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Adam Goodes, current Australian of the Year, is proving a contentious choice.  Other than Aussie Rules fans, very few Aussies had heard of Adam until he abused a 13 year old girl at football match for saying “Way to go, you Ape”  or whatever.  He took this as a racist statement and called for her to be removed from the grandstand, which she was. He is reported as “being gutted” by the girl’s words.

In my youth, on the football field, I’ve been called “Big hairy ape” because, basically, I am big and hairy. Well at least that’s what I thought, but obviously there are different interpretations of the term and every man has the right to call it for what he believes.  If Adam Goodes has been referred to as an Ape previously and took it as a racist statement then that is his right.  But seriously, we are talking about a 13 year old girl who,  when she says “I didn’t mean it to be racist” has to be believed, or,  at least given the benefit of the doubt.

So when he was announced as Australian of the Year, the only way most Australians knew him was because of this incident.  Depending on your viewpoint, he was thusly appointed due solely to his being the victim of a racist attack, or, because,  as a hulking 6 foot plus fit footballer he abused a pudgy 13 year old teenage girl.

Either interpretation is not a good basis for selection.

If the Selection Board wanted to appoint an indigenous Aussie as Australian of the Year I can think of dozens, off the top of my head, who,  with greater intelligence and political savvy, could do much more for their people.  Pick your favourite from this list

So now he is the Australian of the Year,  a position wherebye the encumbent is expected to draw together different parts of the community and thus help his or their cause, in this case,  the cause of indigenous Aussies.

Since becoming AOTY Goodes has been noted for his absence in the media on subjects other than football, with one extreme example.  Earlier this week he announced that he now finds it hard to say I am proud to be Australian after seeing Pilger’s ‘Utopia’ 

Not proud to be an Australian…John Pilger…Utopia…FFS who is advising this man?

John Pilger is an expat Australian who, simply put, hates us.  He has made a career out of this hatred and for years has penned propaganda that always reflects poorly on Australia and whatever he says has little impact outside of the Green-Left of the political divide.  That is, about 10 % of the community give Pilger any credit whatsoever.  This 10%, of course, ecompasses the ABC and SBS where he is often seen talking about his hatred of Australia – but we expect that.

Adam Goodes take on Utopia.

Adam, heads up mate, you have just alienated 90% of the population, or, at least, 90% of those who are politically aware.

NOT the way to go.

To approach the problem of indigenous Aussies simply from the “racist attack” point of view is ignoring the elephant in the room.  It ignores the damage indigenous Aussies do to themselves and to quote Pilger, who blames all problems on white Australia, gets us nowhere.

If, as Adam Goodes believes,  hostility to John Pilgers film is a denial of the nations brutal past  then Goodes and Pilger are equally guilty of denying the present and this denial bodes poorly for the future.

Look around you Adam.  Look at the programmes that are helping your disadvantaged mates and build on that.  Look at child and women abuse, alchohol and drug dependancies, lack of support for education, waste and theft of governmet monies and use your position to agitate for improvements.  Start another education scholarship system as an adjunct to your help for young Aussies in the field of football.

Expand your horizons and seek advise outside the Green-Left political arena or most will simply wait until you’re gone and that would be a shame…a waste of the hopes of a lot of people… a waste of a chance to help.

UPDATE: I have include some extracts from an interview by Bess Price, one of those I thought would make a better AOTY than Goodes.  It is listed on the RHS Menu under “Worth Reading”

Coalition MP Andrew Laming reacts to inter racial riots at Logan Qld

Mobs tearing up Logan tonight. Did any of them do a day’s work today, or was it business as usual and welfare on tap?

Not very subtle but its most probably close to the truth.

Wong and Emmerson attack, so for some reason Laming’s tweet which only comments on a riot is much worse than Gillard’s office tele calls that organized a riot on Australia Day in Canberra last year.

Go figure.

I am concerned about Gillard’s Federal Royal Commission into institutional sex abuse.  The media have concentrated on the Catholic Church and whereas they have a lot to answer for and should be a part of the RC they are not the only perpetrators and, evidence might suggest, they are not even the largest perpetrators.

Reading The Drum, the enclave of Leftist debate, it’s all about the Catholics, yet in my experience, and I have some, the Church does a huge amount of good works with tens of thousands of Teachers, school kids, Priest, parents and laymen all contributing to the community in positive ways.  What we are getting from the media, understandably I guess given that the anti-religious Left hold sway, is an emphasis on the minority who besmirch the Catholic name.

If the Commission names and shames these people and they eventually go to court and are convicted then well and good but we need to keep in mind that the target is institutional sex abuse and not just the Catholic Church.

State run orphanages, schools, youth groups such as Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and other religious institutions need to get a run as do the Indigenous community.

Which raises the question – are the Indigenous communities an institution – will they be included in the TOR.  If not, and I suggest that will be the case, then in my opinion the Commission will not be broad enough.

Mal Brough, a previous Howard Government Minister reports on sex abuse within the Indigenous communities;

“And those who have not read the report, Little Children are Sacred, its two authors visited 45 communities in the Northern Territory. They didn’t find sexual abuse in some of those communities, they didn’t find it in most of those communities, they found it in every single community; 45 out of 45. Think about that, the enormity of that for a moment.

“Let me take you to Kalumburu. Kalumburu is up in the East Kimberleys. It is a town of about 300. There are only 90 males in Kalumburu. It’s isolated by the wet for a good part of every year. The wet will set in some time this month.

“Of those 90 men, in the last two months 15 have been charged with child sex offences. Fifteen out of 90 men. These are the charge sheets. Not one page, not two pages, not three pages, four pages.

“They’re all an offence against a child, predominantly penetrating a girl or a boy under the age of 13. Who were these 15 men? They were the mayor, the deputy mayor, two other councillors, the police liaison officer, a truancy officer, two wardens.

“What does that tell you? These are people of authority. These are the people that white fellas like me and bureaucrats turn to, who go to consult with about answers to their communities, who we give money and more empowerment to and we walk away saying, haven’t we done a good thing.”

Scott Prasser, in today’s Australian has a well written piece on what Royal Commissions can and can’t do and recommends that;

The Gillard government must avoid any perception that there is any political advantage being derived from appointing this royal commission.

But I’m and old skeptic – I’m afraid it will turn into a witch hunt and I don’t believe the ALP do anything for altruistic reasons.  I suspect they will drip feed ‘leaks’ over the course of the Commission whenever they need distraction from their own incompetence and if Tony Abbott ever walked past a Catholic Church or went to Mass where there is or was or might have been a questionable Priest who might have, or might not have abused children, then rest assured we will hear about it.

I truly hope it works as there are a lot of damaged people out in the community but I guess only time will tell.

Disclaimer: I am not a Catholic but was born a Methodist.  I became non religious but subscribe to the ethics and moral compasses espoused by the religious bodies.

BILINGUAL indigenous language education should be introduced to all schools with Aboriginal students, and indigenous languages included as an official Closing the Gap measure, according to a parliamentary report to be released today.

Queensland Labor MP Shayne Neumann, the committee chairman, told The Australian the committee would back the controversial use of bilingual education and criticise its abolition in the Northern Territory by the previous Territory Labor government. He said education should be conducted in both languages to deliver the best outcomes. He said that in communities across the nation where English was not the first language, indigenous students had the right to learn in their own language.

The report calls for an emergency response to save the disappearing languages.

I would rather the report called for an emergency response to educate the kids in maths, science and English and apportioned their own indigenous language to one period a week. Of course I would change my mind the instant I hear that employers across Australia are now accepting job applications with resumes in Yolŋu.

But that isn’t happening soon.

Neuman continues to play Canute;

“There were 250 languages at the time of white settlement with only 18 now spoken by significant numbers of indigenous people,” he said.

And the Brits, our ancestors, once spoke Anglo-Norman French. The world changes for the better and the English language has been a big part of that.

It’s fine that the kids learn about their own history and language but not to the detriment of English. They need their own language to know where they come from but the need English to know where they are going and they aren’t going anywhere without it.