#indigenousaustralians

The first thing to say is that there is no such thing as the black race. Likewise, there is no such thing as the white race. These modern misappropriations of pseudo-science for cultural purposes are all too common. Shared identity is a fairly amorphous thing, which is used and discarded depending upon the situation. Right now in Australia, we have a referendum coming up to vote on  a Voice to Parliament for Indigenous Australians.  I have heard that there are between 400 and 600 different First Nations represented in Australia. Obviously, I am no expert on this, but I do see the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be accorded the respect and recognition of a voice via the Constitution. Years of injustice and neglect of Indigenous Australians must be recognised.

Photo by Polina Kovaleva on Pexels.com

Time For A Positive Change Via The Voice In Australia For First Nations

If the last couple of hundred years are anything to go by, then, it is time for a change. A change from white skinned sons and daughters of British colonials telling the progeny of the original inhabitants what to do and what is best for them. Let us acknowledge the mistakes of our past and provide a seat at the table for those with direct and real experience of what it is like to be Indigenous Australians. https://youtu.be/dF7cwrFWiR8 I am somewhat surprised at the opposition to the creation of a constitutional advisory body on matters pertaining to First Nations Australians. I wonder why these, largely, conservative politicians and their backroom buddies are so fearful of something of this nature. Some are saying that they want all Australians to be equal and no special recognition to be given to Indigenous Australians. Unfortunately, the reality is that we are not all equal, as things currently stand. Some of us come from privileged wealthy families and this kind of wealth is not taxed in Australia. There is no inheritance tax and capital gains tax on the family home or mansion if you live in it for 12 months or more.

The True Story Injustice & Neglect of Indigenous Australians

Rich Australians can pass on their wealth and advantage to their children, whilst poor people must continue to pay income tax and pass on their poverty to their offspring. First Nations Australians share of the nation’s wealth is not telling us a story of all Australians being equal. Injustice and neglect of Indigenous Australians has been the track record of the old way of doing things. “The proportion of Indigenous adults with household income in the lowest quintile was higher in more remote areas, ranging from 26% in Major cities to 69% in Very remote areas, with a national average of 35%. The proportion of Indigenous adults with household income in the highest quintile ranged from 13% in Major cities to 3.0% in Very remote areas, with a national average of 9.9%. In 2018–19, based on the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, 40% (153,700) of Indigenous adults were living in households that had experienced days without the money for basic living expenses, such as for food, clothing and bills, in the previous 12 months. Additionally, 54% (164,170) of Indigenous Australians were living in households that reported they would not be able to raise $2,000 within a week for an emergency (an indicator of financial stress). This was more likely for households in remote areas (75%) than for those in non-remote areas (49%) “ - (https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-08-income)

Rich & Privileged People Telling Us We Are All Equal In Australia A favourite conservative narrative is that we all have an equal opportunity in this country to achieve greatness and a good living. What they don’t ever emphasise is the fact that they went to a wealthy private school, came from a wealthy family, and hob knobbed in the right circles of power and influence. People like Tony Abbott and John Anderson had the opportunities to really make a difference to the lives of Indigenous Australians whilst they were in government, but did not do so. Abbott stripped half a billion dollars from programs designed to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders when he was Prime Minister. Conservative politicians played politics rather than make improving the lives of Indigenous Australians a priority. Peter Dutton and his mob are continuing to do the same right now. In many instances, the money spent on programs for First Nations people benefitted white bureaucrats. Reviews commissioned into these things saw hundreds of millions of dollars go to firms like PwC and the consultancy sector. Aboriginal Affairs, as it used to be called has been a shell game profiting a whole lot of white folk gathered around the edges over many generations. Of the billions spent on ‘Closing the Gap’ how much actually made its way into the hands and lives of Indigenous Australians? And how much was siphoned off into the pockets of white businesses, bureaucrats, and consultants? I would like to see a report on that.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com The Coalition Government & Consultants The Coalition governments of Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison spent tens of billions on consultants in their decade in power. They gutted the public service of some 15, 000 jobs. Jobs for the boys and vast sums of money going to the private sector. Revolving doors have seen these influential and favoured people pick out the choice plums and feather their nest to the tune of millions. Meanwhile, regional Indigenous Australia has been a wasteland of neglect and disfunction. Lives have been destroyed via hopelessness and its cousins alcoholism, violence, and drug addiction. It is illustrative to compare the lives of these two disparate groups and what governments have done for them over the journey. Prime Ministers when they come to power always mention in their speeches that they are going to govern for all Australians – talk about empty words and cheap platitudes. It is time to say, fair’s fair, to give it back to pay our share: “The time has come to say fair's fair To pay the rent, to pay our share The time has come, a fact's a fact It belongs to them, let's give it back  How can we dance when our earth is turning? How do we sleep while our beds are burning? How can we dance when our earth is turning? How do we sleep while our beds are burning?  The time has come to say fair's fair To pay the rent now, to pay our share”           (Written by: Martin Rotsey, Peter Gifford, Robert Hirst, James Moginie, Peter Garrett)  This song was written or came out around 1987, that is some 36 years ago. Ask yourself if you would like to see a voice for positive change gain real recognition in the halls of power here in Australia. Only a YES vote will make this possible in the coming referendum on the vote for Constitutional change to recognise a Voice to Parliament for Indigenous Australians. Injustice and neglect of Indigenous Australians must end! Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters; Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.  ©HouseTherapy

Americans are famous for their depiction of white trash in debates about class and racism. Australia was, however, also the new world home for what was considered as the human rubbish of the old country. Places like America and Australia were deemed as destinations for economic refugees and convicts from Britain by those in the upper echelons of power and influence of that colonising empire. White trash and the Voice in Australia are something old and new coming into agonistic contact in 2023. The friction between lower class white Australia and Indigenous Australians is, however, nothing new.

Australia, White Trash & The Vote

“a member of an inferior or underprivileged white social group” “White trash.” (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whitetrash. Accessed 15 Jul. 2023.) The defining criteria for those classed as white trash was traditionally the landless and poor. These folks didn’t have the vote until the latter half of the nineteenth century and only men over 21 received this entitlement in the various colonies in Australia. Women did not get a vote until Federation at the turn of the twentieth century. Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people did not get the vote federally until 1962. Queensland did not grant Indigenous people the state vote until 1965. Voting in Australia became compulsory in 1924. The vote therefore is a foundational indicator of citizen rights in Australia. Australia used to be a world leader in things like female suffrage but, unfortunately, that was more than a century ago.  

Photo by Zakaria HANIF on Pexels.com

White Australia Founded By Convicts & Economic Refugees

White trash, although not a widely used term in Australia remains a pejorative in discussions about class. The fact that the colonies prior to federation were in many cases penal colonies means that the roots of many Australians were from the lowest possible stock. Convicts were transported to Australia for a variety of crimes, including Irish political prisoners. In addition, the vast majority of those immigrating to the new world were doing it for economic reasons. These were not the cream of British society but more likely to be classed as the dregs.

Photo by Kelly on Pexels.com A New World Where White Trash Morphed Into The Middle Class Of course, the new world has sold itself ever since as novel in terms of its citizens’ equality and classlessness. The truth is that this is not entirely factual but definitely there has been greater opportunity for many more in economic terms in both America and Australia. Indeed, many Australians over generations have lifted themselves and their families out of poverty and into the once burgeoning middle class. In the great southern land, for many decades during the twentieth century, the dream of owning one’s own home was very real for up to around 70% of Australian households in the 35+ age group. This figure has been in steady decline in the twenty first century as rampant property price inflation has pushed prices upward of a million dollars in some capital cities. Today, many working Australians will be consigned to renting for the term of their natural lives because house prices are just too darn expensive. Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis at the moment with shortages of housing stock pushing up market rents by 20% and 30% in cities right around the country. Meanwhile, a 1 000 new migrants are pouring into the nation each day. Australian economic growth has long been dependent upon these levels of immigration lifting demand and productivity.

Photo by Kelly on Pexels.com Neoliberalism has been the dominant political and economic trend around the Western world for the last 40 years and Australia is no exception. The economic results of this privatisation and corporatisation has been an explosion in unfavourable economic benefits for the majority of Australians. Billionaires have emerged whilst at the same time wage growth has slumped for the many sending them backwards on the wealth ladder. The trickle-down effect has not delivered equitable shares of wealth for the working population. Rather, it has made a few very wealthy at the expense of us all. The wealth of the middle class has stagnated and is now going backwards. Conservative political parties play a shell game with their supporters by pointing the finger at fringe issues like LGBTQI stuff and race relations whilst feeding their insider mates the plum economic opportunities. Billionaires and the dominant cohort, white conservative men, flourish under neoliberal economic policies to the detriment of everyone else. Profitability is not the universal panacea promised by those  driving the economic bus down the neoliberal highway. The housing market in Australia and its general unaffordability to large sections of the population is proof positive of this. The lack of rental stock and the market’s response to this is to dramatically raise rents, thus hurting more Australians. The RBA’s obsession with wages as the root of all inflationary evil is another misguided neoliberal belief about the economy.

Photo by Josh Withers on Pexels.com White trash is a nasty label and a hangover from our colonial past and the British class system. The only relevance it may have in the current debate around the Voice to Parliament for First Nation’s people is to identify a demographic of Australians still susceptible to outdated ideas about race and economic opportunity. If those identified by this grouping were to share a defining criteria still today it would be based on their level of education. Australia, when it is not subject to nepotism and jobs for the boys, has been described as a fairly brutal meritocracy. In that, as a society until recently, we have set the societal bars pretty low in terms of expectations around civic duty. Materialism here, as in America, has overtaken our culture with success most often measured in terms of amassing great wealth. Bigger houses and flashier cars are the order of the day. The waning of organised religion, as the most influential cultural determinant within Australian society, has seen a diminishment of the spiritual and inner life of Australians. One of the things that the aristocracy, in most civilisations, eventually realised was that they needed to educate their children to be responsible for the future of their cities and races. It is not enough to sit around boozing in front of really big TV screens in your big house overlooking the ocean. Australians love their sport and white trash culture has not shifted much from this marker. Corporate gambling is feasting on working Australians and their love of sport. You will likely find the insider mates of those conservative politicians enjoying directorships and control of these gambling corporate entities. Poorly educated Australians have been excessively playing pokies and gambling wherever possible for many decades. Australians are the biggest losers in the world, per-capita by the online bookmakers. The level of gambling accessibility has only increased exponentially over the last 10 years, which coincided with the decade of LNP government at the federal level. The ancient Roman nobility and emperors kept the working poor amused via gladiatorial games and gambling was pretty big there too. This whole concept is nothing new and has rich historical traditions for the stratagems of the powerful in their exploitation of the poor.

White trash and the Voice in Australia. Authoritarian leaders like to have societal villains as scapegoats, someone to point the finger at when things aren’t going well. Conservatives like to pick on those they used to call savages and natives. Today, we identify these folk as Indigenous Australians and First Nations people. The fact that their skin colour is different is important for simpletons who are conditioned by tradition to want everyone to look the same as them. The conservative media, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and his legion of newspapers and Sky News Australia pander to the white trash of Australia. This is their target demographic, those folks who aren’t educated enough to know better. Those who actually believe rubbish like Aborigines are getting a cushy ride and that the Voice will give then an unfair advantage over their own interests. This kind of stuff is as crazy as believing Jews control the financial wealth of the world. These nutjob beliefs often go hand in hand. Fox News in America lives and breathes this utter bullshit and was recently successfully sued for a million dollars on the basis of their telling lies about the 2020 election in the US. The absence of standards around truth and objectivity in the media there has seen the rise of Donald Trump and radicalisation of the Republican party. Far right white nationalism has become the number one domestic terrorism threat in the United States. Rupert Murdoch has fanned the fires of division via Fox News to financially feed on this audience. Trump has been described by a number of commentators as a grifter, also, fund raising on the back of this upsurge in white trash dissatisfaction with the status quo. The definitive element within the right-wing media across the board is the amount of fake news content found there. One can only conclude that the lack of education among its subscribers is a feature common to this phenomenon. The stuff that this audience seems to believe is far fetched and paints them as really stupid.

Photo by Hugo Heimendinger on Pexels.com “According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report titled “Trends in Injury Deaths, Australia”, from 1990 to 1995 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were 16.5 times more likely to die in police custody and at present are 13 times more likely to be arrested compared to non-Indigenous Australians (AIHW, Citation2019). The report cites a range of stark statistics, including significantly higher rates of homelessness, unemployment, problematic drinking, and gambling among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples compared to non-Indigenous Australians. In addition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lower completed education rates, concerningly experience 2.7 times greater psychological distress and 2.3 times higher suicide rates than non-Indigenous Australians.” - (Thomas Falls & Joel Anderson (2022) Attitudes towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia: a systematic review, Australian Journal of Psychology, 74:1, DOI: 10.1080/00049530.2022.2039043) One of the most prominent things about a tertiary education is learning about things outside of your own direct experience. Courses in the humanities and social sciences enable students to delve more deeply into the perspective of others. This is an important fact when considering things like the Voice to Parliament for Indigenous Australians. A university degree is not the only way of achieving respect and tolerance for those who share your world but spending time studying things like human rights and philosophy sure helps. In contrast to this, if an individual has spent their life predominantly focused on working for a living surrounded by similarly educated folk who did not finish secondary school, then there has been no formal grounding explaining the perspective of others outside of the dominant cohort. Diversity and pluralism within a society often struggles in poorly educated communities and populations. People without sophisticated levels of education are prone to exploitation by political parties promising band-aid solutions and stuff like making America great again. Authoritarian conservatives typically run on law-and-order issues like get tough on crime without doing anything about the underlying causes. Peter Dutton wanting to bring in the army to control youth crime in Alice Springs for example. Simple thinkers want simple solutions to, often, very complex issues. The anti-elite thing has become a political trend which is exploited by people like Trump and feeds on the dissatisfaction levels of those who feel left behind. It may be those who reside in regional areas or just feel like they have been short changed by progress but these folk have a big NO to where the Western world is heading. Senator Price and Warren Mundine have both repeatedly labelled the Voice as elitist and not representing the concerns of local Aboriginal people. It is an easy trope to play, however, and no amount of pandering to these feelings of being excluded from power is going to improve the lives of ordinary Indigenous Australians.

Photo by Alex wolf mx on Pexels.com Gender identity is a big social issue for many of these people, as is sexual preference and, therefore, LGBTQI+ rights. Choosing your sex is beyond the pale for many of these folk. Economically, many of those who may fall into the white trash category see themselves as missing out on a big enough slice of the wealth pie. They see a shrinking pie and do not want to share it with previously marginalised groups like Indigenous Australians, refugees, and LGBTQI+ groups. The No vote camp in the coming referendum on the Voice to Parliament for First Nations people is appealing to them on this basis. They are saying revel in your negativity by crushing this progressive move for positive change by voting No.

Australia and the world are in the midst of a tussle on the political and cultural stages. Conservatives vs progressives: A battle for hearts and minds. Those in the previously unassailable dominant cohort, white folk in the main, are being told that they have something to lose by their political leaders. Meanwhile, those growing minority groups and the lefty liberals want more progress on human rights and economic equality for all. The hardline right are playing culture wars by bandying about terms like ‘woke’ and ‘political correctness’ to attract more support from those on their side who have been economically left behind.

Photo by Nothing Ahead on Pexels.com

An Australian Struggle Between The Past & Hope For A Better Future

The truth is that these folks haven’t been short changed by progressive policies but by big business and their corporate masters. However, many people just don’t want to believe the bleeding obvious and prefer to buy more baloney from those they feel more comfortable with. The conservative side employ smoke and mirrors to whip up bogey men and women for their supporters to vilify. LGBTQI folk, especially kids, are prime targets for those who think that these people should not exist. Folk with different coloured skin and from foreign backgrounds are perennial targets for conservatives and their culture wars. Refugees and boat people! Women who have been short changed by society for millennia and still do not have equity in terms of same pay for same job in many sectors remain neglected in the halls of power. People with a disability are stuck in a time warp here in Australia, where their lives are shunned from the economic wellbeing enjoyed by the rest of the nation. First Nation’s Australians are not recognised as such by the constitution and continue to suffer accordingly.

No vs Yes: The Referendum Vote for An Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Peter Dutton doesn’t want Australia to be re-racialised, whatever that means. Denial of the endemic racism in this country is a favourite of white Australians. Aborigines are okay if they know their place at the bottom of the heap and they keep their traps shuts. Adam Goodes! Stan Grant! Racism? Nothing to see here, according to Peter Dutton, the Liberal and National parties, and ordinary Australians. A vote yes for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament is, according to Dutton, something that will split the fabric of the nation. What if that fabric has been one of quiet moral neglect and general indifference to the plight of generations of Aboriginal people. Trouble in Alice Springs with Indigenous youth, Peter Dutton says, send in the army. Ever heard of a ‘cry for help’ in psychological terms? No, it’s a law and order issue for the leader of the conservative opposition in Australia. Their 10 years in government did little to improve the welfare of Indigenous Australians. Apparently, that is okay and what the conservatives want for the ongoing future of Australia.

Photo by Zakaria HANIF on Pexels.com The Conservative No vs the Progressive Yes Conservatives vs progressives: A battle for hearts and minds is in full swing. The truth is that Australia has never properly recognised its First Nation’s people, rather it has swept them under a rug of normalised neglect and indifference. Racism has remained in the hearts and homes and workplaces around the country. Conservative leaders rarely call it out for what it is and play to it for the votes it brings to their candidates. The Indigenous Voice to Parliament campaign emerging out of the Uluru Statement from the Heart is opening up this can of worms long buried. Peter Dutton may see this as a bad thing but no real healing can occur without first exposing and then cleaning the wound. Conservatives vs progressives: A battle for hearts and minds of Australians. It is analogous to a family with a history of abuse in denial about it. There are those that wish to put it behind them without owning the problem. John Howard. Peter Dutton. These folk lack the awareness to understand that whatever you resist persists. We, as a nation, have to muster the moral courage to face the dark truth of our past and where that has left First Nation’s Australians.

Photo by Kelly on Pexels.com Family is important to most Australians, perhaps the most important thing. Families give their offspring an economic leg up wherever possible. If generations of your family were hamstrung by institutionalised racism over many decades where would that put you on the ladder of material wealth and power? Like the vast majority of Aboriginal people you would be far from the first rank. Your family’s wealth and prospects would not be up there with the Murdoch’s, Turnbull’s, Abbott’s, Morrison’s, Porter’s, and their ilk. The economic reality of a couple of centuries of determined neglect, hate, fear, and disenfranchisement is, often, poverty, incarceration, alcoholism, disease, and premature death. These things linger and are handed down from generation to generation, as low expectations become the norm.

The Liberal Party under the leadership of Peter Dutton has moved further right into irrelevance in Australia. This is the party that has played politics over climate change for the last 15 years and bogged Australia into the slow lane on this existential crisis facing humanity. Now, the Liberal Party plays politics with Aboriginal Voice and reconciliation. It is a dreadful shame that our nation cannot move forward on something so important united on the political front. The Coalition parties, Nationals and Liberals, were never going to get on board this momentous recognition of our Indigenous brothers and sisters, as they represent the hard right racist minority within Australia.

Peter Dutton & Liberals Play Politics At The Expense Of Our Unified Voice

Peter Dutton has sought to deflect and create confusion over the wording of the question put to the Australian people in the referendum about an Aboriginal voice to parliament. If he and the Liberal Party had a real desire to see a constitutional voice to our federal government by our Indigenous Australians they would have got on board with what has broad support in our national population. The Liberals would rather play politics, despite having had the previous 10 years in government to have done something about this.

vectors icon at Pexels

Coalition In Opposition Throws Away Any Moral Leadership

The Coalition parties could have shown leadership on such an important national shift toward recognition and reconciliation. They could have said, we had a decade in power and were clearly voted out of office on issues like the Voice and climate change, so let us get on board in a spirit of national coming together on a moral question. Aboriginal people have been disenfranchised over centuries from empowerment and the economic wealth of the nation. They suffer from neglect and injustice on virtually every determinant of health, wealth and wellbeing within Australia.