Some awful politicians have a knack for taking one teeny weeny aspect of modern life and putting the boot into it in the name of ‘anti-political correctness’. As if that was a badge you’d wear with pride. Ugh.
Yesterday, a debate erupted about the value of Welcome To Country – the very brief few sentences that often begin a formal ceremony that acknowledges the traditional indigenous owners of the land.
The Department of Environment and Heritage explains Welcome To Country like this:
At various places throughout Australia there are times when a welcome may be extended to visitors by traditional owners. The type of welcome offered will vary depending on the individual or group involved. You may be welcomed in the form of a sign or a brochure.
If you are invited onto Aboriginal land or into an Aboriginal community, a personal welcome may be extended by traditional owners.
Acknowledgement of traditional lands or a welcome from a representative of the local Indigenous group might also be included at the start of a major event or conference.
As a visitor, being welcomed is your chance to acknowledge and reflect on the particular community on whose ancestral lands you stand.
Is that such a terrible thing? Is it really something we need to have a national debate about? Are we SO in touch with our indigenous past that we have to exterminate this too?
Apparently, it is. The Australian reports….
Tony Abbott has opened up a new front in the culture wars by declaring that Kevin Rudd and other Labor ministers demonstrate a misplaced sense of political correctness when acknowledging the traditional owners of land at official functions.
Mr Abbott’s dismissal of the modern practice of acknowledging traditional owners as “out-of-place tokenism” also won support among some Aboriginal leaders, who have described the trend as “paternalistic”.
But the Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation’s Eddie Mulholland said it was a positive move to acknowledge Aboriginal owners. “What’s Tony Abbott trying to achieve, some cheap political shot?” Mr Mulholland asked. “It’s an acknowledgment that we do exist with humans.
“It is not that long ago we were classified as part of the flora and fauna.”
Perhaps you saw Q&A on the ABC last night (you can watch it here). I was shocked to learn that Peter Dutton, shadow minister for Health and Aging, had refused to attend parliament for the official apology to the stolen generation. So strongly did he feel about not acknowledging the past and not saying sorry to indigenous people who were taken from their parents for no other reason than the colour of their skin, he offered to resign from parliament.
Holy cow. Not that he was ever really on my radar before but I’ll certainly never be able to look at Peter Dutton in the same way again. I think that’s beyond appalling.
There was some lively debate about this issue last night among the panel which included columnists Miranda Devine, Catherine Deveny, Labor front bencher Bill Shorten and the incredible academic Waleed Aly.
When the conversation turned to whether Welcome To Country and acknowledging the traditional owners of the land at official government functions was ‘tokenistic’ he made some stunning points that had me nodding my head so hard it wobbled.
Here’s what he said:
Top Comments
It is tokenism, but at least its some acknowledgement that entire histories of many cultural groups were erased just like that with the colonisation of Australia. If you're white and offended by it, get a grip.
I must admit, I find the welcomes deeply hurtful. It hurts me to be "welcomed" to.the country where I was born, that I love and feel extremely proud of. Someone has done a great job of a video: History of the world: Every year. Watching that really brings home the fact that humans have moved throughout the world forever. Many regions have been 'ruled' by multiple racial groups. There is no need to acknowledge any of the very first people there as "owners". Humans have fought and conquered, or been destroyed since the beginning of our species.
No need to welcome me to Australia... I'm a native Australian!
You're not being welcomed to Australia, you are being welcomed to the country of the traditional owners of the land you are standing on, the land that was stolen from them and the land that their ancestors lived on for tens of thousands of years, uninterrupted. And, yes, humans migrate all over, but the migration of Europeans to Australia disrupted the lives of many people and has contributed to their deaths and to the destruction of their traditions and culture, which is still felt by communities today. Colonisation brought with it racism and the Aboriginal Australians have spent decade upon decade being discriminated against, with this having huge impacts on the present and the disadvantage that Aboriginal people face. So maybe get over it, your offence is nothing compared to the offences committed against the First Nation people.
It hurts you to be welcomed? Kind of the same way it might hurt the Aboriginal people to know that they weren't classed as human in their own country until 1964? Or the same way they might be hurt by the continual racism and stereotypes? Or the same way that they might be hurt by the consistent efforts to minimise or dismiss their history? So sorry that your feelings are hurt!
You're not being welcomed to the country 'Australia' . The country they agreed referring to means the local region eg koori or kaurna land
I respectfully disagree. It's not necessary to be nasty. I'm not unsympathetic to the plight of any race worldwide that experiences dissolution of any sort, nor did anything I said suggest that I'm not aware of the generational trauma. In contrast to you, I don't think there's any attempt to dismiss the history of the aborigines. If anything, it's the opposite. There are university courses in aboriginal history. I should know. I should know; I did a year of it.
My sympathy for the people doesn't change my love of this country or that I was born here and am therefore native. Pretending that's not true is delusional. I don't need or want to be welcomed, in any interpretation of the word. Luckily for me, my aboriginal friends (I live and work with aboriginal people in Tasmania) understand this and never try to deny my history. I've lived and worked here my whole life. I don't belong anywhere else. This is my home and I absolutely love it. Don't dare welcome me to my own home.
Over and out!