Cocos Malays are fighting to be classified as indigenous Australians – and an Aboriginal senator agrees with them

'Australian Muslims want to be recognised as indigenous. Malay Muslims arrived and settled on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands during the 1820s.'  So, by that logic, descendants of the first fleet are indigenous, too. This'll be interesting.

Malay Muslims arrived and settled on the lush, tropical Cocos (Keeling) Islands during the 1820s when the British brought them over as coconut plantation slaves.

The residents of the small Indian Ocean islands, 2,500km from the Australian mainland, are fighting for the Australian government to recognise them as indigenous people so they can hunt and eat booby seabirds.

The issue is controversial, considering their historic connection with the islands is less than 200 years old, compared with 60,000 years for Aboriginal people in Australia.

However Northern Territory Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy, an Aboriginal woman with Yanyuwa heritage, said she agreed with their call to be recognised as indigenous.

'Are they indigenous to the Cocos? And I think probably, you know, an obvious answer would be, "Well, yes",' the former ABC newsreader told the SBS documentary Australia's Forgotten Islands.

'It really does come down to perhaps the definition of indigenous and that's a question I think that will be debated for some time.'

Former Cocos shire president Balmut Pirus said the island locals were frustrated at how bureaucrats in Canberra had banned them from hunting booby birds so they could cook traditional meals.

'The locals think they should have access to some of the seabirds but that's not happening at the moment,' he said.

The Cocos islanders are receiving help, in their push to be recognised as indigenous, from John Clunies-Ross, whose ancestors ruled the previously uninhabited islands as a fiefdom from 1827 to 1978.

'I'm still here. I'm still fully integrated with the community,' he said. 'I love them, they love me.'

The 27 coral islands of the Cocos became part of Australia in 1955 after being part of the British empire.

British sea captain William Keeling discovered the Cocos Islands in 1609 however they were not settled until the early 19th century. 

Scottish merchant John Clunies-Ross was an early settler who brought Malay workers to work on the coconut plantations, with his family ruling over the locals for 150 years.

SOURCE 






Free speech -- temporaily

A popular YouTube star has caused a stir within the gay community after saying that 'gays are an abomination' in a vile rant to his 700,000 followers.

West Australian Nick Bertke, 29, also known as DJ Pogo on YouTube, posted the video to his channel and it has been viewed 250,000 times.

Under anti-vilification laws Mr Bertke would be prosecuted for hate speech however those laws do not exist in Western Australia.

In the video Mr Bertke said he has a dislike for homosexuals. 'I've always had a very thorough dislike of homosexuals,' he said in the clip, broadcast by 9 News. 'Gays are just an abomination.'

He also joked about tolerance for Muslims which he said is a culture that 'wants gays dead'.

However after the video went viral Mr Bertke was quick to try and back track on his comments via an official statement.

'The video was a satirical piece made in very bad taste,' the statement read.

'I have Asperger's and Bipolar disorder so my sense of humour and empathy for people is often very muddled.'

He finished off by saying he was 'very sorry' to anyone he may have defended, despite his apology the video still had not been taken down at the time.

Gay rights activist Graeme Watson told 9 News it was disgusting to see and hear.

'There's no way you can brush this off as a joke, if you say those words and they come out of your mouth that's just unforgivable,' he said.

Mr Bertke went so far as to praise the actions of the Orlando night club shooter who killed 49 people.

Mr Bertke will not be charged for his hateful rant because of the lack of anti-vilification laws in WA, which exist in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania. 

SOURCE 






Federal minister defends NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley's use of the term 'White flight' - claiming 'the increasing concentration of foreigners is creating problems for social integration'

A Liberal Party MP has defended Luke Foley's use of the term 'white flight' when referencing Anglo families relocating from suburbs with high rates of immigration.

Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security, Angus Taylor, told Miranda Devine on her radio program, that the overseas born population is creating problems with social integration. 

'What matters is the increasing concentration of overseas born population in some suburbs, the problem it's creating for our traditional social integration which is now being challenged,' he said.

'The people don't want to debate immigrant cohesion, they want us to debate the words and the words don't matter.'

Mr Taylor, who grew up in Cooma alongside Snowy Mountains immigrants, said integration is not being seen and that's what Australia is famous for.

'These suburbs see English language skills failing which means people are less likely to have contact with people who have been here longer.  'We don't see the integration that Australia is famous for.' 

Luke Foley, the NSW opposition leader and parliamentary leader for the NSW branch of the Labor party, was savagely reprimanded by fellow Labor MPs for 'injecting race' into the debate over immigration on Friday.

Members went so far as to label Mr Foley a racist for his comments referring to the decline of Anglo families in Western Sydney.

Mr Foley apologised for his comment and The Daily Telegraph understands Mr Foley was deeply apologetic and distressed that his comments caused offence when it was not his intention, admitting it was a poor choice of words.

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Inside Australia's most exclusive women's club: Alexandra Club marred by 'ferocious fights' between country's most well-to-do ladies, reveals former secretary who was 'unfairly dismissed'

Not much "sisterhood" there

An exclusive club tenanted by some of Australia's most elite women has been marred by controversy and infighting, as philosophical differences threaten to tear the organisation apart.

Located in the heart of Melbourne, the ladies-only Alexandra Club purports to be a noble and private institution; a place where women gather to drink tea, play bridge and socialise.

But the past twelve months has seen the pseudo-respectable ladies at each other's throats, The Australian reports.

In documents lodged to the industrial relations umpire last week, former club secretary Helen Fanning - who was allegedly unfairly dismissed from her role two months ago - revealed a series of bitter disputes between members.

The conflict stems from proposals to give the club, and the heritage building in which it is based, a much-needed overhaul.

More than half of the 1,000-plus members are aged 70 and older; use of mobile phones within the club is prohibited; and as it stands there seems to be minimal incentive for younger women to join.  

This was part of the reason why proposals were put forward for a redevelopment - known within the club as Scheme Y - that would see an extensive renovation of the existing floors, the addition of a rooftop bar and the option to add four more floors.

Scheme Y was on the table since 2013, and nearly $900,000 of club funds had been spent on consulting architects, soliciting advice and drawing up plans when the project was abruptly axed last year.

A group of members against the redevelopment formed an anonymous group, calling themselves the Alexandra Club Members Action Group, or ACMAG.

ACMAG undermined support for Scheme Y by convincing members that they would be held financially liable, collecting signatures opposing the upgrade and eventually forcing a general meeting in June 2017.

The bare majority of members - 90 per cent in total - supported a constitutional change within the club that ultimately stopped the development dead in its tracks. 'It came as a bolt from the blue,' said one club member. 'This was a well organised, ferocious campaign.'

Within two weeks, club president Lady (Susannah) Clarke stood down from her position, club lawyer Margaret Kearney quit, and their vacancies were filled by women associated with ACMAG.

Then, in another twist six months down the track, the women of the Alexandra Club received a letter signed by both Robyn Whitehouse - new president of the Club - and ex-president Clarke.

The letter implored members of Alexandra to put the conflicts of the past year behind them, and debunked the prior rumours that club members would have been held financially responsible for the upgrade.

It was these same rumours that had pushed ACMAG into power in the first place - and retribution came down hard and fast on the perpetrators.

Whitehouse was allegedly summoned to a meeting of her own committee and told to stand down as club president the very next morning; Fanning was quietly fired five weeks later, allegedly; and a new president was instated.

After a turbulent year of disputes and discord, members of Alexandra were told that the committee would seek to keep things as they should be.

Some members have expressed frustration, however, that so much time, thought and money put toward an overhaul of the club ultimately came to nothing.

As one of the oldest women's clubs in Australia, Alexandra has boasted quite the prestigious membership in times past, with Dame Elisabeth Murdoch and Una Fraser, mother to Malcolm Fraser, having been counted among the ranks.

The Club was founded in 1903, moving between several different locations along Collins Street before landing on its current address at number 81.

Although it suffered a decline in numbers during the Depression of the 1930s the club grew rapidly in the postwar years, expanding to more than a thousand members.

An official statement on its website declares that 'the Club's purpose is to be exclusively for social and non-political purposes'.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here