Howard's Promise is yet more "Weasel Words".

Miss Eagle has given run the ruler over John Howard's statements on a "preamble" to the constitution, to acknowledge "the special status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first peoples of our nation". You can read her conclusions here.

For my part, I know for a fact that one claim in Mr Howard's statement is a self-serving lie.

Prior to the Howard Government being sworn in (but after it was obvious that he had won his first election (in other words, before he even took up office), I wrote to Mr John Howard, as Prime Minister designate. I suggested that he make a visit to the Northern Territory, to sit with some of the Aboriginal Elders, and that he make this his first tour out of Canberra. I recall saying "make this your first trip - before you run off to Washington or London".

What happened? Nothing!

After about 3 months, I rang Howard's office to ask why I had had not even an acknowledgement to my letter? (I had worked much of my career as a Ministerial Correspondence Clerk, so I knew that my letter ought have been handled better than that - even if the Prime Minister (or his staff) disagreed with the point of my letter. I was entitled to have my letter responded to.

I got a letter back, about 2 weeks later, from Mr Graeme Morris, who was then Chief of Staff to John Howard. He had the impertinence to rebuke me for the tone of my letter. Unfortunately I no longer have his reply (that's what happens when you move house several times). As an exercise in democracy, this process was an insult. It was an appalling way for Howard (and his Office) to treat me, as a voter.
But anyway, we all know that it took Howard many years before he visited any Aboriginal community. (Miss Eagle has documented this.) Meanwhile he had made numerous visits to Washington, and London, and other overseas destinations. So, we know he ignored the Aboriginal situation for a number of years.

I read in his statement the following: "I’m the first to admit that this whole area is one I have struggled with during the entire time that I have been Prime Minister."

So, when I read that sentence, and recall my letter and the reply I got back from his office (eventually) - then I say: Bullshit, John Howard, pure bullshit!

*****

The promise is meaningless anyway - he promises to put forward a proposal for a referendum to include some words in the Preamble to the Constitution. Big deal!

It will be meaningless, insignificant and anyway, and it might well be rejected by the people (as his previous pathetic "preamble" was rejected).

This is John Howard doing what he does best - spouting "Weasel Words". Wikipedia quotes the original use of "Weasel Words" as follows: "Why, weasel words are words that suck the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks the egg and leaves the shell." Thus, weasel words suck the meaning out of a statement while seeming to keep the idea intact, and are particularly associated with political pronouncements. Elsewhere Wikipedia points out that the problem with "Weasel Words" is that: "it is entirely easy to write an irrelevant, misinformative, slanted article composed of nothing but true statements".

My favourite of the various responses from the Aboriginal Community representatives is this:

"Central Land Council spokesman David Ross has described Mr Howard as a snake that has shed its skin. "He's got a brand new skin, but he's the same old snake, he's got the same old venom," he said."

Source: ABC News. 12 October 2007

Howard's Intervention in the NT - will wreck a community.

How the NT intervention will devastate one East Arnhem community (as published by crikey.com.au today).

• By John Greatorex, a member of the Intervention Reform Coalition of Darwin who previously worked as a teacher in Arnhemland for around 30 years.

"I would guess that there are few people who have even a moderate understanding of the breadth of the impact that the intervention is going to have on the East Arnhem population. There has been no consultation with Yolngu. People are aware that small teams of people are visiting Yolngu towns, in some cases with no notice. Reports from some Yolngu are that the teams have been unable to answer many of the questions being asked.I'd like to comment on only one aspect of the intervention, the transference of all CDEP (Community Development Employment Program) wages to Centrelink payments.

"At the time of writing, all peoples living in Indigenous areas prescribed by the Minister will have their CDEP payments converted to Centrelink payments. Without exception all people receiving Centrelink payments (including such benefits as service pensions) will have 50 per cent of their money quarantined. This is a racist policy that unnecessarily targets the most vulnerable and marginalised peoples in Australia, and again treats them as wards of the state. This quarantined money can only be spent at designated shops.

"This will have severe ramifications for people such as the residents of Mapuru, the place where the Arnhem Weavers live. Mapuru is a small town on the mainland adjacent to Elcho Island in north-east Arnhemland. It has a population of about 150, and with about 40 children attending school every day. The residents of Mapuru have struggled to stay on their country for over 35 years because they are determined to forge a future for their children, but it now seems with the "Intervention" these struggles might have been in vain.For nearly six years the people of Mapuru have been successfully running their own community co-op. The co-op runs on a non-profit basis and benefits all community members. In the co-op people can only buy healthy foods, fishing lines, tyres and other necessities needed to stay at Mapuru. Two years ago the Mapuru co-op won a National Heart Foundation award for their initiative. In the co-op you cannot buy soft drinks, chips, lollies or many of the other foods that are bad for health.

"The co-op is not a registered organisation but is run on a trust basis by the residents. With the changes from CDEP to Centrelink payments and the compulsory quarantining of 50 per cent of people's income, people will not be able to shop at their local co-op.

"They will be forced to shop at Galiwin'ku which is a charter flight away or drive many hours to Gapuwiyak. People will not have enough money to pay for charters and food. If a solution cannot be found then implementation of this policy will force people to leave their country at Mapuru, and move them into the town of Galiwin'ku where they are unwelcome, unsafe and unrepresented. This will have a severe and detrimental effect on the health of the Mapuru residents and their children.

"These forced changes will also result in the closure of the ecotourism business that the residents have been successfully running for five years. The ecotourism business Mapuru residents operate like the co-op has been initiated and funded entirely by Mapuru residents without any external assistance"
End of quoted article from Crikey.

*****

So there you have it - a small community co-op - the heart of that community, does not meet the rules devised by bureaucrats in Canberra (a world away) . So, their Centrelink cheques cannot be spent in their own shop.

This is the kind of thing people have been saying for ages about the NT Intervention. But don't try to explain this to Mal Brough, or John Howard. It's too hard for them to understand.

Bob Collins's passing - and the politics of hatred.

The death of former NT Senator Bob Collins has unleashed the "Politics of Hatred".

The News.com.au webshite - the "Newspulse", the email "flier" they send out - has a foul headline "Bob Collins killed himself- Report". The article to which it links is slightly more considered - but the NEWS LIMITED website editor had no such qualms - he states Collins's death as suicide, as fact. That is outrageous.

*****

News.com.au states:

"FORMER Northern Territory Senator Bob Collins may have committed suicide, according to a report to be published today. The report, by Darwin-based writer Paul Toohey in The Bulletin, says the Northern Territory coroner is to investigate whether the Labor icon took a drug overdose three days before his trial for child sex offences.
The article also says Mr Collins:

• TRIED to kill himself by driving his Toyota LandCruiser into a tree at high speed in Kakadu after the child abuse charges were first laid in 2004; and also
• TOOK an overdose of pills in hospital in Adelaide while recovering from bowel cancer.

Toohey told the Northern Territory News last night: "Collins didn't die of cancer - I know that for a fact."

*****

The Howard Government might now be thinking that they ought allow Parliament to return for another session, which would allow the Howard "Government of Shame" team of headkickers, and haters free reign vent their collective spleen in the safety of "Coward's Castle" under Parliamentary Privilege.

A proposed State Funeral offered to Bob Collins's family is likely to be withdrawn, or rather the family is being asked to reconsider their acceptance of a Government offer (in accordance with the Protocol Office standing rules). How gutless is that little dodge - putting pressure on the family, rather than the Government actually making a decision of its own.

So a major Politician, a former leader of the Opposition in the NT, and a former Senator for the NT, is to be buried under a slur of sexual abuse, which can never be tested in the courts.

Let me just say that from people who know some of the characters involved in this story, there are two sides to this whole business.

Let us not pretend that the Politics of the NT is above the Politic of Hatred. It is not. Lots of "respected people" in the NT resent the good things which Bob Collins did for the people of the Northern Territory. Those same people are prepared to listen to "tittle-tattle" from individuals with whom these "respected people" would not normally share the same room.

But if there is some "scuttlebutt" to be aired about Bob Collins, anything and everything is suddenly credible enough to be printed.

This is the Politics of Hatred - nothing more. It reveals the depths to which politicians and journalists will stoop.