COMMENT by FRANK BAARDA
Spearheaded by the re-elected president of the United States of America we are seeing a shadow spreading over our planet: The politics of revenge, also known as Fascism.
In Australia Trumpism is being emulated by the Opposition, including an ill-defined strategy headed by NT Senator Jacinta Price to reduce expenditure, in a likely successful campaign to become the next government.
Our timid acquiescent small target leadership is like the snowflake in hell when it comes to facing the barrage of mean-spirited, deceitful, politically opportunistic salvos emanating from the Dutton camp and the Murdoch press.
Trump appointed the planet’s richest man in charge of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. Sounds nice, just like motherhood and apple pies.
Under the guise of DOGE, Elon Musk is in the process of emasculating Trump’s perceived enemies. Musk is a supporter of Alternative für Deutschland, AfD, a far-right populist political party in Germany, and we all know where that got our parents and grandparents.
As well as appointing Senator Price as the shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Peter Dutton has recently added the shadow portfolio of “government efficiency” to her brief. One of the first pronouncements she made is that should they win government, they will stop funding “Welcome to Country” ceremonies.
“Senator calls for federal government action after Central Land Council chair’s criminal history revealed” reads the ABC News headline a few days ago.
I have little doubt that the CLC statement of almost two years ago had something to do with prompting the Senator’s latest attack on the CLC. As reported in the Alice Springs News the land council took issue with Senator Price’s high profile role in the Referendum’s NO campaign. CLC chair Warren Williams was extensively quoted.
The CLC reacted to the Senator’s latest salvo with a media release of its own. The eloquent and effective response by Mr Williams (full text below) did not however make it into the ABC headline although it is summarised in the report’s text. The damage had been done.
As a long term resident of Yuendumu, it saddens me that the politics of revenge has once again manifested here. Senator Price’s parents met here, and Warren Williams (at left, photo published by the ABC with its report) is from here.
The statement from CLC chair Warren Williams as released by the land council’s media section:
I have made mistakes in my life, but I have worked hard to turn things around and set things right.
I regret things I did in the past and have worked hard to make up for them. For the past decade, I’ve been on a better path, helping others and working to prevent domestic violence in our communities.
As Senator Price has revealed this week, everyone deserves a second chance. I’m using mine to make the world a better place for our families. I would like to be given the same opportunity that Senator Price has sought this week.
I draw on my life experience when I talk to men in behaviour change workshops. The workshops bring together senior community leaders and the police with a range of community support programs.
Men need to see that change is possible. I teach them that their mistakes don’t have to define them. If I can change, they can too. I talk to them about leaving old attitudes behind and creating a new life for themselves, one that’s filled with respect and love for others.
I tell my story honestly in these workshops because truth-telling is powerful. It helps set you free and can save lives by showing others a different path.
My teachings come from my lived experience. I have faced the consequences of my actions and am now looking at a better future, not only for me but for everyone around me.
Last December, at the Stop the Silence! End the Violence! rally in Alice Springs, I shared my story so the men there could benefit from hearing from my experience.
It’s important for men to see they can turn their lives around. I am in a good position now with my family. As chair of the Central Land Council, I am discussing the need for preventative education and programs with our members.
Last May our council backed a proposal for breaking the cycle of violence.
If we want to stop male violence, we have to speak the truth. If you don’t bring out the truth, nothing is going to change.
Men need to know that they can take a different path, and I’m living proof that change is possible. For 10 years, I’ve been on a better path, showing that it can be done. I am here to help others do the same.
It’s not easy, but it can be done. No one can do it for you. You have to take the initiative and choose to turn your life around.
For me, like for Senator Price, giving up alcohol helped make me the person I wanted to be.
My mistakes are now teaching others that they can choose a better life, too.
PHOTO from the Stop the Silence! End the Violence! rally in Alice Springs in December, showing Centralian Middle School students, members of the Clontarf Foundation. Image: Central Land Council.
Well done!
Despite its faults, and the limitations of the legislation it operates under, CLC can claim to be the most representative Aboriginal body in the Centre.
As Mr Williams said in the statement from CLC: “She needs to stop pretending we are her people” and “Her people are the non-Aboriginal conservatives and the Canberra elite to which she wants to belong”.
Unfortunately she has fooled the people in the big east coast cities into thinking she is the real deal.
Aided by a supine Media.
Price has never held an elected position in any Aboriginal organisation.
There is obviously a bunch of sour grapes in there as well.
Only the pigs who have had their snouts in the trough for years and years will protest at Jacinta Price’s actions.
The gravy train will dry up and the good people of the incoming Federal Liberal Party can get Australia in the black and on track.
Oh! The word FASCIST in the body of the above article is offensive and should be redacted.
There’s no doubt Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will be re-elected in the imminent Federal election, but current indications are that she will not be a minister of a new Coalition government.
This is simply because the Coalition has a considerable deficit of seats to win to overtake Labor and, more importantly, there is ample evidence of a public mood swing against the two-party dominance of the major political parties which also extends to the Greens.
Polling indicates there is likely to be a hung parliament, probably a minority Labor government relying on crossbench support from independents and minor parties.
This prospect appalls the major parties but it’s no bad thing, in my opinion; and I’m reminded of a favourite quote from former Federal Liberal minister Jim Killen when interviewed on Meet the Press following the resounding election victory of the Holt government in 1966, when he observed that “big majorities tended to create an approach to things which smaller majorities would caution”.
Excellent. The speed and extent of legislative changes by the CLP is impressive
Jacinta has a point but it’s not only the Indigenous bodies that are in a feeding frenzy.
I have waited for weeks to get an electrician. He wanted to charge me $325 just to come and have a look and give me a quote. His defence: “That’s what I get from the government out bush.”
I have heard of one case where an overhead tank was refilled at government expense three times in a week because the taps were left open and no one bothered to maintain the pump.
I watched a contractor repairing houses on a remote community with 30 odd houses. He had an unwritten contract to start again on house no one when he had finished the last while the local people sat around.
Sadly this seems to have become an expectation. Some might have seen a Ray Martin show a few years ago where he took a group of Sydneysiders to a community up north where the inhabitant wanted a new house built for her because her kitchen was filthy.
Some of us might also remember when a former PM 50 years ago went running to an Arab arms dealer, Khemlani, for a bail out because the $ bin was nearly empty, and the consequences of that. Add more fertiliser to the money tree? How did that happen and what was the effect on the rest of us?
It’s a two way street. How many vehicles does CLC run? They seem to be everywhere. It’s interesting to stay at the entrance to the hospital and see the number of semi government vehicles seemingly used as private taxis.
It’s this expectation on both the equation that needs to be tackled and I hope Jacinta can bring attention to both sides through a public inquiry but I think it might be like an inquiry into legal costs run by lawyers, and probably cost just as much.
@ Alex. You are right. Unless Jacinta Price is defeated for preselection for the CLP (like she defeated Senator Sam McMahon in 2021), she is a shoo-in to be re-elected.
In the NT for a major party to win both Senate seats they need 67% of the votes. Never happened, nor is it likely to.
@AJB You find my use of the word FASCIST offensive.
Fascism, is a word like democracy, feudalism, nazism, zionism, socialism etc.
These mean different things to different people.
Googling you’ll find there are many who warn against a worldwide rise in fascism. There are also many who welcome authoritarianism and disagree with those like myself who consider authoritarianism and fascism to be somewhat synonymous.
I too consider fascism offensive, all the more reason to call it out when perceived.
Australian politics seems to be trending towards being top down dominating decision makers.
We need legislation to require Parliament Candidates to have lived more than one year within electorates.
We need also legislation requiring every party group to have a minimum of 10 local electorate party members, with the local members only to chose their local candidates.
Well, what can you say, Jancita has admitted that she was using drugs and being in a DV relationship and Australia looks up that.
So what can you say about the local candidate of today, showing your real colours to the world?