Opposition leader Peter Dutton has made yet another decision that is both moral and politically astute.
Peter Dutton has declared he would never address the nation with both the Australian and Indigenous flags behind him at press conferences should he become prime minister, arguing that the practice “divides people unnecessarily”.
The Opposition Leader has been choosing not to have the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags behind him during public appearances and confirmed on Monday night it was a practice he would seek to continue in top office.
Australians are fed up with being divided by race. That much was obvious when the Voice referendum – which would have enshrined separate racial privileges in the Constitution – was rejected so comprehensively by voters.
Likewise, many Australians have been infuriated by the Albanese government’s endless posturing in front of multiple flags, often with the Australian flag relegated to the background or in inferior position. The symbolism is unambiguous, and voters aren’t stupid.
“I’m very strongly of the belief that we are a country united under one flag and if we’re asking people to identify with different flags, no other country does that, and we are dividing our country unnecessarily,” he told Sky News.
“We should have respect for the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but they are not our national flags.”
Dutton is clearly positioning himself ahead of the annual Lefty Festival of Manufactured Grievance, aka Australia Day. The overwhelming majority of Australians are proud of their country and want to celebrate its national day on January 26. Peter Dutton is plainly telling the majority of Australians that he is on their side.
That includes the many, many Australians who are the migrants, their children and grandchildren, who are frankly insulted by the implication that they have somehow ‘oppressed’ Aboriginal Australians.
Mr Dutton said Australia needed to look at a better recognition of its migrant history when celebrating “our heritage”.
“Our migrant story, the incredible story of people who came here, particularly in the post Second World War period, with nothing,” he said. “They … have worked hard as trainees, as farmers and they’ve educated their children. The next generation has done incredibly well, they’ve done well themselves, we’re a great country today because of that. And we don’t talk anything of that part of our history […]
“The fact is that we should stand up for who we are, for our values, what we believe in,” he said. “We are united as a country when we gather under one flag, which is what we should do on Australia Day.”
The Coalition leader controversially called for people to boycott Woolworths this year after the supermarket giant announced it would stop stocking Australia Day merchandise.
The coalition is also aligning itself with the majority of Australians over the much-detested “Welcome to Country” play acting.
The revelation over Mr Dutton’s latest policy comes as opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price pushes for the rolling back of Welcome to Country ceremonies.
“There are those right around the country, who basically their only role, their only source of income, is delivering Welcome to Country,” she said on Sky News on Sunday.
“This commercialisation of culture, which is exactly what is going on, I can understand there will be those that will be upset if we try to bring it to an end.”
The chatterers will screech “RACISM!”, as they always do – which is an even more obviously hollow charge, when Aboriginal Australians themselves are so sick of the Welcome to Country bullshit that they’re proactively banning it.
An Indigenous community has banned Welcome to Countries because the ceremonies are ‘embarrassing’ and ‘being abused’.
The Juru people of the Burdekin in north Queensland voted to ban Welcome to Countries on their ancestral land on Thursday.
Like Jacinta Price, they’re sick and tired of ‘box-tickers’ (people with a marginal or wholly imaginary claim to ‘Aboriginality’) profiting from a bowdlerised, play-acting version of Aboriginal culture.
“The problem is, you’ve got people who aren’t connected to the Burdekin area and they’re still doing Welcome to Countries and I know that they receive money as a part of this,” [Juru spokesperson Randall Ross] told 4BC host Bill McDonald.
“We’re only speaking for our country, that’s why it’s important that we can see it well and truly being abused and that's why it makes us feel embarrassed […]
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has also welcomed the decision and said Welcome to Country decisions are causing “anger and division”.
It’s not just Aboriginal Australians and their culture that is being ripped off, either.
“You’ve got poor organisations and they’re trapped in that situation and they’ve got to pay, whether it’s just a five minute, two minute or ten minute service.”
Non-Aboriginal Australians are happy to acknowledge common cause with their Aboriginal fellow Australians.
Burdekin Shire Council mayor Pierina Dalle Cort said the decision was an “early Christmas present” to many people.
“I’ve already had some responses from people saying things like finally common sense has prevailed, basically,” she told the Courier Mail.
“I can’t get into a political nightmare here but all I can say is I’m happy to work with the traditional owners. We’re multicultural, we’re one country and we’ve all got to learn to live and work together.”
Australians of good heart prefer unity over division, after all. The tiny minority of the rest just want to play the Marxist game of dividing and conquering.
