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Wik Debate: Some Responses From Around The World


Subject: Wik Debate: some responses from around the world
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 05:22:05 -1000
From: Rowland Croucher <>
Organization: John Mark Ministries
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,aus.religion

Attached please find some responses from around the world:

After twentyfive years service to my nation in the Royal Australian
Engineers,
a service of which I was mightily proud, I now cringe at the comments of

people
here from across the world who see my country as the pariah that it is
under
this present regime. All these invaders and their offspring determining
for
indigenous peoples what is best for them, without them!

Such patronising pain. Twenty five years for what? To see a return to
the
1930s by people who would have us believe that this third act of the
Great
Australian Genocide is even necessary? The other two? First there was
the
massacre and rapine, Second the Stolen Children, and now the stolen
land.

Oh, did I forget to mention that I was born in a Nazi concentration
camp, I
see
parallels too clearly. This is our "ethnic cleansing"?

Shame and tears for my poor bloody country.

Wik
Mon, 1 Dec 1997 16:35:13 +0100 (MET)
From: Peter Gerard Magee

I am writing this as an Australian living in Europe, as an
Australian
who attempts to keep in touch with what is
happening in my country and as an Australian who is ashamed of his
nation and ashamed and of what is
happening in a country which once prided itself on egalitarianism.

The Howard Government's response to the High Court decision is
tragic
and has brought Australia to the edge of
an abyss. It is a response which will not only plunge Australia
into a
legalistic quagmire but will also, perhaps
forever, disqualify Australia from taking its place as a
responsible
and mature nation. Australians should make no
mistake: the rest of the world has made mistakes with indigenous
issues but in the late 20th century there will be
no tolerance for legislation which has as its aim the exclusion of
property rights based on race.

If this bill is passed the actions of the Australian Government
will
be seen in years to come as a final manifestation
of a philosophy which, by the end of the 20th century, had nearly
died
a natural death. It is a philosophy which
began with racial evolutionists and eugenicists and had its heyday
in
the dark days of Nazi-controlled Europe. It is
a philosophy which most western governments have fought to counter
through education. It is the philosophy
which the Howard Government now embraces and will undoubtedly cause

its demise.

Dr. Peter Magee
Vakgebied Archeologia v.h. Nabije Oosten
University of Gent, Belgium

Wik: A Hungarian view
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 00:33:18 +1100 (EST)
From: lannie

I teach Australian Studies at Budapest University and have just
been
handed in a short homework assignment,
the text of which I quote in part below. My student had to pick an
issue in Australian politics since 1967 and
comment on it, and she picked native title:

"I am rather disgusted at the 'war' this has all created and feel
that
most white Australians should be rather
ashamed of themselves and that this feeling of shame should have
begun
in 1788. I also think that since then, all
problems should have already been solved with the white people
recognising the fact that the true owners of
Australia were and are the Aborigines. As it is, Australia should
never have been claimed terra nullius and the
lands should never have been stolen from these true inhabitants.
Unfortunately it all did happen but now, after it
has been realized that what happened was wrong, efforts should be
made
to compensate for it. The Native Title Act
did seem like a positive step but this present hassle over
withdrawing
native titles on pastoral leases and offering
compensation instead is proof that positivity does not last for
long.

I do realize that trying to put something right that happened so
long
ago is a difficult task because so much has
happened since then. I do see the complications and honestly have
no
idea how the problem could be solved for it
to be good for everyone but it is frustrating to see that ... the
solution is to give the bad share of the bargain to the
Aborigines again.

...

Overall my opinion is that even if we do not take into account all
the
details and argue about who did right and
wrong, it still adds up to the fact that Aboriginal people have
always
been the rightful owners of Australia and that
it was simply robbed of them by the white intruders. Therefore
whatever the case, I take the side of the
Aborigines!"

If it is this simple for a Central European, why is it so difficult

for Australians?

(I should mention that I have lived over here for the last 3 years
-
maybe I am too harsh on my fellow white
Australians. I sat in Property Law classes with Noel Pearson in
90-91
and never said "boo" then. There must be
hundreds of people like me who are repulsed by the Howard
Government
but never do anything!)

Alanna Sherry
Department of English Studies
Eotvos Lorand University
Budapest

Re: Roy Masters
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 01:53:33 -0800
From:

After reading your article "Sent to Join the Nobodies" by Roy
Masters,
I am not surprised why you Australians
didn't make it to the World Cup 98 in France. Your lack of respect
for
other nations and disregard for their
sensitivities and what they keep dear, complete ignorance of other
cultures and people are some of the reasons.
David Hill's irresponsible and insensitive remarks about Iran, one
of
the cradles of civilisation with a 3000-year
history infuriated millions of not only Iranians, but also many
other
reasonable, and sensible people.

Australia should first learn to respect other nations before it can

expect to be taken seriously in sport or anything
else. As an Iranian-American physician who happened to read the
above
article printed out and given to me by an
unbiased Australian patient of mine, I am totally amazed at how the

above article could even go to print with all
the hateful remarks regarding Allah (which is just the same as
"GOD"),
and other hate mongering references.

It is deservedly right for your soccer sport federation and the
likes
of Roy Masters, David Hill, and Venables to stay
out of the 98 Games, and for that matter any sport events.
Olympics,
World cups, and other games are for
furthering friendship and goodwill among nations, and not just for
a
few opportunistic scumbags to fill their
pockets with the dollars downfall of getting into a world event at
any
price. Your federation managed to do all the
opposites of the above ideals, alienating millions of Iranian
people
and giving Australia a bad name, while I am
certain that there are lots of reasonable Australians like my
patient
who do not deserve to be associated with the
above shady characters.

Dr. Cyrus Shadi,
Cardiologist
Los Angeles, California

Howard and Wik
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 11:08:35 +1100
From: Angela Penn z10

I have been listening to Mr Howard trying to justify his false
claims
that his 10-point plan will 'solve' this problem
of conflicting interests. I can see it is a difficult issue but I
have
never had less faith in a leader as I do in Howard
after his handling (or lack of) of this issue. He promotes
discrimination to protect mining and farming interests,
and still claims to be looking after the rights of all Australians.

Even I can see that we will never go forward as a country if we
can't
negotiate fairly. This is nothing new, the only
reason this issue keeps coming up is that it hasn't been dealt with
in
the past. How can he propose amendments
that allow one group of people in society rights at the expense of
the
other. I feel that he has created this racist
divisive climate by allowing Pauline Hanson's views to become the
norm
then refusing to deal with the stolen
generation of Aboriginal children (happy to pay compensation for
extinguishing native title rights but not to
compensate people for suffering that previous governments allowed).

You cannot buy off the Aboriginal people of this country, Mr Howard
-
there are some things more valuable than
money, such as respect, equality and understanding. It is a sad
situation when the leader of this country promotes
racist policies over reconciliation. Instead of addressing the
nation
last night, Howard should have been watching
"Blue-eyes" on SBS.

Angie Penn
School of Biological Science
University of NSW
Sydney, 2052

Socceroos, re: Roy Masters

Howard's Wik tactics
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 06:20:28 +0100
From: Cliff

John Howard's Wik bill was written in secrecy. Its details were
revealed only at the last minute. Howard has
claimed that legal advice supports the bill but has refused to
release
that advice. The bill was pushed through the
House without meaningful debate. It reached the Senate last week,
where Howard's Government stalled its
consideration with procedural delays. And now, after half a week,
Howard wants debate gagged.

This is no way to legislate in a democracy.

Australia, "The Lost Country"
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 1997 04:15:39 +1100
From: "Adrian Wyatt"

Never have I ever felt the urge to comment on the politics of the
day
but I think that the present Government is as
un-Australian as I have seen. What is behind this meanness towards
nearly all Australians?

Do we really deserve to be treated like this?

Many things have been taken from us. Things we were told would NOT
change. I feel like I'm on a ship and were
sailing aimlessly without a captain at the helm.

Our environment stand is an old stand. But going on the world stage

with it is stupid. WIK, education, the aged,
the young, the churches, musicians - all these issues have been
handled badly.

I was brought up to believe you should have a go. So here I am, an
ordinary person making the effort and having a
go at the decision makers and there antisocial, short-term
thinking.

Have some guts and do some good. History will treat you harshly and

your children and mine will see you were not
in touch with your responsibilities to all the people and 'our
way'.

Subject: Re: Wik Debate: some responses from around the world
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 21:54:37 +1000
From: Ron Ferguson <>
To:
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian

Rowland Croucher wrote:
>
> Attached please find some responses from around the world:
>
> After twentyfive years service to my nation in the Royal Australian
> Engineers,
> a service of which I was mightily proud, I now cringe at the comments of
>
> people
> here from across the world who see my country as the pariah that it is
> under
> this present regime. All these invaders and their offspring determining
> for
> indigenous peoples what is best for them, without them!
>

Dear Roland,
Why post such a biased posting? The ignorance of people around the
world as to the situation in this country needs not to be promoted.
They would know as much about the Aboriginal question as that backwoods
man, Senator Haradine.

How Christians can support the decisive affirmative action by activist
aborigines is beyond me. The moves towards the land grabs are being
made by those who have no, or little relationship with the land. Where
they do have legitimate claims they have lived in undisputed ownership,
such as in the Torres Strait and parts of central Aust and Northern
Territory.

Nearly all the claims have as their core some mystical dreaming or
"spiritual" context. The religion of the aborigines was one of pure
spiritism and pantheism and that should be repulsive to Christians. To
accede to land claims is to promote this devilish religion. We are a
heathen country and this only promotes it further. Remember the
nonsense of Secret Women's Business and Hindemarsh Island and how stupid
the Labour Govt was?

Far too many Australians know nothing of the true conditions of these
claims nor have they lived in areas where all these spurious claims are
crippling the welfare of farmers and miners. Too many of these bleeding
hearts live in Tasmania, NSW and Victoria.

Also I am sick of being told that I have to be reconciled to the
Aboriginal cause (meaning acceptance of their spiritism). I have lived
with aborigines and interacted with them for 30 years or more and never
was there the feeling of mistrust we have now. Who is responsible for
this? I will not answer here.

One evangelical church in Cairns could not proceed with its church
building for 2 years because all these searches had to be done so
aborigines could see if there was any spititual significance to them or
if artifacts were around. And they were building on swampy land!!

Large tracts of Australia will be locked up and whites denied permission
to enter, all because of the sacred hills and spirit men and dreamtime
serpent etc.

Christians can have no part of this. What I write has nothing to do
with the welfare of aborigines so don't try misquoting me or attributing
to me a careless indifferent attitude.

Ron



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