The biggest argument in the country this week wasn’t an argument at all.
In fact, while sitting on the Studio 10 panel on Monday morning, Kerri Anne Kennerley and Yumi Stynes were trying to make precisely the same point.
It began with television host Kennerley embarking on a criticism of ‘Australia Day’ protesters.
How many of those protesters, Kennerley asked, have “been to the Outback, where children, babies, five-year-olds are being raped? Their mothers are being raped, their sisters are being raped. What have you done?”
Her point was inherently flawed.
If one cannot directly ‘solve’ rape, today, should they do nothing at all? Should one only ever focus on the biggest issue facing a community, rather than making meaningful small steps?
Isn’t “there are bigger fish to fry!” just an excuse for apathy? It’s like refusing to throw your rubbish in the bin because you’re not going to solve climate change. Or not bothering with a discussion about equal pay because women are being murdered, which is far worse.
It’s a way of validating doing nothing at all.
Just because things could be worse, doesn’t mean things can’t be better.
Perhaps the intentions behind Kennerley’s comments were racist. Perhaps they weren’t. Intention is a difficult thing to determine.
We explore the discussion between Yumi Stynes and Kerri Anne Kennerley on this week’s episode of Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues below…
On the panel, television and radio presenter Stynes confronted her co-host, arguing that her statements were “not even faintly true” and sounded “quite racist”.
Was Kennerley implying that sexual violence or child sexual abuse exclusively takes place in Indigenous communities? It can be read that way. Her phrasing implied an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy – which isn’t particularly helpful.
But was Kennerley being untruthful? Not really. Indigenous Australians are at least six times more likely to experience sexual violence than other Australians, though the data is not comprehensive. When it comes to sexual violence against children, the picture is similar.
It has been found that Indigenous women are also 35 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence related assaults than other Australian women. If these assaults occur in remote communities, then there are also far less services available.
The point about protesters not visiting Indigenous communities, however, isn’t broadly true. There were a number of advocates involved in protests who spend a great deal of time all over the country.
The question we seem to be obsessed with, however, is: Was Stynes right to call Kennerley racist?
And I’m not sure that’s the right one to be asking.
Rather, what point was Kennerley making? That First Nations women have it tougher than white women? That there are serious disadvantages experienced within Indigenous communities that we need to address? That, as a nation, the work is not done the moment we change the date?
Well. We entirely agree.
And so does Stynes.
Everything Kennerley is concerned about began on January 26, 1788.
The dispossession. The disease. The violence. The inter-generational trauma. The economic disadvantage. The introduction of alcohol. The reduced life-expectancy. The disproportionately high incarceration rates. The disproportionately high incidence of mental illness. The disruption to a healthy diet. The stolen generation. The racism – systemic and otherwise.
We all agree that these things urgently need to be addressed. That these things are not the fault of the culture that was invaded – and that shuffling around a calendar isn’t going to solve everything.
But we also know the day it all began.
And if we are truly concerned about the treatment of First Nations women, as Kennerley claims she is, then surely that day is nothing to celebrate.
Top Comments
We all know this is a well understood technique to avoid discussing the actual issue being protested, all targeted programs should include members of the group in the design and implementation of such programs, The real Aboriginal industry is the hundreds of thousands of non Aboriginal people making a profit out of Aboriginal misery, and failing on a mass scale also, to conflate to separate issues to shutdown discussion on a subject is outright oppression, suicide levels are shocking and the research shows its helplessness (the Aboriginal misery industry) and discrimination (media demonization) are the major contributing factors, I think that changing the date to include all Australians (not excluding 3%) could help change the warranted feelings of helplessness and discrimination could go along way towards changing other issues faced by first Australians that were forced upon them
Black, indigenous voices need to be centred in this debate. KAK, Yumi, whoever, the focus should not be on what they think or they reckon. Us white people need to be allies, standing behind Indigenous voices and allowing them to direct the conversation and direct change. The rate of disadvantage within Aboriginal communities is extremely high, this is because of colonisation and 200 years of racist policy. The government does not listen to Indigenous leaders, who tell them what they need and how to fix their communities, instead they throw money at organisations, often run by whites, who don't care and who waste money. People are suffering because their way of life for thousands of years was violently ended and replaced with oppression.
They do discuss the strategies with representatives of the communities.
They have been spending billions of dollars to try and fix the problem.
Certainly things need to change, but the government is not doing nothing.
As someone who has spent the last 3 years studying Indigenous history and contemporary Indigenous issues, I can tell you know that the Government is doing nothing of note and I'm not particularly interested in the opinion of a person who doesn't seem to know what the heck he is talking about, based on the absolutely laughable comments you have made on this issue. Maybe shut your mouth and try listening for a change. The remote communities are not receiving adequate funding and do not receive the same level of support as other, non-indigenous rural towns. Indigenous based programs in TAFEs are being scaled back and community organisations are losing money. And this is the present. The level of mismanagement in the past is abhorrent and it's no wonder Indigenous people are still suffering because of it. Aboriginal people need representation at a federal level, in parliament and the power to sort out their own issues. The government still has laws on the books that give them special powers over Indigenous people, for crying out loud. Things aren't changing and this rosy gloss you've put on it is beyond the pale, really.
Only the last 3 years. Interesting.
Rosy gloss? Seriously? I have never said there aren't any problems, that we shouldn't be doing more to fix them.
How brave of you, perhaps you should get out of your comfy city living and see how the people in remote communities live.
Disgusting conditions that do good whited like you believe they should stay in due to 'culture'
No wonder the youngest and most vulnerable believe suicide is the only way out.
You are a fool. a racist fool.