Mother Tongue

Halo vrienden,

When we lived in the Netherlands, my sister was a 7 year old child. Years later I learned that she was very unhappy about having again been uprooted when we moved to Australia.

Sixty years later her son paid a visit to the Netherlands and found his way to the little house in Loosdrecht where his mother had spent some happy childhood time. On taking a photo, a very large threatening resident emerged, demanding (in Dutch) to know why he was taking photos. The big Dutchman found the (English) explanation (“a long time ago some of my family lived here”) unacceptable and demanded that Paul hand over his mobile phone. Paul decided to make a quick retreat and walked away (with his phone) being glared at all the way to the corner of the street.

My sister wrote the Dutchman a letter:

“ Vorige week kreeg ik een leuke verrassing, toen ik een foto kreeg van het huis waar ik vroeger wat onvergetelijke fijne jaren heb doorgebracht.

Wat akelig dat U zo onaardig was tegenover mijn keurige lieve zoon, na dat hij had uitgelegd waarom hij die foto nam. Zonde dat zogenaamde beschaafde inwoners van Loosdrecht niet altijd even vriendelijk meer zijn.

Nou ja, U heeft dus niet een mooie indruk gemaakt.

Beleefdheid kost niets”

Always in translation, some of the nuances of the original is lost- I’ll do my best-

“Last week, I had a lovely surprise when I was given a photo of the house I had in the past spent some unforgettable enjoyable years in.

How dreadful that you were so unfriendly to my decent dear son, after he gave an explanation of why he was taking that photo. A pity that so called civilized Loosdrecht denizens, are no longer always all too friendly.

Oh well, thus you haven’t created a good impression.

Politeness doesn’t cost a thing.”

Why am I telling you this? Well, it again illustrates why it is so important to retain one’s mother tongue. That letter is in essence a part of my sister.

Last week when my nephew was tromping through Europe, some contractors came to Yuendumu to re-seal the driveway and parking lot of our clinic. The clinic is opposite my office in Park Street (named after a no longer existing park). I’m not aware if locals were consulted about the need for this work, but I do know that the fine sealing aggregate they used is most unpleasant to walk on in bare feet, something that a significant portion of Yuendumu residents still do (by choice, not because they cannot afford footwear).

A subcontractor (Darwin based Arafura Traffic Control) turned up with a few of those “men at work” signs…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECVGN4Bsgg Men at Work- Who can it be now?

, and wait for it….. a high vis clad lollipop lady. She was there a full day holding up a red-yellow Stop/Slow sign. Locals were overjoyed. The contractors that have been installing road-side kerbs (another essential Yuendumu improvement) didn’t bother with lolly-pop people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiuPND4W6KM Millie- My Boy Lollipop

And of greater relevance…. They paved Paradise, put up a parking lot….

Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell in concert 1970
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgMEPk6fvpg

The bilingual programme (Warlpiri/English) at Yuendumu school, started in 1974. Success has waxed and waned ever since. A low point came nearly a decade ago in October 2008 when bilingual education was virtually killed in the Northern Territory by the so called “4 hours English only policy”

Low NAPLAN results were sheeted home to bilingual education. The premise that school children in suburban Melbourne would fail miserably should they be tested in other than their mother tongue (e.g. in Warlpiri) received scant consideration.

One of Kim Beazley Senior (The Whitlam Government’s Minister of Education)’s first initiatives was to arrange for Aboriginal children to be taught in schools in their own language, with English as a second language.  He is quoted to have said that to deny people an education in their own language (i.e. mother tongues) – with the caveat “where that is possible” was tantamount to treat them as a conquered people and to deny them respect.

At around the same time as my sister and I embarked on learning a language other than our mother tongue, namely English, Professor Strelow penned these words (I never tire to repeat):

“Above all, let us permit native children to keep their own languages, -those beautiful and expressive tongues, rich in true Australian imagery, charged with poetry and with love for all that is great, ancient and eternal in the continent. There is no need to fear that their own languages will interfere with the learning of English as the common medium of expression for all Australians. In most areas of Australia the natives have been bilingual, probably from time immemorial. Today white Australians are among the few remaining civilized people who still think that knowledge of one language is the normal limit of linguistic achievement.”
– T.G.H Strelow,1958

I say amén to that.

In Yuendumu we nurtured the flickering candle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZBNwMy578  Candle in the Wind…. Elton John

which was a memory of bilingual education preceding the ‘4 hours English only’ policy. Gradually the status of the Warlpiri language is being resurrected at Yuendumu School. Around the same time as we were being kept safe by the lollypop lady in Park Street, at the School Council AGM, the new Principal of Yuendumu School outlined his vision of a future bilingual /bicultural school. This is following several years of a very supportive Principal.

As I heard it said when you put a tank in reverse the flattened ground doesn’t immediately spring back to its former glory. But we are working on it… and we don’t need a lollypop person to do so.

D:ream Things can only get better….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl-ai9HuR60

Tot ziens

Frenk

This is the tipping point.

The Australian Cricketing team caught RED HANDED. CHEATING!

The wearers of the hallowed “Baggy Green”.

The sacred sons of ANZAC,

The eternal custodians of the “Australian Way”!!

“Is that a ball in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me”?

As Warnie said, “How could this be”?

Just cos the Bankers cheat and rort the system. The pollies cheat and rort the system. The bureaucrats cheat and rort the system. Even the erstwhile head of the Health Services Union cheated the system and so did her partner the bloke that’s meant to look after the wages of ordinary people. And the big end of the town who are in the process of gouging another tens of billions off the taxpayer, and every other non tax paying rent seeking corporation. It’s a tragedy, but there aint an honest broker in the system. Welcome to back to the future, It’s feeling a bit like 1788. But where do we ship the crims now? The Americas? The old country? New Zealand? Nauru?

Leaders Speak out about Cheating, though political donations are fine.

The rot must stop. Here’s trenchant advice for the Cricketers,

1  Ensure adhesive tape is attached under the baggy green. No one will look under the sacred head covering.

2  Ensure spare balls are kept where no one will ever look. Inside empty space between ears.

3  Make sure all cameramen are bribed before play

4  Employ umpires who are sight challenged

5  Establish repertoire of un-gentlemanly behaviour under the guise of “sportsmanship”

6  Pay journalists to only ever say great things about you

7  Be revolting, grotesquely so to your opponents, and insulting

8  If caught, deny everything

9  Write a memoir and tell em how cheesed off you were about being “caught out”

10  Play Howzat, and drink lots of beer

And when caught, DENY EVERYTHING!!

This is a program of applied catharsis, once done, you will be liberated by the drag of conscience. Know that as wearers of the “baggy green” anyone outside the fold is a soft cock, wanker, and if they’re South African, they deserve your contempt for being “un-civilised”. Invoke the spirit of Peter Dutton and Eddie Obeid, and ask everyone to be open, fair and reasonable, and uphold the principles of “Mateship”.

Cos ultimately the only goal that counts, above everything is WINNING.

And demonstrate your maturity to the rest of the world that as sportsmen, business leaders, and leaders of men, Australians stand proud as the smallest KING SIZED Players in the world.

And the overriding principle to all these scandals and entrenched kleptocracy.

DON”T GET CAUGHT!!

As Famously said, to be “Internationally famous in Australia”.

Tomorrow back to more compelling subject, Not the Banks Royal Commission, but the detailed examinaton of the Royal Papers and the 75 dismissal.

Mateship and Noble Son’s of Anzackery stand together. Another Great day for Aussie sport and the principle of WINNING at all costs!!

Not to be missed.

Unless the cricket is on.

A Family of Emus

Ngurrju-mayi?

I graduated as a geologist at the beginning of the so called Nickel Boom.|
For the first time in Australia, geologists could take their spouses ‘out bush’, so high was the demand for earth scientists.
Thus there we were, camped in a caravan at a place called Waite Kauri north-east of Leonora in Western Australia.
Our caravan was parked under the shadow of a windmill near a corner of a wire fence.
One morning we were woken by a strange sound. It was an emu family.

Grlmp, grlmp, grlmp!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkg7_6iaPdY

As we peeked out of a caravan window we saw them bobbing up and down. There was father emu, mother emu and their three teenage emu children.

Bobbing up and down, grlmp, grlmp, grlmp, contemplating the fence which was hindering their morning walk. Bob, bob, bob, grlmp, grlmp, when suddenly father emu took a few steps back and ran towards the fence….. bang, crash. Father emu picked himself up and joined his bobbing family, grlmp, grlmp. Then it was mother’s turn…. A few bobbing steps back, then a run up… bang crash. This went on for an eternity. They had no idea they were being observed. It was a riveting sight. Bob, bob, grlmp, grlmp, a few steps back…. Bang, crash. The whole family took it in turns. Their perseverance was admirable. We thought it would never end, when unexpectedly, grlmp, grlmp, bob, bob, a few steps back, a run up and presto a somersault and there was one of the teenagers picking him(her?) self up on the other side of the fence. Bob, bob, grlmp, grlmp, with a smug grin on its face.

As I said, it took an eternity, but eventually the whole emu family trotted off together into the distance at the other side of the fence.

Despite the fence, this family was able to pursue an activity they had pursued for over 40,000 years.

From time to time, we would come across a bit of the fence with crossed wires. Tangled in the wire would be the remnants of an emu leg. Not all emus had been as lucky as the family we observed.

The erection of wire fences had radically altered the emu’s right to live life as they always had.

How presumptuous of these emus to assume they have rights. Why don’t they get over it and learn to respect these fences?

Nina Simone – I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM_GTtoqqqw

Ngaka-na-nyarra-nyanyi

 Frank

Craig Kelly learns wisdom from our Federal Treasurer.

Shocking news from the technology front. Further proof that if we just stuck to coal, (as the member for Hughes, Craig Kelly says), we’d be a lot SAFER.

Uber, has been testing its new fleet of driverless cars, and programming isn’t child’s play. Though Uber drivers get paid children’s wages, way out in Texas they do it in style. Big Drivers in Big Uber’s.

The New South Wales Minister for transport Mr Andrew Constance was on hand to make the following analysis: “As a consequence of our crackdown on free wheeling cyclists, the imposition of hefty fines, and on the spot fines for doing anything other than standing still it’s encouraging to see these new driverless cars are out there killing cyclists. Cycling is just not safe. What happend in Texas proved it’s not the way of the future.

The Volvo in question

We’ve had so many cases of cyclists being run over, and yet they still perservere. We’ve established the toughest and most draconian anti-cycling laws in the world and still they insist that they are valid road-users. This must stop, and besides, cycling makes no use of precious fossil fuels, denies the public road-user tax, useage tax, wear and tear tax, and all those other taxes we need to give corporates a tax break and other generous financial incentives for FREE”.

On hand to offer his analysis, the Texan main roads, cattle-rustling and Mexican wall-building Senator, Mr Colt Shootemdead, had this to say: “It’s not neccesarily the bicycle riders fault, I know they walk their bike on pedestrian footpath, ( sidewalk) but the elephant in the room is the vehicle designated by Uber to trial these driverless car technologies.”.

It’s as plain as day. It weren’t a Mercury, a Chevrolet or a GM. It wasn’t even a Flat-head, 38 Ford coupe. Yet I’m surprised everyone is surprised.

It should’ve been bleeding obvious from the beginning, The car chosen was a VOLVO.

I rest my case.

Sophia Loren deonstrates the utility of the conventionally driven vehicle.

Human operated Volvo’s have been a menace to all road users for decades. This was just tempting fate. Volvo, you know is Swedish for “Disaster waiting to happen”. And in Swedish, they have fifteen different words to describe “Dead Cyclist through Volvo Misadventure’,

These Google and Uber Execs need to take responsibility and come to terms with the unalterable fact, which is: No sensible, thinking civilised, (Peter Dutton) would drive a Volvo and not come under the influence of the dreaded, VDMIS, (Volvo Driver Mortality Incidence Syndrome). It’s fatal and its effects long lasting. Even the Russians wont drive em.

That’s why we’ve cancelled the programme and am happy to announce, courtesy of the Australian free trade agreement a new prototype driverless vehicle that’s buit to last and 100 percent solid.

The Hector. Number 1 in road safety.

From out plant in Minnesotta, we give you the Hector, the proven road-safe driverless vehicle.

From here to eternity, a Hector will get you there.

Other significant events In Australian History leave a dark shadow on the collective national subconscious.

The Palace wont release the papers. And there’s quite a few of us who are hot under the collar. These papers are critical if Australia is to get a perspective on itself in the early twenty-first century. Although the dismissal happened over forty years ago. the shadow looms. A shadow some would argue is as large as when the streaker interrupted Richmond’s forward momentum in the 1982 Grand Final. It’s the great un-answered “ What If”

And do Australian’s care.?? Probably not.

It was years ago, doesn’t feature on reality television and has no impact on Mortgages, interest rates and home ownership. And to be quite frank, has nothing whatsover to do with the twin pillars of contemporary Australian society, Real Estate, and tax hand-outs to Big Business.

But WE HAVE the big picture. We at pcbycp, (thanks to our extensive network of palace insiders) now have the true FACTS on the Palace Papers. And at last, you’ll be relieved that we can put a light on what actually happened, during those heady days of late 1975.

So please, bare with us.. as we lift the lid, and it’s a solemn duty to which in the end we may say; “we are not amused”. And were not inclined to give em back to the government as the ABC so supinely did with the Canberra Filing Cabinet saga. Indeed NO! Not till we’ve forensically gone through every fragment and made a thorough analysis.

So you be the judge, and read from the pages of HISTORY!

Inspection of the Royal Corgi prior to garden party with  Australia First Eleven. June 1975. Does Princess Margaret know something?

The first is a fragment of scribble written in an unknown hand. The letterhead is unmistakeable though “Kiribilli”, is prominent in the top right hand corner. Dated, 1/6/75

It reads:“ I asked for two packets of Bex Powders, a copy of the Winning Post and two packets of Peter Styvesant in the soft pack, and you returned with a copy of the Truth, Disprin, and Craven A’s, This is a breach of royal protocol that will not be tolerated. I will not stand this disrespect”.

The second fragment, written in HB Pencil suggests a ladies hand in fine copperplate,

It reads; “In the event of Liz’s arrival ,with Trixibelle, Lulu and Daphne, I suggest you order three jumbo packs of Luv, Premium. I’ve asked the palace staff for instructions and have been told to direct my correspondence to the Royal Keeper of the Dogs, Major Ponsonby, (RNR. retired). Is he to be trusted”?

And a third fragment, with a prominent Asio letterhead, reads,

Max Walker graciously shakes Royal hand whilst politely ignoring the moisture on his trouser leg left by Royal Corgi Trixibelle

“Your excellency, the Queen is not permitted under section 34 B of the Quarantine act to travel with her three favourite Corgi’s to Australia. This is in clear breach of our Dangerous and Alien Genus code, (DAG) requirements. WE would like to suggest however, that we have been training, Shane, Tyson, and Craigette, our three stand- in Corgi’s to perform the civic duties the Royal retinue would otherwise have performed.
(See photo’s), and suggest you accompany us with Lady Kerr to the Specialised Top Secret Dog handlers course conducted at the Puckapunyal proving grounds, next September for instruction in handling dangerous dogs.

WE also would suggest that renting, or adopting “outside” Corgi’s will not do, as our North Amercian operatives in the CIA have named a Russian Counterfeit Spy ring, in which the Presidential dogs, “Rusty” and “Trigger” were replaced by KGB operatives “Ludmilla” and “Rasia”. It seems the Presidential hounds have defected and are now living in a facility outside Magnetogorsk. Though the rumours are unconfirmed, nerve agent may have been injected into their Pal”.

Fascinated? Was this the catalyst that rent the royal house asunder?

Stay rivetted for our next installment. Nerve Agent?, The KGB, the CIA? Or our very own ASIO?

“Give me your tired, your poor, Seeth Efrikaaans
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door,
And a rand in every hand, that nature’s bounty aint colourblind
In this brown and pleasant land”.

Dear reader, you’ll be immeasurably pleased to know that the noble spirit of compassion runs deep within the veins of Australian politicians. As we are “Internationally famous within Australia”, for giving our allies a hand to annoint un-civilised subject races the benefits of the Australian way”, (as we have so nobly performed for the peoples of Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, North Korea, and places too numerous to mention), so we are compelled to give compassion and succour to persecuted minorities. As Mr Dutton said, white South African farmers need the “protection of a civilised people”. The fact is, after all these years South Africans are not civilised. Or, to be precise, the inference is that black, (the vast majority) are not civilised. Indeed, there is corruption, nepotism, and famously with the Gupta family’s dealing with Jacob Zuma, deep seated conflicts of interest that see public funds diverted from the people. Just like we do with Adani, and Exxon, and every other HUGE multinational company that Pays NO TAX.

In South Africa its worse. Whilst people rot on Manaus Island and Nauru our hearts are turned to the veldt, and the plight of persecuted minorities. Not the one’s we gladly walk-away from when we signed a deal with Indonesia over East Timor. Nor the ones we daily ignore in the other part of New Guinea that used to be Dutch. But the white farmers on the veldt.

WE do have great sympathy for them, They get fuck all subsidies, just like their Australian counterparts, and propably had to push a few natives off the land when they settled there in the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries.

And their plight, just like the Tibetan’s is soon forgot, cept for out pollies who like white farmers everywhere, relish the prospect of rolling back firearms laws, and the smell of the old testament.

Just like Ol Kabul, The last man standing, (riding is a bit like standing)

And so we have added to the call with this stirring piece by pcbycp’s own poet, Ruddy-arsed Kriplling (K.G. C.B.E. DSO V.C)

Across the White Empire

“From all across the White Empire, The bagpipes shrill note beckon’s,
Where once was bathed in roseate pink, don’t waste the precious seconds

From Mafeking, and Ladysmith, we heard it on the wire, though Johnny Boer is beat and gone, our heartstrings are afire,

The kaffirs they wont do the work, and wont stand no more the beatings,
Is that the sheep out there? That sound we hear, or another distant bleating,

Dimly heard, and shrill the sound, in baleful erudition, comes the clarions call “to arms, to arms”, from aussie politicians

From Bloemfontein and Spion Kopje, the word spread across the land, that Britannia’s offspring needed us, to give a helping hand

Though the Commissioner, is long time gone, and the Superintendant’s on a pension, the natives they are restless now, there’s a state of aprehension

Round the Drift, upon the Veldt, and through the farming dorp, the trickling sands through the hourglass say “it’s time to sally forth”!

And as we did at ol Kabul in 42, when the Afghani’s had us running, As Cetwayo’s warriors tried to do us in with all their wit and cunning,

Send then now a great white fleet, and summon the spirit of Kitch, to pile em up as we did at Rorke’s, and bury em in a ditch.

They must be told, put in their place, for crimes we dare not mention,
From aussie land the gesture comes, Seeth EEEfrikaans need an INTERVENTION”!!

The Media dispatched 6 March 2018

Buenos dias amigos,

The Northern Territory has a moratorium on ‘fracking’ in place. The ‘growth and development apparatchiks’ will not take no for an answer, thus a ‘fracking inquiry’ is being held.

Part of this inquiry is a ‘ticking the box’ exercise of ‘engaging with the natives’. The Inquiry has been to Yuendumu twice. I did not attend, so I have no idea how many beads and mirrors are on offer.

http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2018/02/09/fracking-forum-with-surprising-rules/ “What she also made clear, right at the start of this ‘community forum’, that no-one – including media – was permitted to film or audio record the meeting.” (Erwin Chlanda, Alice Springs News)

Wind back almost a decade ago- Yuendumu October 2008:

A group of mostly Warlpiri residents of Yuendumu had gathered several afternoons in the school yard to prepare a petition to present to Jenny Macklin.

Jenny Macklin was to open the Yuendumu Swimming Pool. The petition is here reproduced in full. The English translation is attached below

Kumanjayi Macklin, Minister for Indigenous Affairs
Marion Scrymgour, Deputy Chief Minister for the N.T.
Kumanjayi Rudd, Prime Minister

Yapa-patu nganimpa, Yurnturnu wardingki karndu nyarra wangkami ny arnpu statemcnt purdanyajaku manu yungurnkurlu pina kanyi Federal manu N.T. Government kirra.

Ngula pda Kumanjayi Howard manu Ma1 Brough-jrli waja-waja manu nyinanja kurlangu, ngulaju-malu wardinyi-jarrija. Jalangu jalangurlu ngulaju yangka piy a-jala kanparlu nganpa kanyi, karlapirli Kumanjayi rnanu Brough kurIangu policiy iji, inanu karlipa miyalu ngawu jarrimi rdungku-rdunku jarrimi manu junta nganayi – mani kangalpa nyiya.

Nganirnpaju ngarnpurrpa wangu interventioni-kiji kurdu kurdu kal u ngurrju nyinami n yarnpu kurlu legislationkirli.

Wangkaja-rnalu jana Review Boardu-ku, jalangu-jalangurlu Governmenti-rli purdaiiyanja wanguriu jalangurlu Governmenti-rli purdany anja wangurlu kalu report nyanyi manu kalu taarnagangku interventioniji ngaly a kari maninja wanguriu mardarni. Ngawu mani ka ngalpa ngalpaju.

Nyampuju ngalipa nyangu nguru walalja. Governn~entirlyi ungurlu ngalpa pina y inyi. NgaliparIu yungulipa jana Government warlapajirni. Wangka karlipa yuwarliki kurlanalu pipa parntirni lawa ngkaju ngum ngurluju, jungangku yungulipa mardanarni nguru , yuwarli manu nyiya kanti-kanti ngalipa nyangu.

Lawa karlipa wangkami yangka tala ngularlu ngalpa ngalya karimanu. Kaji karlipa murIpalu mardarni tala warlaljaju.

Wangka karljpa yungu Racial Discrimination Act !975 karrimi jalangu nati ngslka kirntmgi paturta.

Government Business Manager ngulaju pungku, wiri jarlu manu kalipa nyina ngampurrpa-wangu ngulakuju.

Ngarnpurrpa kanallI jana nyina yangka karnjurlu-patuku kampu-warnuku. Ngarnpurrpa karnarlu ny ina yungurlu yapangku mardarni nyampu nguru nati shire-yarlu jalangu warnurlu lawa. Lawa karnarlu wangka yurrkunyu panuku, lawa karnarlu wangka kardiya ngulaka!u yanirni raangka wangu, lawa karnarlu wangka kardiyi wiri-wiri-ki panukuju.

Panuku nyiya kanti-kanti yanirni wurnturru-ngurlu, kangkariu-ngurlu kaminjarra-karri. Kardiywa wiri-wiri-rli kalu ngalpa ngawu mani nyampu-kurlulu intervention-kirtili. Jinta jarrimi yungu-rlipa jaruku rnanu yungurlipa wariaija-rlu mardarni marnpungku . Yapangku yungur!ipa jar!pingki mardarni. Supporti-ki karlipa wangkami,

tala mmu nyiya kanti-kanii yungungurlu ngalpa yinyi nyampurla ngurungka.

Nyarnpurla Yurnturnu-rla panu karlipa mudarni nyiya-ningki-jarra ngula karliparta yul karni. Madarni karlipa jana MtTheo program, kurdu kurdu kurlangu, Warlpiri-rli ngala karlipa j ana tij i-mani, PAW, Mampurnaninja-Kuriangu jarlu patu ku, WarlukurIangu arts centre, manu yangka ngula kalu jana ~nardarnwi iri-wiri-rli kurdukurdue.

Ngulalparlipa mangu pungkalayi, Yungurlu ngalpa nyanyi nguru kxi wardinski-rli pirrdiji ngula karlipa mardarni.

Mardarni yungurtipa taarngangku ngdipa nyangu jam Warlpiri waja-waja maninja-wangurla yangka pina-pina maninjaku EngIishi-ki, mathsi-ki manu nyiya kanti-kan ti pina parrinjaku kuurlu-rla.

Nganimpa karnalu nyara wangkarnj purdanyangka-rlu-nganpa, Waikarlupu ta wangkzya nganjmpa nyangu warlalja kuriu.

Kardiya wiri-wiri-rli purdanyangkarlu nganpa wangkayarlu nganjmpa kurlu, ngurrju-matarlu nganimpa kurlulu jam jintangka-manu junganidi ngurrjumaninjarla puraya.

Nyurru ngurla juku!

This was Yuendumu’s ‘Statement from the Heart’. Despite some serious “sorry business” (rituals related to a death) at the time, the family of the deceased agreed this was important enough to allow the petition to circulate in the “sorry camp”.

Over 200 signatures were obtained. A significant proportion of the adult population of Yuendumu.

A meeting with “community leaders” was held. It was at this meeting that the petition was presented. Warlpiri Media had set up a video camera to record the meeting. As soon as Jenny Macklin spotted the camera she declared there was to be no filming. For the first time we were informed that this was a “private meeting” and Warlpiri Media was asked to leave.

So effective has been the Colonial disempowerment of Aboriginal Australia, that the cameraman, who is actually a proud, prominent highly regarded Warlpiri man, picked up his tripod and meekly left the room. “Yes boss, no boss” “Yes massa, no massa” “Yes memsahib, no memsahib”

Machiavellian Macklin subsequently had a Media Coup- Russell Skelton wrote an article published in the Melbourne Age and the Sydney Morning Herald titled — ‘Intervention goes swimmingly in the Tanami’, 28th October, 2008.

Media Watch was alerted and did an ambiguous ‘number’ on the events. A decade later it makes intriguing reading. We quite clearly were outmanoeuvred, and our petition came to nought.

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2409170.htm

Jenny Macklin in my opinion is the politician in living memory who did the greatest damage to the social fabric (that should probably be plural) of Aboriginal Australia. Not surpassed until that ultimate betrayal which was Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s dismissal/rejection of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eqJAAi1kE8 Sylvia Péres Cruz (and her late father) … 20 Años

Es un pedazo del alma, que se arranca sin piedad….
(It’s a piece of the soul – torn out without pity) 

Chau,

Franklin

Dear reader we often forget just how lucky we are in Australia.

Though the experts tell us that we’re crushed by impossibly high mortgages, zero wages growth and the prospect of working for nothing, the upside is that sales of Maserati’s and Lamborghini’s have gone through the roof. Clearly not all of us are doing that bad, and investing in highly expensive and desirable luxury cars, will offset the common individuals suffering. We all enjoy watching smart cars, and now there’s more of them than ever, (since we sensibly closed down manufacturing in this country) the opportunity abounds. Make a statement. Drive a flash car.

You see, just the other day I was standing in the dole queue, at Centrelink for only four hours to be told “sorry sir you’re in the wrong queue”. I had to start all over again. That didn’t put me off. Not one little bit. I enjoyed the music they had. I think it was Billy Joel on constant rotation. It was the same music they played when I rang Centrelink the day before. It must be “Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits”, “dont go for clever conversation”, it had a ring to it. I held on, hoping they may play the “Piano Man”, or my all time favourite, “My Life”. I couldn’t put the receiver down. I found myself humming to the infectious tunes, and didn’t mind a bit as the pre-recorded voice, said over and over again, “Your call is important to us, please hold the line, and your call may be used for training purposes”.

What a buzz! Here I am on the phone all the day, feeling useless, but I’m actually helping some one with training. Could be an amputee, or someone on the NDIS, seeking to get a leg-up in society. As simple individuals with no assets, no money and job prospects it’s encouraging to know we’re actually helping in the general wellbeing of others lesss fortunate than ourselves.

The couple next to me, in their finest track suits had to step outside for a fag every now and then. I told them I’d keep their place in the queue and look after little Jarod and Tyson. As they left for the fourth time to breathe stale air, I was immeasurably buoyed by a silver Aston Martin DB9 roaring off at the lights. The driver a youngish man in his late teens showed that there is promise out there for hardworking souls. Clearly he’d got off to a good start, and as a gently rocked the stroller I wondered why Dwayne and Tayla had eschewed private car ownership for a tram.

You see there’s choice in this world and if we excercise good sound judgement, we can all own a Lamborghini, a Porsche, or a Bugatti Veyron.

So don’t be disenchanted.You only have to seize the day and all of this could be yours. Look around you and see how hard work and education get people ahead. And they’re all happy! Such is the reward for making an effort. And a positive contribution to society.

“Labor Day”, bit like Australia Day without the flag waving.

Yesterday was Labor Day, and we got a public holiday. There’s a certain irony in that. In Victoria, VECCI, ( The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) is saying we need to work longer and if we unshackled our workers from unionism we’d be better off.

And up north the Fair Work Commission has ruled that train drivers can’t go on strike cos they’re an essential servce. Last thing WE heard from the Fair Work Commission was when one of their Commissoners Mr Stephen Lawler was being paid 460k a year to have it off with Kathy Jackson, the former Health Services Union Secretary who siphoned off millions into her discretionary fund. That’s right up there with the CEO of Border Force being laid off for almost a year and still pocketing the 600 k salary. Life’s hard at the top.

Labor day was all about the Eight Hour Day, which precipitated the Industrial Relations Commission, and the the famous Harvester case declaring a fair wage for fair days work.

All that’s gone. Wages have stiffed. And if you hadn’t noticed the inequity has become a yawning gulf. The pollies don’t give a stuff cos they’re all sinecured. Even the truly shithouse ones are set for life, and they don’t worry about a life renting, the insecurity of contracts, the gig economy or uber. The great unwashed, poor bastards, salaried workers, (who actually pay tax), get a day off. If they’re public service pecksniffs of corporates they’ll play a round of golf. The rest will take it in their stride. Another symbol of empty symbolism. Up there with the Queens Birthday weekend, in its hollowness.

Whilst wages have gone backwards and housing prices stratospheric, winners will be grinners. They’ll celebrate Labor Day. The Labor Day holiday will be good for Qantas, (pays no tax), for Transurban, (pays no tax), for Google, Microsoft, Uber, Amazon, Adani, the list is endless. They pay no tax, make HUGE profits, get HUGE handouts, and are backing the Fed’s 100 percent for corporate tax cuts. The bottom line for Labor in this country is a race to the bottom. The fruit of Economic Rationalism. CEO salaries skyrocket. For wage earners… Insecurity.

We live in a proto Dickensian era of fear and insecurity, and it hollows us out. Still, if youre utterly useless and sociopathically inclined there’s a well-paid career if your wiling to play the game. Though you may lose touch with humanity along the way.

It’s called politics.

Lionel G Fogarty, Merton Vic, 2012

Mr Lionel G Fogarty

INNUENDO’S SHUT’S

PEACE free that sad fuck up poet
Free from that lick the mouth of white write
Free from her heart cries for white and other’s
Wants’ and needs in drug grog too.
Free from this two times in poet bed
Sink lock door and say stay out for resects to the white arse.

Free at last from a gammon poet taken her child my art’s shah.
Son of the white beer drink white lip server.
She use the dark man to from her past,
Like ringing the cops on her self in fact to get at the man inside?
When the garden make, she gave the best to her Gay brother shit ways.
Free from book of a shook bad looks shit wrote on black pains to free white-fell as and others.
Laugher by this one was hate comings in sexual tease then she said poet black racist.
Callous to her verses, even succinctly the black mans categorized past for every needs she wanted, (hey good go)
Her prolife was can make a baby with a dark smell sex so black children can go onwards.
She tried to coward fool the black writer poet by her white music.
Free from this mad poet writer poet voices
Sit with your innuendo’s running man of writer black hoods down and I will get you in return just like a Boga rang the way I wants
To the dark alley always lion the poet not dead yet shuts.

 By Mr Lionel G Fogarty dec 20 2012 VIC MERTON