Unity Party WA: January 2011

LATE last year Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Attorney-General Robert McClelland and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin banded together to announce a referendum proposal concerning Aborigines and the Australian constitution. It was the most bland and passionless occasion.

It ought to have been a significant one because it involved the future of relationships between the originals and the usurpers. Does political power rob the power-bearers of blood in their veins?

Newspaper commentary on this pointed to the long-term importance of the issues for this country, for the proper independence and maturity of the citizens and for the potential for a distinctive civilisation.

Australia Day, that artificial and trumped-up celebration, the excuse for manufactured emotion, should force us to look closely at our history and the truths of that history vis-a-vis the Aboriginal population and the brutal facts of that history.

Mostly, Australia Day is designed to suffocate truth and fact. We are not asked to think about those first steps by the governor and the imprint they left on the landscape and the inhabitants. That first step was the beginning of a history we have refused to acknowledge, to understand and to negotiate, all to our historical detriment. Succeeding hordes of imprinters do not know and do not want to know. The triumphalism of Australia Day is tainted by the tragedy of ignorance and imposed ignominy.

It has been apparent with respect to asylum seekers that courage in our political leaders is smothered by populist attitudes that bear no relation to the alleged Christian values that are supposed to prevail in this nation; it is no better with our attitudes to the Aborigines. We take what we want from them - sport, film, drama and art - but we do not expose ourselves to their value systems for we are too smug in our own and too hypocritical about theirs.

We will enliven our civilisation when we learn to appreciate the original owners and their diverse cultural achievements. It is not good enough to adopt the "Howard Defence" - I didn't have anything to do with the past and, therefore, there is no need for me to come to terms with it. He couldn't accept guilt but, worse still, he couldn't express shame.

Howard was too much of a coward to embrace what was good and right for the country. He extinguished hope.

The resilience of the Aboriginal people has been a palpable marvel. We ought to respond to that by putting aside all ignorance and prejudice and inviting them to our collective table as equals.

I have been working alongside some Aboriginal tertiary students for the past few years.

It has been a wonderful listening experience. I have come to realise that we have so much we can learn and take into our own lives. They value their culture but want to be part of the broader community. We should all embrace the history and the culture and incorporate it into the fabric of our institutions and our lives. We got part of the way there in 1967. We should go all the way this time and push the political ninnies by our own persuasion.

If Australia Day is to have any legitimacy, it will only be so because Australians understand what that first footprint did to an ancient civilisation. Currently, Australia Day attempts to legitimise conquest. It is not a day of celebration for a revolution (France) or independence (US).

Of course, there have been great achievements in this country, great contributions to the world stage and significant developments politically. It has become a desirable place to live - obviously, the asylum seekers think so.

There are gaps; some, sadly widening, such as that between rich and poor. There is extensive poverty and homelessness. Many lead desperate lives because they are not secure. Rights and freedom are enjoyed.

Who remain the most deprived in the community? The Aborigines. That is something of which we ought to be ashamed. While a referendum won't address the deprivation, it should allow the Aborigines to feel attached to what was once their territory. They remain aliens in their own land. We have made them thus and it is time to dress the deep wounds, and to repair the dysfunction we have erected. It would do us so much good and make us so much wiser and so much more mature.

We are not talking about the "black armband" views of history. We are, or should be, talking about the ''whitewash'' views of history. It is time to attend to our national colour-blindness. It is truly time for supremacy to give way to the equanimity of equality, to the sustenance of sharing.

There are two issues that will manifest our maturity: first, proper constitutional recognition of the first people; second, independence from the regal pantomime in England.

Peter Gebhardt is a Melbourne poet and former County Court judge.

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Australia to face UN examination

January 26, 2011

FOREIGN governments will interrogate Australia on its human rights record at a United Nations meeting tomorrow.

Australian officials will appear before the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva for what is known as a universal periodic review.

All of the UN's 192 member countries are required to undergo a review - which aims to examine every aspect of a country's human rights record - every four years.

The delegation, led by parliamentary secretary Kate Lundy, will be forced to respond to tough questions on Australia's record. The council will pose questions about Australia's treatment of Aborigines, asylum seekers and same-sex couples, UN documents show.

The federal government submitted its own assessment to the council last year, highlighting efforts to close the life-expectancy gap between indigenous and other Australians.

But a coalition of more than 70 human rights organisations delivered a critical assessment of Australia's record when they briefed foreign diplomats in Geneva earlier this week.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

PM applauds Chinese Community

Ms. Julia Gillard,
Prime Minister of Australia
info@pm.gov.au

Dear Prime Minister,

We refer to the reports below for your information.

We welcome your remark - ''We warmly celebrate the Chinese community's
growth.'' but regret that your government saw fit to increase the
English Language Test from 4.5 to 5.0 last year. The creation of the
White Australia Policy/English Language Test in 1901 was to keep the
Chinese out and the final abolishment of the White Australia Policy in
1975 was in name only because the English Language Test remains.

Perhaps the Fraser government accepted 70,000 Vietnamese refugees
because it was wrong for Australia to invade another sovereign country?

Your comment, please.

Yours respectfully,

Eddie Hwang
President
Unity Party WA
unitypartywa@westnet.com.au
www.unitywa.org
http://unitypartywa.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/unitypartywa (Uploaded)
Ph/Fax: 61893681884
Date: 23-Jan-2011.
Environmental friendly-save the trees-use email.
Can you afford to give Telstra a try?

PM applauds Chinese community
January 23, 2011

PRIME MINISTER Julia Gillard last night paid tribute to the Chinese
community while reflecting on her own migrant past and ''search for a
better life'' in Australia.

''I acknowledge that across our history the larrikin embrace of this
nation was not always extended to the Chinese community.

"But you never lost faith in the nation,'' Ms Gillard said at a dinner
celebrating Chinese New Year and Australia Day.

''We warmly celebrate the Chinese community's growth.''

Journey to end of White Australia policy

Drew Warne-Smith - The Australian - January 22, 2011 12:00AM

PHONG Nguyen knew nothing of Australia's White Australia policy when he
flew into Adelaide a few days before Christmas in 1979.

Nor did he perceive any traces of it in the warm welcome offered to him
by a largely monocultural society. "So big, tall and hairy," he recalls.
"And very white."

But as the years passed and he learned Australian history, Mr Nguyen
came to understand that he was one of the people who helped to bury it.
While migration laws were first overhauled by the Whitlam Labor
government in 1973, it was Malcolm Fraser's Liberal government that
finally removed all reference to the selection of migrants based on
country of origin from government policy in 1978.

Then, in July 1979, the prime minister agreed to take 14,000 Vietnamese
refugees, a move that ushered in a new era in multiculturalism and
marked the end-point for the White Australia policy.

At the time of the decree, Mr Nguyen, his three siblings and their
mother were in an Indonesian refugee camp awaiting resettlement.
His father, a brigadier in the South Vietnamese army, had been jailed by
the communist regime in 1975, and the family had fled the country by
boat under false Chinese identities. (The ethnic Chinese were being
encouraged to leave Vietnam during the brief border war with China in 1979.)
The Nguyens would ultimately be among 70,000 Vietnamese refugees to find
a new home in Australia during Mr Fraser's tenure. "I never felt
uncomfortable," Mr Nguyen, 49, told The Weekend Australian this week.
"It was a white Anglo-Saxon society, unrecognisable from today, but
apart from the physical differences and the strange ways of society --
They way you drive and eat! -- we just felt a sense of relief that we
finally made it.

"We were grateful we were safe."

Now a senior project officer at a Melbourne healthcare centre, with a
wife and two teenage children of his own, Mr Nguyen's is just one of the
many stories that have been unearthed in the SBS documentary Immigration
Nation, which concludes on Sunday night.

The episode traces the origins of the White Australia policy, the public
disquiet over it and its gradual dismantling, as well as the very first
boatpeople to wash up on the shores of Darwin Harbour in 1976.
"If Malcolm Fraser had decided that he wouldn't take Indo-Chinese
refugees until he'd consulted opinion polls or focus groups, Australia
would never have taken Indo-Chinese refugees," John Menadue, then the
secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister, recalls in the program.
"But Malcolm Fraser didn't take polls. He decided leadership was
essential, it was something that Australia had to do, morally justified,
and it will be to the benefit of this country if we did so."

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Rio scolds Canberra over Indigenous jobs

Ms. Julia Gillard
Prime Minister of Australia
info@pm.gov.au

Dear Prime Minister,

We refer to the report below for your information.

Rio Tinto is to be congratulated for raising its concern about the way the original owners of this land have been treated by the racist Howard and your governments. It is easy to just say "Sorry" but no action taken.

How low can a rich nation be?

When are you going to do something about it?

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours respectfully,

Eddie Hwang
President
Unity Party WA
unitypartywa@westnet.com.au
www.unitywa.org
http://twitter.com/unitypartywa
http://unitypartywa.blogspot.com/ (Uploaded)
Ph/Fax: 61893681884
16-Jan-2011.

Rio scolds Canberra over indigenous jobs

Patricia Karvelas - The Australian - January 14, 2011 6:33AM

MINING giant Rio Tinto has urged the Gillard government to overhaul its Aboriginal policies.
It wants to create more economic opportunities for indigenous Australians.
In a submission responding to the government's proposed economic development strategy, Rio Tinto warned governments were dropping the ball, while mining companies were picking up the key role of education and training, and that reliance on mining was "not sustainable".
"Governments at all levels need to play a more significant role, in partnership with industry and the local community, in supporting indigenous communities," it said.
The submission warned that while mining companies had been increasing employment opportunities for indigenous people, these initiatives could not translate into social and economic prosperity for indigenous Australians "until a more co-ordinated, systemic approach is developed that will address the basic needs of indigenous people living in remote indigenous communities".
"Whilst Rio Tinto is committed to working in partnership with other organisations and agencies, the reality is that the company has been bearing the load on behalf of many government departments that are underfunded and do not have the resources to provide the required levels of service," it said.
The mining giant made several substantial recommendations, all requiring a big boost in government investment. Rio wanted more investment in areas such as work readiness training, driver training and licensing.
On education policies, Rio called for the biggest overhaul in government policy, arguing too often education was not aligned to industry requirements and students were not well prepared for work once they left school.
They wanted school terms that were better aligned with the seasons and the life cycle of the indigenous communities; hostels and safe houses for children; and culturally appropriate teaching materials and curriculum.
Rio called for more incentives for teachers to remain in remote teaching positions for longer periods. They also suggested regional centre hostel accommodation for indigenous students be established.
Rio Tinto complained that the TAFE system and the training it offered was not aligned to local employment and industry needs.
Because few arrangements were made to bring trainers to mining regions, trainees had to travel long distances away from their families to meet off-the-job learning commitments.
"Standard funding formulae mean that the provision of many training courses in the areas in which Rio Tinto mines are located is deemed to be uneconomic," the submission said.
"User-choice funding is state-territory based and is not transferable across state boundaries, which means that indigenous employees in the Kimberley cannot undertake their training in the Northern Territory, even though this is the closest training facility for them."

Unity Party WA

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

It's time Aborigines get due recognition

Saturday, January 22, 2011

PM applauds Chinese Community

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Rio scolds Canberra over Indigenous jobs

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