People Of Melbourne Not Sorry To Turn Their Back On Brendan Nelson
Defamer Australia was fortunate to attend the massed gathering at Melbourne’s Federation Square this morning, where around 8000 people watched Prime Minister Kevin Rudd deliver a moving, intelligent, compassionate and, yes, long overdue apology to the members of the Stolen Generation and for the damage and hurt that it caused Australia’s Indigenous people.
Unfortunately for just about everyone there, we also watched opposition leader Brendan Nelson deliver his “apology”, which was about as sincere as Jonah saying “Sorry, ranga!” and went a little something like this (and we’re paraphrasing, so no quoting us in your school projects): “My mum said I had to apologise to you, but you lot should take a long, hard look at yourselves and get your hand off the bottle and the petrol can, after all, our grandfathers died in the war for you, or something, and no one wants to be born in a remote Indigenous community, anyway, so we did the right thing – it’s not our fault you’re having a cry about it now.”
As one increasingly incensed young professional type next to us shouted, “You’re demeaning the whole f–king country with your words.”
And while we were moved to tears by Kevin’s speech and by the faces of the members of the Stolen Generation who attended Parliament as distinguished guests, we were equally moved – in a slightly different way – when Melbourne decided en masse to tell Brendan what we thought of his speech. This was the view from where we were standing:
Yes, Melbourne turned their backs on Nelson (not before one memorable skater dude in front of us stood for a good two minutes with double flipped birds aimed at the screen), a fact that was duly noted by the ABC’s Tony Jones the moment he returned to the telecast following the adjournment.
The Age has footage of the moment here, and we were proud of both parts of Melbourne’s reaction to this wonderful day – proud to be a part of saying “sorry”, and proud to tell Brendan Nelson he is, in fact, a dickhead.
- Next Post: Awww, Looks Like Tim Campbell And Anthony Callea ARE Totally In Love After All! »
- « Previous Post: New Video Clip From Sime Nugent – “Be There Soon”
Comments
So many parts of Nelson’s speech caused me to cringe with shame – and it is dreadful that we will focus on him and not instead, on the great moment in our nation’s history.
I’m so glad I voted for Rudd.
Why is everyone feeling so fucking sorry for the Aborignals? You would’ve thought we had committed a genocide or something!
The Germans never apologised for killing millions of Jews, I see no need to apologise to the 10% of Aboriginal children whom were displaced. (They were sheltered, clothed, fed and educated. I don’t see what the huge problem is?)
Gosh Bella…
I’m not even sure where to start with your post! Maybe I’ll wait till my jaw comes back up from the floor!
I won’t be all negative though. To give credit where credit is due, your post does, for all intents and purposes, appear to be reasonably grammatically accurate. (…and there are so few grammatically correct postings on internet forums, mine included!)
What a shame you had to go and ruin it with such idiotic content.
Hold on a sec…
Having given it further consideration…I have just considered that you may indeed be trolling (which believe me is a very charitable interpretation of your post).
I have a habit of wandering into trolls lairs…they are so warm and cozy.
Please be a troll and not for real!
Dramatic gestures and herd mentality always leave a very bad taste in my mouth, and neither the ‘apology’ or the public response to Nelson’s speech are any exception. It all smacks of self congratulation. The apology IS overdue, and that’s what renders it so ridiculous. Kevin Rudd can’t appologise on behalf of former governments. The very idea is asinine and trivialises the genuine responsibility of those involved.
Besides, while Nelson may have been insensitive (and his timing is terrible), he was also right about a lot of things. Real change takes time, organisation and motivation, and respect for the fact that these issues are complicated and sophisticated and can’t be brushed aside by warm feelings. Will the people who turned their backs on Brendan Nelson when he dared to say these things be prepared to put in the hard yards? Will the ‘memorable skater dude’? …I’d like to think so, but I just don’t.
Bella, Aboriginal people managed to shelter, clothe, feed and educate their children quite successfully for a good 50,000 years.
*Shakes head and murmurs ‘Why are people so unkind’ in best Kamahl voice*
Adrian,
That’s a position that opens up a very dangerous can of worms. Firstly, no they didn’t. Not by today’s standards. Aboriginal children today should have the same advantages and opportunities as everyone else in Australia. What you appear to be suggesting is that Aboriginal societies should be left to their own devices, the education, health and nutritional needs of their children left up to them. …This has a nice post colonial, relativistic ring to it, but it masks elitism and racism. To suggest that Aboriginal children should not benefit from the progress achieved by humanity in the last, as you put it, 50 000 years, is as absurd as it is unconscionable.
All of which is beside the point, as you are ignoring the numerous problems that have cropped up in Aboriginal culture in the recent past. Alcoholism, crime, child abuse… We have to deal with right now. Not fantasise about some mythological noble savage who can take care of his own needs without the terrible burden of human progress on his back. …He doesn’t exist anymore.
“All of which is beside the point, as you are ignoring the numerous problems that have cropped up in Aboriginal culture in the recent past. Alcoholism, crime, child abuse..”
As A DIRECT result of the genocidal policies taken by white governments in Australia which are well documented and include deliberately infecting Indigenous communities with smallpox, dingo bait in flour given to them, or in WA just plain hunting down women and children from horseback.
They behave like this because of what was done to them – their communities smashed, their culture & languages forbidden, their women raped, their men killed and their babies taken away.
I am utterly sick to death of hearing ignorant racist people behaving as though the Indigenous cultures in this country are so horribly dysfunctional because “the boongs are just nasty”, rather than actually doing some study and looking at what really happened.
Start with “Seven Australian Battlefields”, and then you’ll be educated enough to post. Until then, keep your damn fool mouths shut.
PS: Genocide is “The deliberate and systematic destruction of an entire people who belong to one racial, political, cultural or religious group.” It doesn’t matter how many were killed – even though (again, if you knew any history at all) we know for a fact that at least half a million people died that we know of.
just to lighten things up….
maybe everyone turned their back on Brendan Nelson because he’s so scary looking.
ZOMG BEN! Take a Xanax!
I was pulling-up Bella on her dim view that Indigenous peoples are somehow automatically less capable of clothing, feeding, sheltering and educating their children than other Australians are, when they, in fact, have the most enduring cultures on the planet.
To quote you (incorrectly paraphrasing me):”What you appear to be suggesting is that Aboriginal societies should be left to their own devices…”, look at your language – “own devices” – you talk about them as you would naughty children.
Yesterday was not a day to soap-box about what you think is wrong with Aboriginal policy, it was about acknowledging that their treatment in the past 200 years has been completely and utterly fucked. How you can maintain such steely cynicism amidst that makes me think you’re perhaps the one with an elitism/racism problem.
Re: “As A DIRECT result of the genocidal policies taken by white governments in Australia which are well documented…”
I never said anything to the contrary.
Re: “the boongs are just nasty”
I never said anything even remotely comparable to that.
Re: Adrian.
Sorry if I missunderstood your post. You’ve clearly misunderstood mine. I guess we’re even.
BEN
you rule
end of story
People such as nelson and his ill informed, insensitive & uneducated blind followers (the liberal party & others) should be removed/stolen from society. I’m sure they’d go kicking and screaming that their RIGHTS have been violated and that it is wrong to be taken/Stolen from THEIR country, their land, their world…. Think about it.
Uh yeah, they would.
What’s your point exactly?
I was finally able to view the full video of Nelson’s speech tonight. Up till now I had only been able to view excerpts.
I thought it to be a thoughtful, moving and entirely appropriate speech for him to have made on the occasion.
Some may disagree with the timing. They may think that it was not an occasion for bringing up the problems that exist within Aboriginal communities. And that’s fine. But Nelson appears to believe that the problems of the past and the future are interconnected, and that the time for addressing both is in fact the same time, and that that time is right now. I agree with him, and was encouraged and touched by his remarks.
I can’t help but feel that those who turned their backs on his speech were in fact perpetuating the ills of the past. Unaware of the ironic symbolism of what they were doing, they turned away from someone prepared to speak about the real problems plaguing our Aboriginal population. Such things shouldn’t be spoken of… merely ignored, right?
…What was that Nelson said about people with good intentions?
I know this won’t be appreciated by most of you but Wilson Tuckey said it best, in my opinion. (paraphrasing, but mostly correct) “Today we should be saying Hallelujah. Tomorrow there will be no petrol sniffing, little girls will be able to go to bed at night feeling safe.”
Although I agree that an apology was needed (the Aboriginal community was and still is treated disgustingly) and certaintly overdue I feel as though each individual makes decisions about things (like drinking to excess, or doing drugs) for themselves and I shouldn’t have to accept responsibility for anybody elses bad choices (no matter who they are or where they are from).
Furthermore, I was really angered by some of the responses by the Aboriginal Community to the apology- “now we’ll be able to recieve compensation for our pain” (again, paraphrased). I thought the apology was what the community wanted and the point of all this- not the compensation.
It will take time, it will take money but it will also take individuals actually being willing to be helped and ask for assistance when they need it as well.