Antinuclear

Australia Day – the good and the not so good

The good.  Well, there is  a lot of good will between the Aboriginal First Australians, the slightly less new European ancestry Australians, and the newer New Australians from all over the place.  And it’s all nicely mixed up with Chinese New Year, celebrated by Chinese  Australians and by a lot of the rest of us.

It’s good that amongst the celebrities of all kinds, a couple of Australai Day Awards really do stand out.  There’s James Durie, awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. Since 1996 he has been an ambassador for Planet Ark and since 2008 he has been climate change presenter for the Australian Conservation Foundation.

And it’s extra good that Jeffrey Lee is awarded  the Medal of the Order of Australia. Jeffrey Lee astonished our materialistic  Australian culture by refusing to accept $millions for his traditional land in the Northern Territory in exchange for allowing uranium mining there.  Instead, Lee donated his land to Kakadu National Park, and fought for it to be a World Heritage Area.

The not so good. Well – the Day recalls the original day in the process of dispossessing Aboriginal people of their country. It’s not surprising that many call this day Invasion Day, or Survival Day.   So it would be a healing move to change the national day to a date that held a less tragic meaning .

Also not so good. The move to change the Australian Constitution – supposedly to remove discrimination against Aboriginals.  A great idea, supported by just about everybody.  But not so great, if it manages to sneak in those loopholes that will entrench the process of dispossessing Aboriginals of their land – especially in the interests of the uranium/nuclear industry.

January 26, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews