Achievement

 

Pauline Hanson has got into trouble again.  God bless her for trying to speak up . This time it's  a pile on by the mob  for her attempt to talk about how our first people's contribution to our communities success has been , in recent times, been overstated ( especially by remote southerners who claim to speak on their behalf )
Apparently now,  there are somethings you cannot say in Australia -- but she is saying some of them ; and being accused of hate speech " . And worse, young people are encouraged to hate her!



She of course is not alone in thinking the above reality  but she is made to feel very alone by saying it .

Forget the future .There is something very wrong with a culture that doesn't --even NOW allow people to speak freely.   Forget future legislation by all the control freaks .- so that works ? 
Forget future legislation by all the reactionaries who hide away till they can see someone doing ONE thing wrong. No wonder Aussie politics can be so pathetic because noone dare say anything . 

.In my view we should , if we are to be  family to each other , not overstate our case and allow the other side and members to be heard . Overstating and making a loud noise is what the legacy media merchants do and they are doing it more and more as they get switched off for making such a racket . Australia is no place  for such fanaticism. New religions movements too can be as arrogant as ever ,

In my one nation of the future she should be highly praised for going to confession in not expressing that reality  well .She of course is not alone in thinking that  but she is made to feel very alone by saying it . 


Was Pauline wrong to talk about our first people lack of achievement ? 
Our first peoples have much and many things to be proud of particularly in their low footprint and ways of living off this harsh Savanah landscape.    
We have just done a wonderful series on radio celebrating just a number of groups of first peoples in Western Victoria and  how they must have laughed at us new food producers trying to make a living by digging up some of the most hard setting soils in the world , Governor Phillip  first and his best gardeners were disgusted at how hard it was to grow food at Parramatta. 
 The Europeans employed the same techniques  they and civilizations had learnt on limestone rich soils of Europe,    Such techniques were not appropriate and  as a g ecologist  we still don;t know how best to protect water bodies and use land according to its capability  Same laugher  and more with Germans at Hopevale  north in Noel Pearsons home ..
Life was much easier in this hot dry place if you just chased the animals for food ---- and boy were they good at it . And they had time to rest laugh and dance . ( read accounts of Tuckfield and many others who lived with the variuos early SW in the early days)  Campfires at the Cross by Heather Le Griffin 

Our mad fortune hunters from Europe were so busy when they came to this country they forgot that their best culture taught them ( Genesis  1 ) to rest at least one day a week . If the new immigrants were resting ( as was in theirs and the lands  best interest ) they might have realized their stupid sheep were taking ownership of the most valuable thing here -- water . The Europeans were messing up the key to the livelihood s of first peoples. Too many animals at a waterhole and you can't break the cycle of Liver Fluke ( Chappy ) 


And what right has anyone got to talk achievement? What good does it do ? Westerners vain claims to do everything well is shown clearly by their early abuse of this land and its fragile easily eroded and salty soils --to be the sort of arrogant overstatement that prevents our children learning to adapt every acre to better  . 

Point is , if we all stop exaggerating  we have some hope of the progress we all want. Humility is the starting point for better and best. 

Our bulldozing forebears did over clear too much,  but they  do have a right to be heard about real achievements like building dams that have massively increased the level of biodiversity here ( remember how the Diprotodons died )  And shifting some trees can be Ok if the land is  ecologically Grassland ( Savannah ) which most of our country is . 

No , when it comes to achievement, nearly all of us need to hold our horses for a more objective account .
This reality check  was what Pauline was rightly calling for,  and for her to be shamed and crucified for doing so ,  is not her problem .  
At least Pauline went to confession and said she messed up in trying to talk to the issue . 
That  confession is an achievement is anyone good books - an objective view enables reform in the right places and the reality of good better best to reign .

All most of us want is no shaming , no blaming but truth telling . A return to honest respect for all immigrants and their real , substantial and unique achievements and contributions to this country .