
It seems that with every utterance from certain members of the political landscape, the humanity bar is lowered. The latest from ABC News to catch the attention of anyone with a modicum of common sense is a speech at a Church by the Deputy Leader of a would-be Australian government, Sussan Ley.
To use one of her latest expressions, she made a ‘daring experiment’ to convince her listeners that what she was saying was true when, in fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth. In Sussan’s view the colonising of Australia was not an ‘invasion’ but a ‘daring experiment to establish a new society’. A cursory reading of history would have told her that the intent of the British was, in fact, to create a penal colony and beat the French or any other nation to the illegal and immoral occupation and control of yet another sovereign territory and its peoples. Nothing experimental about the colonising of Australia; it was merely a repeat of the very profitable ‘experiments’ in the Americas, West Indies, Africa and India 170 years earlier.
Whilst the colonising of Australia may not have been intended to ‘destroy and pillage’, as Sussan enthusiastically maintained, the First Fleet came with guns and – against the express directive of King George the third who authorised the colony’s establishment – they used their guns against the Aboriginal inhabitants from the very beginning. Soon, it was open – season on the Aboriginal peoples, and murders, rapes and massacres continued unabated with administration permission and even active approval, over the next 140 years. They may not have had the intent to ‘destroy and pillage’, but they knew from their own history, that was precisely what was going to happen. And that was how it was, and that was OK with them. After all, ‘these local inhabitants were nothing more than savages. Not like us at all’.
So, no, Sussan; colonising Australia was not a ‘daring experiment’; it was easing the pressure on the overcrowded, draconian prison hulks on the Thames, and an opportunistic land and resource-grab for the British Empire and elite. And, according to Sussan, ‘it could have ended in disaster and collapse, overtaken by the impulse to extract wealth and rule through naked violence’. Sussan, where have you been? That is exactly what happened and is still happening due to unfettered capitalism hiding under the euphemism of ‘robust democracy’. You are correct in one thing; ‘it wasn’t perfect and didn’t all go to plan’. Not to King George’s plan of a peaceful, cooperative integration. Not, also, to the plan of the Aboriginal peoples who just wanted to live peacefully and sustainably in their land as they had done for 60-odd thousand years longer than the British had struggled to survive in theirs!
As for Sussan’s comment that the colonisers built a ‘successful society… that’s ‘peaceful, prosperous and free, that might be her experience, but it certainly is not the experience of Aboriginal people and a dramatically-increasing number of non-aboriginal people, struggling to afford an ordinary roof over their heads – be it rented or mortgaged – and to put food on the table. And the far-right lurching of both government and extremists – be they ‘Australia for White Men’ (who courageously wear black clothes and disguise their identities with Hoodies) Islamaphobes, Zionists, Anti-Semites, LGBTQI+ bashers, or just plain old garden variety racists of any sort – says to us that Australia is anything but ‘peaceful, prosperous and free’. As for success, Sussan, early material success was built on slave labour; first convicts and, later, aboriginal station workers, migrants from various countries and, today, unpaid and under-paid seasonal workers and backpackers. And that so-called success is only in the wealth and material acquisition of the diminishing few. And considering the mad obsession of both political parties vying only to ‘win’ government – they’re demonstrably-disinterested in equitable governance of the whole public – we are anything but successful. Add to that our Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Leader of the Opposition and other ministers of government have been named by the International Court of Justice as guilty of complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza! Why the mainstream media is absolutely silent on this complicity is telling. I’m confident we can’t call this a success story. Not yet, at least.
There is, of course, also much to celebrate in Australia. We’re not being shot at, bombed or violently occupied. That was the past for our Aboriginal peoples, although some of we colonisers are still in vehement denial about those violent historic abuses. Of course, until they are acknowledged and we accept joint responsibility for, and reparatively act on, that truth, we will not – we cannot – transition to national peace, prosperity and freedom. Until then, invasion and its associated dispossession, desolation and despair are the reality for our Aboriginal sisters and brothers. To deny that is to deny their humanity and, ironically, our own, because we are one human family. It is also to deny the validity of the High Court’s decision that this land was NOT terra nullius; it was inhabited. The colonisers were not invited, given permission to step ashore, nor welcomed. They simply occupied – with violence, annexed the country to Britain, and began to do exactly what they wanted. By definition, an invasion. To continue to say it was not achieves at least three outcomes: First, that mindlessness and political expedience characterise some of our government ministers; secondly, that the Aboriginal peoples’ lived experience over the past 237 years is invalidated by an out-of-touch minster’s opinion; thirdly, any stated and hoped-for goal of building a nation of social cohesion, peaceful, prosperous and free has a snowball’s chance of surviving an Australian summer.
Finally before the next election, let’s think deeply and seriously about who we are electing. There is no clear, wise, humble, public-focussed potential government in the running. As I’ve said in a previous piece, the adversarial nature of our system precludes the achievement of justice and truth. The first quality of a leader is integrity. That quality is currently demonstrated predominantly by the Independents; the only representatives with the wisdom and courage to call out the bad behaviour of the major parties. Ask ourselves what are the stated and demonstrated goals of Labor and the LNP? How much truth is being spoken and enacted? Do they articulate policies in keeping with the public good and a reputation in the international community of a being a good global citizen? Does our seemingly unassailable alliance with the U.S. offer social, ethical and economic security or does it make us a target and an associate pariah?
Peter Dutton wants to Get Australia Back on Track. He needs to make it clear to us what kind of track he’s talking about. Is it business as usual for the wealthy, powerful, divisive, partisan, bigoted and racist? That’s not a track that serves anyone well. We need a track that Peter, in his apparent sole desire to be the Prime Minister, seems to know little about and cares less. The only track worth anything is one of non-partisan inclusiveness, social harmony and equity, truth, integrity, national and international interdependence based on that which serves all citizens without being subservient or isolationist. The only track that has ever worked is the track of non-violent Oneness of all humanity. That utopia will never be fully attained in this life. But, surely, we can at least acknowledge it is the right direction and pursue policies and actions that lead us towards rather than away.