Time for a Dialogue

28Jan12

Several years ago an Aboriginal woman collapsed at a bus stop. She had exhibited symptoms not unlike that of being drunk, and her fellow commuters mistakenly assumed that the effects of the alcohol had finally caught up with her. Upon finally being admitted to a hospital, it was discovered that she was, in fact, suffering from a medical condition and had nearly died. The cry went up: RACISTS! Her fellow commuters had not seen past the stereotype to see that she was actually unwell. It became a symbol, for some, of all that was wrong with Aboriginal affairs in this country. And, in a perverse way, it was. While most Australians, probably, ruefully admitted that their experiences with drunken Aborigines would doubtless have led them to the same erroneous conclusion, one thing struck me as inherently odd about the whole situation. Even this Aboriginal activist had seen enough of her people in such a condition that she did not berate the others for their lack of care in toto- merely that they had failed to ascertain the facts of her condition. In other words- she was okay with the idea that had her fellow commuters found her to be another drunken Aboriginal in a similar situation, she should be left to sleep it off.
Strong emotions are a guaranteed aid to memory, and there are few stronger emotions than fear. From an early age, non-Aboriginal Australians come to know Aboriginals and their culture through a perspective of fear. Not some amorphous concept of racism or xenophobia but personal encounters. The elites of this country, media, political and academic, exposed as they are to Aboriginals within their own milieu, are able to see Aboriginals as they could and should be. Most Australians have experience only of the other sort- the stereotypes. And as we can see from the above, this is not a perspective wholly limited to non-Aboriginals. Indeed, the levels of domestic violence, child abuse and self harm in Aboriginals would suggest that they are far more likely to know the failings of their own people.
The continuing plight of the Aboriginal peoples in this country should be a national disgrace. The events of the last forty-eight hours are a clear demonstration of why this country is able to avoid facing up to the fact that the plight of the Aboriginal peoples is worse now than when the nation voted to invest Aboriginal affairs with the Commonwealth Government. After fifty years of failed policies in pursuit of a failed philosophy at the cost of untold billions, the nation needs to invest in a conversation on the future direction of aid to these people. The events of the last forty-eight hours are not the type of conversation the majority of Australians are willing to engage in.
It is clear that there are two types of Aboriginal leader. The first type has come to see that the old policies are not working- that they are in fact detrimental to the welfare of their people and only serve to give people, white and black, a power and influence they do not deserve. The second type derives power and influence from the old policies and seeks to perpetuate them even at the expense of the Aboriginal peoples. We saw the second type of leadership over the last forty-eight hours.
The efforts to support the interests of Aboriginal peoples are being ultimately defeated by the Aboriginals themselves and those interested in perpetuating the existing system. By subscribing to the myth of the Noble Savage, supporters of the current policies are not merely allowing, but are encouraging a degree of savagery that should be insupportable in a modern nation. The levels of child abuse, domestic abuse, substance abuse, incarceration, etc that blight these people are not done at the behest of the White Man, but at the hands of the Aborigines, many of whom are supposed to be leaders or future leaders of their communities. The valid and necessary steps being taken to weaken this culture of violence and brutality are opposed at every point by people not seeking to alleviate unnecessary suffering, but only to maintain a system that ensures their own power- and too often it is a power to inflict these very brutalities.
Tony Abbott was entirely correct in his assertion that the Tent Embassy has served its purpose, that it is now detracting from the need to engage in a long overdue conversation on the needs and plight of the Aboriginal communities. It is now serving as a reminder that these people see themselves as a nation apart- and the events of the last forty-eight hours serve only to confirm that impression. These events indicate that the Tent Embassy is representative of a mindset that is not merely in support of the Aboriginal peoples but is demonstrably anti-Australian. It will elude the vast majority of Australians, even those who might feel sympathy for their position otherwise, how the events of the previous day in any way justified the burning of the National Flag. The pleas of the leaders of the Tent Embassy that they were in no way provocative will fall on deaf ears when set next to such an act of provocation.
Such actions only serve to alienate support; continuing this vein of offensive, provocative and belligerent protest will merely serve to solidify support for those who believe that enough is enough and it is time for the spigot of public funding to be shut off. The special treatment that comes with being Aboriginal will end. Gone will be the advisements that Aboriginal recipients of social welfare programmes are to be handled as a priority, with more support and funding than that available to non-Aboriginals. And the national conversation, already long delayed, will be delayed even further.
The victims of this situation will not be the protesters at the Tent Embassy. They will not be the civil servants at the various Ministries associated with Aboriginal welfare. It will be another generation of Aboriginal youth condemned to living out their lives under a savage regime in their communities and their homes- doomed to ultimately perpetuate that cycle of violence on their own children.

As an aside-
Whatever happened to the intelligent conservative argument? One could very well ask the same question of the Left, but being a conservative the continuing failure of the Left to articulate even the beginnings of a cogent argument is not unwelcome. Having become more organised between work, studies and personal life, I am also catching up on my reading. And whether in Quadrant or Review or even in the conservative media, there seems much too much focus in conservative writings on the failings of the Left and not nearly enough on articulating an Australian conservative idea worthy of the appellation, much less a whole suite of them that could carry the nation. And, as previously noted in other posts, there is an increasing trend by many to co-opt American ideology on issues that have no place in Australia- or at least not in the way that an American, with their own constitutional traditions, would understand them. The very idea that Australian conservative opinion should spend even a moment in contemplation of the concept of Intelligent Design is a crime against conservative supporters in this country.
What is particularly galling is the faux intellectualism adopted by many of the writers. Patrick Morgan tries to use psychology to paint a picture of the Labor leadership but invariably comes across as someone with an outsider’s perspective writing of things as he imagines them to be. John O’Connor tries to use cosmology and ends up with more or less the same sort of article as Morgan.
On the whole, constantly harping on about the failures of the Greens or Labor, suggesting policy positions straight out of Newt Gingrich’s or Ron Paul’s campaign material or just out and out engaging in unsophisticated propaganda does not amount to a satisfying immersion into Australian conservative thought.
Conservatism is not about being opposed to ideas or change. This is the sort of imagery that Leftists like; a rendition of the dictionary definition. If the central ethos of the Australian experience is mateship and the fair-go, then pursuing policies that sh*t all over your mates while elevating yourself at their expense are not likely to find traction in this country. The Australian conservative voice needs to become distinctly less American and distinctly less focussed on the shortcomings of the Left. It needs to build ideas that allow for the changes we are experiencing in our society while, at the same time, seek to build on the foundations we have inherited.

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Tags: Aborigines, flag burning, racism, Tent Embassy, tony abbott