How about a kind of "Darwin" award for senior Public Servants ?

Hi Foxy,

The question was purposely ambiguous, I could have said is anyone a fit and proper person to receive this kind of recognition. A few clues to my feelings on the GG/Queen, who is he/she to bestow so called honours in the first place. My reference to the 10,000 quid and Bob the plumber, that's shows just how silly I think such awards are. In a truly egalitarian society there is no need to be bestowing honours on anyone.

I picked Marcia Langton rather than one of the other two named, as she would appeal to our band of forum Usual Suspects as being unworthy, they might have wanted to rip her apart. I recall Marcia from way back in the day, always there, always fighting the good fight, will do anything in the fight for justice for her people.

Dear Paul,

I loved your opening post.

And I also was trying to stir things up a bit
with my comments.

However, I remember how my mum was hoping to make
it to the age of 100 so that she could get a letter
from the Queen. She liked and admired Queen Elizabeth
very much. She was a royalist through and through.
Mum didn't make it to 100.

I can therefore understand the honour that these awards
are to many people - and how much they mean to some.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott tweeted that he was
"very honoured". He of course received the top honour
of Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).

Prof. Marcia Langton said she was proud of the tertiary
education sector that she runs at Melbourne University but
that Australia has a "long way to go" drawing attention to
racism in Australia.

She also said that -

"I believe we're all one species and we all have the same
potentialities".

And -

"There are people who don't believe that and they
actually threaten our society, they threaten our democracy,
they threaten our health - racism has an enormous impact on
one's health".

I watched some of Q&A last night. I saw the ending where
a young Aboriginal man performed a monologue from a play
he'd written. It gave me goose-bumps.

I guess many of us have no idea of what it means to be
Aboriginal in this country and be discriminated against
because of our skin colour.

I've known discrimination growing up. I guess most
immigrants have. But at least most of us didn't stand
out like those who appear markedly different in their
appearance - be it Middle-Eastern, Asian, or black.

Dear Paul,

I still get a laugh when I recall the day my
husband and I spent waiting to be seen in a
large public hospital here in Melbourne. That
was prior to us getting private health cover.

Anyway, It was my husband who needed a doctor's
attention not me. Well, a nurse came out in to the
waiting room holding some sort of paperwork and
called out my husband's name and then because of
his "foreign" surname she asked rather loudly -

"DO YOU NEED AN INTERPRETER?"

My husband smiled at her and replied slowly and
succinctly in his Oxford English:

"Why doesn't the doctor speak English?"

A great moment that I remember to this day.

Hi Foxy,

Thanks for that story, it made me laugh. "Why doesn't the doctor speak English?" That a good reply.

One time in Fiji, a Fijian/Indian friend insisted we visit his brother-in-laws eatery for a curry. Well, after the intros and the offer of a meal, the wife was saying to me several times in Maori in front of the people, "PARU"!,"PARU"! The gent and his wife, our friends sister, were lovely people, on hearing that he said; "What is paru?". I replied, thinking quick; "Ahhhh... in Maori PARU means..... um, VERY NICE!" Which got lots of smiles from all. Then he said "Thank you", to his wife he said, "Our restaurant is PARU!" Glad they couldn't understand Maori. PARU means DIRTY.

Marcia Langton radiates excessive disunity ! In my opinion she is not fit to be involved in bridging any gaps ! In widening them yes but definitely not bridging !