Australian Politics
Tuesday, August 09, 2022
The Masked Singer and The Block are labelled 'condescending' for airing Acknowledgement of Country
Sometimes you can't win
Indigenous leaders have slammed reality shows for using the Acknowledgment of Country, labelling the gesture 'condescending' to Aboriginal people.
Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter told The Daily Telegraph on Monday that the use of the acknowledgement on The Masked Singer and The Block was 'totally unnecessary'.
'It should only be used where appropriate such as a citizenship ceremony,' Mr Hunter told the publication.
'When too many people use it very lightly it devalues our ceremonial programs – it's condescending,' he added.
Mr Hunter's comments come after Osher Günsberg introduced Sunday night's premiere of The Masked Singer with an acknowledgment.
'We welcome you tonight from Gadigal land, a place of beauty and abundance, where the sandstone meets the sea,' Günsberg said.
'We pay our respects to the traditional custodians of this country, and elders past, present and emerging, and extend our respects to any to First Nations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people joining us tonight.'
Osher's address was nothing new for Channel 10, who have made the decision to do an Acknowledgement of Country at the start of every series filmed in Australia for the past three years.
Channel Nine's The Block also aired an Acknowledgment of Country prior to Sunday's premiere.
'The Block and the City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi, Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples as the traditional custodians of the land on which this production has taken place, and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be, Kulin Nation land,' it read.
The Block’s cast and crew are understood to have also undergone Indigenous cultural training in a bid to respect the land where the show's latest renovations take place.
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Government rejects recommendation to compensate locked-out residents
The Victorian government has rejected the Ombudsman's recommendation that it compensate residents who were "inhumanely" shut out of the state during last year's COVID-19 lockdown.
The government ruled it would not offer compensation back in May, however the decision has only just come to light, as it was published on an obscure part of a government website.
Thousands of Victorians were locked out of the state on July 23, 2021, when the state government closed the NSW border for the first time in 100 years due to the large outbreak of COVID-19 in NSW.
The Victorian Ombudsman investigated how the government handled the border closure, and tabled recommended actions for the government to take, including the suggestion that the government consider financially compensating those affected, in parliament in December.
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass' investigation found that the border closure process led to "some of the most questionable decisions (she had) seen in (her) over seven years as Ombudsman", leading to a "torrent of anger and grief".
"The closure of Victoria's borders in July 2021 impacted thousands of Victorians in ways few, if any, could ever have contemplated," her report read.
It explained that on July 20, 2021, Victorian residents in red zones were given 12 hours to cross the border, which was "an impossibility for many, especially the elderly or those with young children in remote parts of NSW", before the lockout began on July 23.
Only people with valid exemptions were then allowed to return to Victoria.
The Ombudsman said complaints she received about people not granted an exemption were "heartbreaking", including people who had travelled to visit ill relatives and people made homeless because their homes were in Victoria.
Only eight per cent of the 33,252 exemption applications filed between July 9 and September 14, 2021, were granted by the government, with many applications failing because people did not have the documentation requested by the government.
"Rather than fairly considering individual circumstances and the risks associated with them, the exemptions scheme was a blunt instrument that resulted in unjust outcomes, potentially for thousands of people," the Ombudsman concluded.
Glass said it was hard to comprehend why some applications were not granted.
"Aside from the myriad of cases that should have been cause for compassion, it is difficult to understand how a fully vaccinated person, testing negative to COVID-19, willing to self-quarantine on arrival, and able to drive to their destination on one tank of fuel, could pose such a risk to public health to justify refusing an exemption."
"The effect of a complex and constrained bureaucracy meant some outcomes were downright unjust, even inhumane."
The Victorian government published its response to the recommendation that those who experienced the "unjust outcomes" be offered payment in a report published on its website on or before May 27.
"While the Victorian government is not considering making ex gratia payments for those Victorians who were unable to travel home during this period, it does acknowledge the distress and disruption that the border restrictions generally created," the government's statement reads.
"It also acknowledges the frustration and challenges that people experienced when attempting to obtain an exemption in these difficult circumstances when the risks presented to the public health of Victorians by COVID-19 was constantly evolving."
It is understood that the publishing of the government's response was not shared with media or on social media.
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Read the books the teacher's union wants YOUR kids reading in English lessons - including one about a child who has NO gender
A union push to teach primary school students about intersex identity and gender diversity through picture books has been slammed.
The NSW Teacher's Federation union is urging educators to deliver the lessons to students during English and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) classes across NSW schools even though the state has a ban on any lessons in gender fluidity.
The JPL says on its website it 'seeks to enhance the quality of teaching and of public education' and calls itself the 'professional development arm' of the teacher's union.
The website contains a range of academic articles including ones pushing for more lessons about gender identity.
'English in primary school provides rich opportunities for students to learn about gender diversity in relation to themselves, each other, and the world at large,' academics claim.
'We encourage teachers to stay attuned for primary school texts that feature intersex identities.'
The academics suggest teachers include books about a child who is born as a boy but identifies as a girl, a child who does not identify as either gender, and a boy who likes to dress in girl's clothes.
The books have been recommended by the Journal of Professional Learning - the professional learning unit of the NSW Teacher's Federation Union.
One Nation MP Mark Latham has slammed the push saying parents should be responsible for teaching their children about personal topics. He has raised the issue with education minister Sarah Mitchell,' Daily Telegraph reported.
'The Minister has been ineffective in stopping organisations like the NSW Teachers Federation infiltrating our schools with gender propaganda, such as in these books,' he said.
2GB host Ben Fordham, who has previously slammed an after school centre for teaching children about gender theory, posted about the push on Facebook.
Social media users were quick to vent their outrage over the material.
Ms Mitchell shot down the push to bring in the picture books saying public schools had to stick to the NSW curriculum.
The NSW curriculum does not currently include gender identity education programs such as Safe Schools. 'Safe Schools is not part of the NSW curriculum and is not taught in public schools,' Ms Mitchell said.
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Owner of Australian antique centre that sells golliwogs, Nazi memorabilia, ivory and indigenous artefacts forced to put warning sign up after 'outraged' visitors abuse staff
The owner of an antiques market which trades in golliwogs and Nazi memorabilia has taken on outraged visitors who say such historical relics should not be offered for sale.
A sign has been placed outside Morpeth Antique Centre in the New South Wales Hunter Valley describing the dealership as a 'purveyor of history' and warning customers about some of the controversial items they might confront inside.
The sign says the emporium's stallholders stock golliwogs and other 'black Americana', World War II German militaria, 'child and slave labour objects' and Barbie dolls.
The centre also sells stuffed animals, fur, whale bone, ivory, religious icons, 'colonial and empire jewellery' and indigenous artefacts from around the world.
'Entry is free,' the sign states. 'At your discretion.'
The antique centre, which operates from the 180-year-old Campbell's Store on Morpeth's main street, is one of the two-pub town's biggest weekend tourist attractions.
In recent years it has also become a target of 'politically correct' antagonists who object to some of the wares on offer, particularly Nazi war relics emblazoned with swastikas.
The sign, which went up about three weeks ago, is the work of centre owner Trevor Richards and his daughter Kylie, who refined the wording over several months of considering how to get their message across.
The pair was sick of having to deal with outraged visitors, some of whom were abusive to their staff.
'We put it up just to try and minimise people being offended by some of the products we sell,' Mr Richards said.
'And explain to them what the expectation is when they enter Campbell's Store.
'As the sign indicates at the top, we are purveyors of history and history includes things like gollies, which were very fashionable in the 1900s.'
Golliwogs - black dolls with frizzy hair and minstrel faces that first appeared in children's books in the late 19th century - were popular toys in Australia into the 1970s. There is a large display of them on the centre's first floor.
The most contentious material for sale is World War II memorabilia from Nazi Germany's Third Reich. The centre has Jewish relics from the Holocaust era as well.
Stallholder Matt Robinson, who sells German World War II uniforms, weapons, medals and books including Hitler's Mein Kampf, previously told Daily Mail Australia that Nazism appalled him.
'It's history,' Mr Robinson said. 'I don't sell it to glorify it.
'I also sell Japanese World War II items which are extremely popular as well. As Australians, technically we probably should be more offended by that than anything with a swastika on it.'
Ms Richards said it was a only tiny minority of visitors who took issue with what was on sale at the centre but she and her father wanted to diffuse any trouble.
'Usually you can have a good conversation with a customer about whatever it is that's caused them offence but sometimes they really do get quite defensive about it all,' she said.
'The team managing the counter downstairs don't need to put up with people walking in the door and abusing them about this, that and the other.
'Finally it got to the point where we just got one too many comment.'
Ms Richards said the sign was meant to advise anyone who came into the centre 'that it's chock-a-block with thousands of years of history and that some people might be offended by what they see.'
'Our position in a very polite way is to say well, it's a part of history and we shouldn't be writing history out of books and society,' she said.
'We're not confrontational. We don't want to be that. We just want people to come in and enjoy themselves without it necessarily becoming a woke issue. 'But it's their choice. It's a private business, we're not forcing you to come in the front door.'
Ms Richards said the first complaints staff received when the centre opened five years ago were about the large number of golliwogs in a cabinet filled with black Americana.
She dealt with those protests by displaying a pamphlet which explained the origins of golliwogs and how it spread as a marketing icon for Robertson's jam in the early 20th century.
When Ms Richards was told that brochure presented a 'rose-coloured' view of the dolls she wrote a second one which recognised their racist connotations in modern times.
'That got handed to every person who made a comment and it was just there as a general information sheet for customers as well,' Ms Richards said.
'But of course we get a fair few comments about other things, which is basically all the things that are written on the sign out the front.'
There was seemingly no end to the items that could cause offence including uranium glass which contains the radioactive metal. When put under an ultra-violet light it glows.
'We've had people have a go about Barbie dolls, the taxidermy, fur, blood diamonds, whale bone, colonial and empire jewellery, anything Edwardian,' Ms Richards said.
'There's some about indigenous artefacts as well, and we get the odd one about antiquities too - "you shouldn't have Roman coins" and things like that. We get a little bit of that as well.
'Semi-precious stones that have been mined out of Sri Lanka and Burma - that type of thing.
And Noddy.' The fictional character Noddy was created by English children's author Enid Blyton for a series of books published between 1949 and 1963. The original publications featured golliwogs, often cast as villains, and in recent decades Blyton has been accused of being racist, sexist and xenophobic.
Barbie, the collectable fashion doll launched by Mattel in 1959, is blamed for perpetuating gender stereotypes and conveying an unrealistic body image to girls.
'Even Smurfs - we get the odd comment about Smurfs too,' Ms Richards said. 'But it's mainly Noddy and Barbie.' Asked how Smurfs could offend anyone, Ms Richards said: 'I don't know about that one'. French academic Antoine Bueno claimed in 2011 the little blue figures represented an 'archetype of totalitarian society imbued with Stalinism and Nazism'.
The centre's loudest critic has been Dr Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, who lives in Victoria and has never visited the store.
Dr Abramovich has been spearheading a national campaign to ban the sale of Third Reich paraphernalia and believes the trade encourages neo-Nazism.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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Evelyn Rae, a 
Sahara Ray is undoubtedly a good-looking woman. Since she is Australian-born there is even a possibility that we may be distantly related
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