
garden
It is all so confusing.
Our Prime Minister Turnbull, while waving his hands up and down, waxes on the TV endlessly how on the world stage, we take prime position in being the biggest and most successful MULTI Cultural nation in the world. We are a blend of many cultures, it seems. I knew when garlic made its entry into the Australian kitchen back in the late fifties and sixties, Anglo-Australia would be in for an irreversible change if not doomed as well. Blame the Italians and Greeks for that.
Yet, at the same time but on a different day, Mr Turnbull is urging us to turn into a more nationalistic focussed citizen. A good and special type of Australian not found anywhere except perhaps in the bars of Kuta’s Bali… (Totally drunk and disorderly!) A unique Australian. We are urged to become aware and stand up for a more mono cultural identity.
In fact ‘Unique Australian Values’ is what we should be sticking up for. Migrants will have to do a test on those unique Australian values with a good knowledge and sound understanding of these. There is no more mucking about with those that don’t want to blend in. I thought this new requirement was obliquely, but none the less pointedly aimed at the foreign Islamic migrants.
Mr Turnbull, our Prime minister is brutally resolute in trying to pick up those voters that have left the Liberal party and who have drifted into the warm bosom of Pauline Hanson’s far right anti-Aboriginal, anti- Chinese and now anti- Muslim ‘One Nation Party.’ There is nothing wrong with Mr Turnbull also adding the word ‘terrorism’ or ‘Isis’ to his plea for us to become more Aussie. It is not direct Muslim bashing, is it? It goes down well with some, who think that a bit of xenophobia thrown in this multi cultural soup, it can’t do any harm.
Turnbull talked about ‘respect for the law, tolerance, giving everybody a fair go.’ The aspiring migrant is given 4 years to brush up on Unique Australian Values in order to get permanent residency status. ‘It is something one has to ‘earn’, he said, looking a bit shifty. I am asking if there are many other countries that don’t have respect for the law or respect, treating people disrespectfully? Are we the sole owners of those traits? Is that what makes us so unique?
People that were first looking for their lost new paradigms are now herded into finding Unique Australian Values. I have taken up to shouting Oi,oi,oi late in the afternoon, and trying out my waltzing techniques listening to Waltzing Mathilda. I tell, you when it comes to waltzing around the joint, Helvi reckons I am a formidable maelstrom. Would smearing vegemite around this town help? I have picked up a couple of good Australian traits from watching ‘Crocodile Dundee’ with that big knife many times. I would be most grateful if someone can show me other Australian Values that I can add.
A previous prime minister, John Howard felt that we should all be interested in cricket and a good intimate grounding in a famous race horse ‘Phar-Lap’, and learn English. While many managed to learn English and dutifully viewed Phar-lap’s pickled heart in a jar, it was the reverse with cricket. It is a game that for many remains a mystery. I must admit, I fall under that category and am surprised I haven’t been kicked out. Even so, during John Howards reign as a PM, it was all so simple and sweet. Thinking back it was much easier to become an Australian with Unique Values.
It is all so confusing now!
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Tags: Australian, Bali, cricket, Crocodile Dundee, Greeks, Islam, Italians, John Howard, Kuta, Malcolm Turnbull, Muslim, phar lap, Values
This entry was posted on April 30, 2017 at 4:43 am and is filed under Gerard Oosterman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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April 30, 2017 at 11:13 am |
I’m ready for a Prime Minister with some courage.
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April 30, 2017 at 11:06 pm |
Yes, Peggy. Someone like Whitlam, Keating or even a Bob Menzies. (Before your time, Peggy. But perhaps not Poor John’s)
It’s looking a bit grim in the courage department.
We keep seeing our Prime Minister in a flack jacket or gaudy fluoro shirts but he keeps firing soap bubbles…
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April 30, 2017 at 11:31 pm
Yep, soap bubbles.
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April 30, 2017 at 7:09 pm |
The only unique Australian value I can think of is profound racism. It’s the only country I’ve ever visited where it’s publicly acceptable for government agencies (eg health and mental health agencies) to operate according to racist policies. In my experience, it’s particularly bad in western Australia.I know Kiwi mental health workers who have gone there to work and been forced to resign – if you’re in a work environment where you don’t share colleagues’ racist values, you quickly become marginalized and scapegoated.
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April 30, 2017 at 11:10 pm |
Yes, I know. Dutton is keenly rounding up Kiwis and deporting them to NZ. NZ is offering to take on refugees from Nauru and Manus, but Dutton our minister for immigration, reckons it will open a backdoor for refugees to eventually land in Australia.
As if that is not possible from the US? It is just a total carnival here in Australia, if it wasn’t so sad, Stuart.
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April 30, 2017 at 9:19 pm |
When my brother became Australian for a year or two in the 1960s (a £10 Pom), he had to be white to qualify. My sister-in-law-to-be visited him there and said that he could be Australian solo or he could be English and civilised and marry her. He returned to the UK.
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April 30, 2017 at 11:19 pm |
Yes, Hillary. The Australian White Policy was in full swing in the fifties when my parents arrived here. It was total chaos in immigration offices. Dutch migrants with Indonesian parentage were a total mystery to many officials, and a colour charts would be held up against their skin to determine their grade of brownness.
It was too bewildering when Dutch New Guinea became Indonesian territory. Many Dutch-Indonesian citizens crossed by boat to Cairns or Darwin. It took some deft foot work by the Dutch Embassy when their applications were processed for residency permits.
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May 1, 2017 at 7:08 am |
Spot on Gerard.
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May 1, 2017 at 8:34 pm |
I don’t understand how it works, if Australians want to work and live in Germany or Italy or the U.K. are they allowed? Is it reciprocal? I must look into this 😊.
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May 1, 2017 at 11:07 pm |
Yes, Charlotte.
I am sure Australian are allowed to work overseas. Australia has about 10% of its population permanently living and working overseas.
Many young people from overseas also work in Australia, especially back-packers. They are given temporary work-visas. However there is a clamping down on those visas with the work shortage and unemployment causing discontent amongst those seeking work locally.
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May 5, 2017 at 11:36 am
Thanks Gerard 😊 .
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May 5, 2017 at 1:46 am |
It’s all so silly, isn’t it?
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