Foxy,

you generalise still.
If I do nothing but present subjective and unproven or untrue comments, it should be easy for you to give me just one example.
You have accused me of a very serious and uncharacteristic act I do not condone or practice, therefore I need to know where I have erred so I have the opportunity to put things right if so required.
Failing that, you might want to review your last posting and realise all that you accuse me of is in fact yourself that are GUILTY of.
I await your response as to YOUR choice of which comment I have erred.

ALTRAV,

You should go back and re-read your own posts and my responses
from page 2 onwards in this discussion. Not that it will
do any good because you as I stated earlier - see the world
through very rigid and stereotyped terms - and proclaim it
to be the "Truth." You refer to people as freaks, queers,
selfish maggots, and topics about our Indigenous people
as rubbish, and the list goes on.

Everything looks yellow to a jaundiced eye. As the saying goes.

However, as I told you earlier - you are entitled to your opinion.
Because it is merely an expression of judgement or belief.

I have no further interest in continuing this (or for that
matter any other) conversation with you. I have better things
to do with my time. Talk to your kindred spirits on this
forum. I'm sure you'll find a few around who will agree
with your version of the "Truth."

I'm not one of them.

Yeah, whatev.

What do intelligent readers think of changing personal pronouns to non-gender-biased ones like zhe or ze ? Is that yet another base-camp up Mt Stupid ?

Would the demand for an Indigenous 'Voice', without specifying what is meant, qualify as a step on the route up Mt Stupid ? Or the notion of treaties with all Indigenous 'nations', again without specifying what might be in such treaties ? Or the notion of Indigenous 'nations', meaning clans or 'mobs' ?

Maybe Stupid isn't a mountain, more like a limitless swamp ?

Joe

Joe,

Properly understood, the Uluru Statement simply offers
a way to recognise and empower the First Nations of
Australia to take responsibility for their affairs, while
upholding the Constitution, respecting Crown sovereignty
and unifying the country.

The details are to be worked out.

It's not a question of "climbing Mt Stupid," its a
question of resolving the unfinished business after
more than two centuries, and finding a rightful
place for Australia's original people.

Other nations have done it - but apparently it seems
to hard for some in this country - who apparently can't come
down from "Mount Stupid," and will never be able to.

They should simply be ignored and left to continue to
argue. The rest of the country will do what needs to
be done. As they did with same sex marriage.

cont'd ...

Joe,

Concealment makes a country a swamp.

Confession is how you drain it.

Foxy,

We haven't quite got to the base of Mount Stupid yet :)

People in communities already have responsibility for their own affairs (which they rapidly 'delegate' to whitefellas) - it's called ' self-determination'. They've had it for nearly fifty years now. So a 'Voice' is hardly likely to make any difference. Perhaps you can tell me how ?

I'm interested in the notion of local voices, regional voices, State/Territory voices, and eventually national voices - in the articulation of demands at one level, then at the next, and so on. In other words, lot of discussion at each level, starting at the local level, to clarify just what it is that different people want, and how to reconcile those conflicting demands.

Equality ? Already got it. Opportunity ? It's there if people want to grab it. So what then ?

Nations ? Then go ahead and identify them, delineate and differentiate them, sort out any boundary disputes, and work out what that all might mean in practical terms.

Treaties ? Then start putting down on paper, amid a multitude of arguments, what the hell people think should be in a treaty, or many treaties. A single treaty ? Many regional and local treaties ? Go for it: start putting the hard yards in to work out what the hell people can agree on - i.e. asking for what they don't already have, which is ..... ?

Sometimes I suspect that there is a sort of Never-Ending Ladder of Demands, none of which has been clearly thought out, but each of which, one by one, is going to be put forward to governments, more out of spite than need.

Meanwhile, huge problems will remain unattended out in remote and rural communities - at least, while they exist. Looking at the community featured in yesterday's Australian, Kintore or Walungguru, where the 'Voice' means nothing, its population nearly halved between the 2001 and 2016 Censuses. That's probably happening all over the North, the emptying of communities, while the urban elite fart around with a never-ending invention of symbolisms.

Joe