With such a big week in Australian politics, it was no surprise to see MP Wilson Tuckey get his face on television. For the few of you who missed it:
"I'm there to say hallelujah. Tomorrow there'll be no petrol sniffing, tomorrow little girls can sleep in their beds without any concern - it's all fixed.”
I must admit, ‘Sorry’ is by no means a cure all, but did anyone expect it to be?
But the speech delivered on Wednesday was a ‘First Step’ and a good one.
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As yet the Labor government has never claimed to have found the solution, nor have they professed a quick fix, ironically it is Tuckey’s own party that claimed they had seen the light with their Northern Territory intervention. In contrast Rudd’s speech envisaged ‘great practical challenges that indigenous Australia faces in the future’.
One of the acute problems with the Howard intervention was the lack of acknowledgement and consultation. It was a blanket policy that did not cater for each individual community’s needs. Whether it was a community of 20 or 10,000, a community with near full employment or a community of no employment, the policy was the same. With Rudd’s apology, it automatically acknowledges the native people of this land. It searches to find solutions together.
In a dramatic contrast to Rudd, Nelson’ speech was cold, unemotional and uninspiring. He opened with a ‘white armband’ view of the past, identified the problems of the present, gave his party a pat on the back for the Northern Territory intervention and then as if an after thought, decided to say sorry. The only reason why he said sorry more than once was because he quoted from Faye Lyman, which turns out was done without her permission and misrepresented the truth. In her own words, it was a ‘toxic speech’.
It is clear that Nelson’s speech was not as well prepared nor as well structured. It was a political manoeuver to appease his party.
While Rudd’s speech was pro-Indigenous, Nelson’s was disingenuous.
Hopefully the politics will not get in the way of good policy.
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Not everyone is convinced
Wilson Tuckey wasn’t the only MP making a name for himself last week. Sophie Mirabella, the ‘Uptown Girl’ from Victoria was adamant that there were no members of the Stolen Generation in Victoria. Her obvious authority in the matter has also led her to conclude that every child was ‘taken for their own good’.
In essence Mirabella is suggesting that a child’s separation from their family and subjection to forced labour is character building.
Mirabella’s observation of drug and sexual abuse now, led her to conclude that the politicians had a valid reason to introduce the policy in 1869. She has obviously mastered time travel and has thoroughly briefed the leaders of the past. Hopefully her next voyage will be to convince Neville Chamberlain not to sign the Munich Agreement.
But enough of politics.
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The Underbelly of media regulation
It was no surprise for me to hear Nine/WIN’s series Underbelly would not be showing in Victoria. I was surprised that the series was even allowed to be created with trials still pending.
Mark Day from The Australian was clearly against the ban. He suggested that Judge Betty King’s decision was ‘unnecessary’ and ‘tiresome’. That it suggested jurors were ‘intellectually unable to avoid being swayed’.
It is disappointing that the series was even allowed to go to air in the rest of the nation because, as Day identified, the ban is ‘futile’ with the presence of internet piracy and video sharing. I’m usually very liberal in my views on censorship but when it means that the conviction of a mass murderer could be overturned by a smart lawyer, I am totally for it.
For anyone who has watched SBS’s documentary The Staircase, you will know full well the circus that can be created when the media is not kept on a tight leash during judicial proceedings. This circus can have a significant effect on the outcome of a trial, evident by the amount of effort a defence and a prosecution will put into winning a media war. Unlike Day, I do not see the benefit in following a US style judicial system.
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Keelty more politician than policeman
It is ironic that Australian Federal Police Mick Keelty is letting Andrew Denton film a reality series on the AFP while also asking for tighter controls on media criticism. It is obvious that these are an attempt to fix the personal embarrassment caused by the Mohamed Haneef case. The media scrutiny of the case was one of the only reasons why the severe lack of evidence was revealed.
It is unclear whether Keelty was a puppet or puppet master during the Haneef case but it wouldn’t be the first time he has caused headlines. Suggesting that Spain’s involvement in Iraq contributed to the Madrid bombings, it could be suggested that Howard felt Keelty owed him one.
I hope that the AFP can keep doing their good work in East Timor and stop policing the media and chasing after SIM cards.
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