womens words ( & body parts ) sacred words.Let me know what they say.
I won’t use ‘your’ registered word here again.
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So only a person possessed of a cunt can use the word???
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I’m interested in why the word cunt carries more power as a term of abuse than does the word prick. You explained it for me below: the prick just doesn’t stand up. It is flaccid. I won’t go on. I’m too polite.
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You’re not the only one:
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Ah, yes thanks DQ for that link.
I also love the word, but not when appropriated as the worst form of abuse.
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More>
http://indigenousx.com.au/here-we-go-again-bill-leak-isnt-racist-according-to-bill-leak/#.V6KYGaK-CT0
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Leak = Sth Australian. Played footy there.So did Brian Martin.
Bit of mate looking after mate here, by the vile racist cunt?
Just saying.
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Prick? Knob? Dickwad?
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^ ERRATUM,
A different Bill leak in the case of the footballer above.
Apologies for the red herring.
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Casual racism is clear in Leak’s cartoon. A pity, because there is a serious point being made: the lack of parental responsibility exhibited by many indigenous fathers.
We expect a certain amount of licence to be extended to cartoonists, but this cartoon goes beyond the acceptable.
I looked at Hypo’s links and I agree with their views in large part.
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So what about the irresponsible white fathers? Who is making racist cartoons about them?
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First Dog?
Its an interesting question..it could be argued that black aboriginal men have been decultured of the best of working aboriginal cullure, that sustained a people over 50, 000 years and instead had inscribed the psyche of the worst of the rough blue collar elements of settler culture.
Like, some black fellas look and sound like white oafs in blue collar suburbia who are also products rather than producers of the system and of people.
And so it goes, replicated generation after generation, amongst subject populations.
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When you can understand cause and effect as well as you do law??? then perhaps you can start waving a finger at them ‘naughty’ ‘black’ irresponsible fathers DQ.Then you can move on to telling them nuisance refugees to stop making refugees out of themselves.Then there’s a few bucks to be earned wiring up a similar on off switch to anxiety and depression across the great race divide.
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And what is this outbreak of Tourette’s? Like a couple of 6 yo’s playing pirates or making mud pies behind the old woodshed. Wash you mouths out with soapy water and then a good dose of castor oil, for potty-mouths..
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Nothing wrong with cunt. It’s a fine old word for a very interesting piece of anatomy.
It has rightly or wrongly a particular impact. The male counterpart ‘prick’ just doesn’t stand up.
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Ahahahahahahahahaha
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PW
Google cunt ,tourettes and T Shirt and see what you get.
I’ll be washing my potty mouth out when Scullion,Giles and Leak line up to apologise for their opportunistic unleashing of White Supremacists validity ,on the very cusp of moving a mm fwd on adult progress on indigenous issues.
This pathetic frozen chook f*cker drawn cartoon was a deliberate Molotov Cocktail to get the Adam Goodes lynch mob on the front foot in social media.
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You were all lurking…bastards!
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https://cherishthecunt.com/2013/02/10/origins-of-the-word-cunt/
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Not MY registered word Hypo… stop being so precious.
You wouldn’t call an aboriginal a coon now would you?
As for the etymology of cunt – it’s how it is used now that matters. That it is considered the so called worst of the expletives IS troubling – why does ‘cunt’ have greater impact than ‘prick’?
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Is cunt an ethnicity is it?
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Stop it
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Hahahaha
Me being precious?
R U avvin a larf?
If only you gave as much of a shit about the issue,the racist cartoon amplifying race hate, and how much hurt that cartoon creates. as you do about a noun.Not a peep.
You have spent every post today taking offence over a word.
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Aaahh . . . a win for the cunning linguists.
🙂
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The Oxford Dictionary of Ships and the Sea tells me cunting is a nautical word, referring to the grooves between the lays of a rope.
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The Poxford Dictionary of Pebbles and the Sand tells me that in the absence of argument (insert protected expletive) is a mere word, referring to the potential non ravages of micro weather in a glazed porcelain vessel used to encapsulate and convey beverages to the emotionally challenged.
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The circumlocution of the hypocaust: Shedding one’s imbibitions and having a larf.
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Ironic^
There’s a single word these days FG.
‘Hyperventilate.’
: )
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Larf is also a nautical word, I understand. I think we have Ian Fleming to thank for it. ‘Hoarse Under Water’, if I recall correctly.
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No-one wins.Petty squabbling over a word –[as massively offensive as some see it] —does not isolate and define a demograph in the way the crux of this topic at heart does.
The term ‘black fella’ is offensive to many indigenous people.No screaming from anyone here yet.
The cartoon was not casually racist,it was wilfully malicious.And it comes on the back of many more equally rancid works of hate.The guy (felcher) has a big problem.If he has any balls (can borrow them back from the boss?) he will take his collection of overtly anti indigenous works to the NT and do a one man ‘please explain’ tour of the homelands.
On the back of Don Dale and Scullion and Giles denials, this effluent stain Leak deliberately put his boots into the guts of a wounded indigenous Australia
And those who do not call this out for the damage thereof, share in his glory.
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“The cartoon by was published on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day.”
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As can be seen in almost almost all MSM on this topic>
The compassion is endless(vomit)
When I was growing up, had the Don Dale thing been outed,the (so called) Christian thing would have been to go to the children and help, rather than go after the parents and crucify them.
“Get out of the way you weak feeling fckr types, There’s political points to score.”
Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh poor fella my country.
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I fail to see why parental responsibility or the lack of it makes any kind of case for guards abusing children. Or why the children incarcerated in that place are somehow deserving of that abuse. I think parental responsibility is a straw man in this case. Don’t look at us look at them.
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Spot on Jennifer, you are absolutely right here.
What the f..k happened to empathy, kindness ,willingness to understand and to rehabilitate.
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Not a great Australian institution. Scandinavians much better at those things Helvi.
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Leaks follow up cartoon shows how weak and cowardly he is and how thin his own pale skin is.As for Bernardi ? He has scales not skin.
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