• Contact
  • Privacy Policy
Blacksonrise.com
DONATE
  • Home
    • Caribbean
    • African American
    • African
    • Australian
    • Papua New Guinea
  • Videos
    • Blacksonrise Interviews
    • Blacksonrise News
  • Ecourses
  • Herbs
  • Consultation
  • Login
    • LogOut
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • Caribbean
    • African American
    • African
    • Australian
    • Papua New Guinea
  • Videos
    • Blacksonrise Interviews
    • Blacksonrise News
  • Ecourses
  • Herbs
  • Consultation
  • Login
    • LogOut
No Result
View All Result
Blacksonrise.com
No Result
View All Result

Hewson’s View: Aboriginal recognition should be a priority | Guardian News

blacksonrise by blacksonrise
January 30, 2020
in Aboriginal Australia News
0
Hewson’s View: Aboriginal recognition should be a priority | Guardian News
0
SHARES
4
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Today it seems the world is increasingly looking to governments for short-term, almost instantaneous, reactions and solutions to events and challenges as they break. Yet, so many of the major policy challenges have resulted from policy drift, sometimes over decades, and simply can’t be “fixed” quickly. In this environment it is particularly difficult for an issue, no matter how important to our national interest, to be sustained as a front-line challenge for government. The political process sees our leaders able to move on from one issue to the next, from one day to the next, location to location. However, sometimes an event, or a configuration of events, work to sustain the public/media interest in an issue, demanding a longer-term, sustainable response from government. Currently, the bushfire catastrophe, coming on the heels of probably our worst drought, is a case in point. It has elevated the challenge of climate change to a first-order issue, indeed emerging as the most important issue in recent polls, ahead of the economy, education, health, and so on. However, a most important issue, that has drifted since 1788, and against which we have made only moderate progress, is the challenge to show proper respect and recognition to our Aboriginal heritage, and to sustain real progress in terms of reducing their relative disadvantage. By any objective assessment this should be a priority for any Australian government, but it keeps just getting kicked down the road. The poor media coverage of the protests on the recent Australia Day, although well attended with a majority of non-indigenous protesters, was definitive in terms of current attitudes on this issue. For example, as tragic as it was, a woman dying after choking in a lamington-eating contest on Australia Day was afforded more significant coverage, on a significant media platform, than the protests! While certainly not wanting to downplay the significance and tragedy of the Port Arthur massacre, there is an important comparison to be made – 35 were slaughtered at Port Arthur, while an emerging study by the University of Newcastle has so far documented over 300 massacres (defined as the killing of six or more people) of our Indigenous forebears, revealing a “state sanctioned and organised attempt to eradicate Aboriginal people”. I have been personally struck by the incongruity in Morrison’s boast about “stopping the boats” in his time as immigration minister, while being willing to celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet – the consequences of which have been devastating for our First Australians. Morrison’s juxtaposition is particularly hollow, but instructive. It is also important to recognise the immediacy of the Howard response to the Port Arthur atrocity, namely the “gun buy-back”, compared with what is now over a couple of centuries of neglect of the Aboriginal massacres, and the persistence of Aboriginal disadvantage – the contrast is stark! It is an imperative for our nation, our maturity, and our global standing, to face the reality of our appalling treatment of the First Australians – the invasion, the massacres, the slavery – and move on to show them basic respect, by acknowledging and addressing the legacies of such treatment, and affording them an appropriate “voice” in our government processes, and recognition in the Constitution. Unfortunately, there is still enormous ignorance about the ill treatment of our Aborigines. For example, if the massacres were to hit the media front pages as new news today, as was the case with Port Arthur, the protests would have received much more coverage, and the government would be under concentrated pressure to respond. I had hoped that the Uluru Statement that was the outcome of very broad-based consultation and discussion by Aboriginal communities right across our country, would be the trigger for real action by government. It is a national disgrace that it was so easily and cursorily dismissed by both the Turnbull and Morrison governments, and by the then oppositions. In large measure, we have to go right back to basics, especially to our education system, and to a more substantive curriculum on our Indigenous heritage. Ignorance should be no excuse for inaction. John Hewson is a professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, and a former Liberal opposition leader.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/jvRqbJ7xAN2nzdLa48pxun/301917de-b7b3-4150-968c-89f563c41625.jpg/r0_51_1000_616_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

Today it seems the world is increasingly looking to governments for short-term, almost instantaneous, reactions and solutions to events and challenges as they break. Yet, so many of the major policy challenges have resulted from policy drift, sometimes over decades, and simply can’t be “fixed” quickly.

In this environment it is particularly difficult for an issue, no matter how important to our national interest, to be sustained as a front-line challenge for government. The political process sees our leaders able to move on from one issue to the next, from one day to the next, location to location.

However, sometimes an event, or a configuration of events, work to sustain the public/media interest in an issue, demanding a longer-term, sustainable response from government. Currently, the bushfire catastrophe, coming on the heels of probably our worst drought, is a case in point. It has elevated the challenge of climate change to a first-order issue, indeed emerging as the most important issue in recent polls, ahead of the economy, education, health, and so on.

However, a most important issue, that has drifted since 1788, and against which we have made only moderate progress, is the challenge to show proper respect and recognition to our Aboriginal heritage, and to sustain real progress in terms of reducing their relative disadvantage.

By any objective assessment this should be a priority for any Australian government, but it keeps just getting kicked down the road. The poor media coverage of the protests on the recent Australia Day, although well attended with a majority of non-indigenous protesters, was definitive in terms of current attitudes on this issue.

For example, as tragic as it was, a woman dying after choking in a lamington-eating contest on Australia Day was afforded more significant coverage, on a significant media platform, than the protests!

While certainly not wanting to downplay the significance and tragedy of the Port Arthur massacre, there is an important comparison to be made – 35 were slaughtered at Port Arthur, while an emerging study by the University of Newcastle has so far documented over 300 massacres (defined as the killing of six or more people) of our Indigenous forebears, revealing a “state sanctioned and organised attempt to eradicate Aboriginal people”.

I have been personally struck by the incongruity in Morrison’s boast about “stopping the boats” in his time as immigration minister, while being willing to celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet – the consequences of which have been devastating for our First Australians. Morrison’s juxtaposition is particularly hollow, but instructive.

It is also important to recognise the immediacy of the Howard response to the Port Arthur atrocity, namely the “gun buy-back”, compared with what is now over a couple of centuries of neglect of the Aboriginal massacres, and the persistence of Aboriginal disadvantage – the contrast is stark!

It is an imperative for our nation, our maturity, and our global standing, to face the reality of our appalling treatment of the First Australians.

It is an imperative for our nation, our maturity, and our global standing, to face the reality of our appalling treatment of the First Australians – the invasion, the massacres, the slavery – and move on to show them basic respect, by acknowledging and addressing the legacies of such treatment, and affording them an appropriate “voice” in our government processes, and recognition in the Constitution.

Unfortunately, there is still enormous ignorance about the ill treatment of our Aborigines. For example, if the massacres were to hit the media front pages as new news today, as was the case with Port Arthur, the protests would have received much more coverage, and the government would be under concentrated pressure to respond.

I had hoped that the Uluru Statement that was the outcome of very broad-based consultation and discussion by Aboriginal communities right across our country, would be the trigger for real action by government. It is a national disgrace that it was so easily and cursorily dismissed by both the Turnbull and Morrison governments, and by the then oppositions.

In large measure, we have to go right back to basics, especially to our education system, and to a more substantive curriculum on our Indigenous heritage.

Ignorance should be no excuse for inaction.

John Hewson is a professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, and a former Liberal opposition leader.


Credit: Source link

Previous Post

RBA needs to overhaul payments system

Next Post

Study to boost indigenous youth health

Next Post
Study to boost indigenous youth health

Study to boost indigenous youth health

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT

HOT Updates

Aboriginal Australia Business

Swap Your Shop, Here’s How You Can Back Small Business In 2021

January 10, 2021
Africa: Innovating for Mothers Challenge launched to improve maternal and newborn health care in Senegal
African News

Africa: With Schools Closed, a Glimmer of Hope in a Coding Boot-Camp

January 9, 2021
Cori Bush Responds to Terror Attack on Capitol Hill: ‘Must Face Consequences’
African American Business

Cori Bush Responds to Terror Attack on Capitol Hill: ‘Must Face Consequences’

January 10, 2021
Freestyle Digital Media Acquires TheGrio Docu ‘Afro-Latinx Revolution’ – Deadline
Afro Latino News

Freestyle Digital Media Acquires TheGrio Docu ‘Afro-Latinx Revolution’ – Deadline

January 12, 2021
People moves: Kina Bank, Mayur Resources, Newcrest Mining and Pacific Trade Invest
Papua New Guinea Business

People moves: Kina Securities, Bank South Pacific, Oil Search, Newcrest

January 12, 2021
Hilton Hotel in Durban closes its doors temporarily – SABC News
Africa Business

Hilton Hotel in Durban closes its doors temporarily – SABC News

January 11, 2021
Republicans Block $2,000 Stimulus Checks Coronavirus Aid At Risk
African American Business

Trump Approves D.C. Emerrgency Declaration For Biden Inauguration

January 12, 2021
No veto power for Voice: interim report | The Flinders News
Aboriginal Australia News

No veto power for Voice: interim report | The Flinders News

January 9, 2021
Call on government to make it easier for the building of more crematoriums – SABC News
Africa Business

Call on government to make it easier for the building of more crematoriums – SABC News

January 9, 2021
Aboriginal Australia News

Kangaroo Island: a place of empty beaches and hidden history | Travel

January 9, 2021
Numsa threatens legal action after VWSA dismissed 14 shop stewards in Uitenhage – SABC News
Africa Business

Numsa threatens legal action after VWSA dismissed 14 shop stewards in Uitenhage – SABC News

January 14, 2021
Report shows State’s conflict of interest | Farm Weekly
Aboriginal Australia Business

Report shows State’s conflict of interest | Farm Weekly

January 12, 2021
Brazilian woman held as a slave for 38 years | World| Breaking news and perspectives from around the globe | DW
Afro Latino News

Brazilian woman held as a slave for 38 years | World| Breaking news and perspectives from around the globe | DW

January 9, 2021
Exhibitions leading the Visual Arts sector in 2021
Aboriginal Australia News

Exhibitions leading the Visual Arts sector in 2021

January 15, 2021
11 Tips for Creating Work/Life Balance in the Virtual Workplace
African American Business

140,000 Jobs Were Lost In December, All Of Which Belonged To Women

January 11, 2021
NBCUniversal Partners With HBCUs To Launch NBCU Academy
African American Business

NBCUniversal Partners With HBCUs To Launch NBCU Academy

January 14, 2021
IMF board, citing increased credit exposure risks, raises reserve target – SABC News
Africa Business

IMF board, citing increased credit exposure risks, raises reserve target – SABC News

January 10, 2021
Changing the anthem won’t cut it
Aboriginal Australia News

Changing the anthem won’t cut it

January 9, 2021
Kids at risk getting own counsel
Aboriginal Australia News

Kids at risk getting own counsel

January 13, 2021
CWU serves SABC with notice to strike – SABC News
Africa Business

CWU serves SABC with notice to strike – SABC News

January 15, 2021

BlackSonRise.com is an online news portal which aims to provide Caribbean News, African News, Business and much more stuff like that. Feel free to get in touch with us!

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • US executes drug trafficker despite Covid-19 – News
  • Social Media App “MelaninPeople” Designed to Connect Black People
  • ‘I was elected Speaker with 138 votes’ – Bagbin

Subscribe NOW

Loading
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 Blacksonrise.com is an online news, e-learning, and business website that caters to the global black community.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • Caribbean
    • African American
    • African
    • Australian
    • Papua New Guinea
  • Videos
    • Blacksonrise Interviews
    • Blacksonrise News
  • Ecourses
  • Herbs
  • Consultation
  • Login
    • LogOut

© 2019 Blacksonrise.com is an online news, e-learning, and business website that caters to the global black community.

USD $
  • USD USD $
  • EUR EUR €
  • GBP GBP £