Australian Politics
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Kamahl slams ABC host as a 'bully with a black soul' amid calls for him to be sacked over 'disgusting' comment about the singer and cricket icon Don Bradman
Adams is is a Leftist so I am reluctant to defend him but I think he was misunderstood here. He was clearly criticizing Bradman, not Kamahl. He was comparing Bradman to a South African Apartheid believer. Bradman has recently been "outed" as very conservative.
But any mention of race is taboo these days. Adams should have known that. But he was too anxious to get in a dig at Bradman
Legendary singer Kamahl said he feels 'humiliated' by the ABC's Phillip Adams after the broadcaster claimed cricket icon Don Bradman treated him as 'an honorary white'.
The host of ABC Late Night Live created a storm of controversy by making the claim on social media.
In the tweet on Thursday, Adams compared the cricket icon's 13-year friendship with the popular entertainer with his reluctance to meet Nelson Mandela.
'Clearly, Kamahl, [Bradman] made you an Honorary White. Whereas one of the most towering political figures of the 20th century was deemed unworthy of Bradman’s approval,' Adams said in a tweet on Tuesday morning which later went viral.
The comment was blasted on Twitter, with Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine calling Adams 'a disgrace' and leading calls for his sacking.
A tearful Kamahl, now 88, broke down as he told Daily Mail Australia he felt 'humiliated' by Adams' hurtful remark.
The iconic entertainer, who has enjoyed a successful 55 year career in Australia, labelled Adams 'a bully'.
'I think he wanted to put me down, how dare I be so successful? How can I be black and be successful?' Kamahl told Daily Mail Australia.
'He was being flippant but he’s a bully, ironically Adams has possibly the best command of the English language and he chooses to be mean-spirited. I think he was trying to be nasty.'
'Daring to suggest that Sir Donald Bradman invited me to his home in August 1988 as a 'token white' is disgusting at best.
'You may be white, but oh your soul is black!'
Kamahl said he was proud of his 13-year friendship with Bradman, which began with the singer name-checking the cricket icon in a 1988 song 'What is Australia to Me?'
The pair exchanged almost 80 letters and Kamahl was a regular guest for lunch and dinner at Bradman's home in Kensington Park, Adelaide.
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Some Australians spend Boxing Day trashing famous cricketer
Social media’s love affair with cancelling long-dead celebrities has reared its head again, this time with Australian cricket icon Don Bradman in the firing line.
Bradman, known as one of history’s greatest sportsmen, has been dead for 21 years. But now, a dusty old letter addressed to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, two days after the 1975 dismissal election, has apparently “exposed” the former cricketing great as a “right wing nutjob”.
In the letter, which was unearthed by Federation University’s Verity Archer, Bradman urged the new PM to scrap regulations on capital and warned of the risks inflation poses to Australia.
“A marvellous victory in which your personal conduct and dignity stood out against the background of arrogance and propaganda indulged in by your opponents,” Bradman wrote.
“Now you may have to travel a long and difficult road along which your enemies will seek to destroy you.”
Bradman — who was 67 at the time of writing the letter — also warned Mr Fraser about the power of unions and urged for the public to be “re-educated to believe private enterprise is entitled to rewards, as long as it obeys the rules”.
“What the people need are clearly defined rules which they can read and understand so that they can get on with their affairs,” Bradman continued.
“The public must be re-educated to believe that private enterprise is entitled to rewards as long as it obeys fair and reasonable rules laid down by government. Maybe you can influence leaders of the press to a better understanding of this necessity of presentation.”
Social media users and journalists expressed shock that Bradman — who was born in 1908 and raised in an era when horses outnumbered cars on the road — had conservative leanings.
Sydney Morning Herald writer Daniel Brettig described the letter as “extraordinary” and said it showed Bradman’s attempt at an “intervention at an explosive moment in Australian political history”.
Broadcaster Phillip Adams wrote, “Sad. Lost letter from Bradman to Fraser after Whitlam’s dismissal reveals ‘the Don’ to be a RWNJ [right-wing nutjob].”
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Tony Abbott: There are already Indigenous voices in parliament
Goodwill towards Aboriginal people has never been greater and there is all-but-universal support for recognising Indigenous people in the constitution.
But this proposal for a constitutionally entrenched Indigenous voice to the government and to the parliament is way beyond recognition.
It’s a special body for some, but not all, based on how long your ancestors have been in Australia.
Is that what we really want in our constitution: two classes of Australians, based on race? That’s why the coming referendum is almost sure to be the most important issue our country faces next year and why it deserves far more debate in detail than it’s had so far.
Actually, Indigenous people already have a voice.
It’s called the Australian parliament, which now has 11 Indigenous MPs, a record number, all of whom have been chosen and elected in the normal way. Because Australian voters have become so lacking in prejudice and are now so appreciative of the qualities of Indigenous people as to disproportionately put them into our national parliament.
Although our country has never tried harder to give minorities a fair go, Indigenous people especially, that’s not enough for the Albanese government.
Hence this push for a separate and special Indigenous body, over and above the Indigenous MPs already in the parliament, the national Indigenous “coalition of peaks”, and all the Aboriginal land councils that already cover the whole country and represent the traditional owners in whom authority used to rest.
This can’t be because Aboriginal people currently lack a voice. Many Indigenous people speak out powerfully and effectively in our public life.
Nor is it because Aboriginal people currently aren’t being listened to. As the now almost ubiquitous acknowledgements of country, routine presence of the Aboriginal flag alongside the national flag, and angst over Australia Day show, officialdom takes some Indigenous concerns very seriously indeed.
This new voice that the government wants to put to a referendum in the second half of next year is not about listening more closely to Indigenous views or about finally recognising in our constitution that Aboriginal people were here first.
It’s about introducing a kind of co-governance where nothing can be done for 100 per cent of the people without taking into account the concerns of that 4 per cent, some of whose ancestors came before 1788.
As the Prime Minister has said, only a very “brave” government could ignore the voice’s representations. That’s why, should this voice be approved at a referendum, it would constitute something approaching a “third chamber of the parliament”, as Malcolm Turnbull has said.
In fact, the government has two distinct and contradictory positions on the Voice: one, pitched to the wider Australian community, is that the Voice is really no big deal, and that not to support it would be disrespectful to Indigenous people — and perhaps even racist.
The other, pitched to Indigenous leaders and its own activist supporters, is that the Voice would start to redress the shame of dispossession and might help to close the education, employment and life expectancy gap between Indigenous people and the wider Australian community.
Paradoxically, in one of its first decisions, the same government that’s pushing this new Voice totally ignored all the Indigenous voices pleading with it not to scrap the cashless debit card and not to end the alcohol bans in remote Australia which were helping to keep vulnerable women and children safe.
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Indigenous voices that this government heeds are largely urban activist ones that want to change the date of Australia Day, rewrite history, conclude treaties between the Commonwealth and groups of its own citizens, and press for reparations; as opposed to those in remote areas whose focus is on getting Indigenous kids to school and adults to work, and keeping communities safe.
Unless the government plans to release a lot more detail — about exactly who could stand and who could vote for this new body; exactly what will and what won’t be within its scope; how much its members might be paid and its deliberations resourced; and how it’s going to be possible to avoid extensive litigation about whether its representations have adequately been considered and responded to (and that’s a lot to think through) — people will be expected to vote essentially on the “vibe”.
And that’s hardly a safe way to make potentially far-reaching changes to the way we are governed.
If this really was likely to produce hitherto unknown solutions to all the scandalous problems afflicting remote Australia, and if this really was likely to generate a hitherto unprecedented united resolve to make a difference, it might just be worth the risk.
But instead of the appreciation that lasting change for the better happens person-by-person, institution-by-institution and community-by-community, and is akin to slow-boring through hard wood, this new body is likely to reinforce separatism and the quest for instant solutions. That’s when it’s not acting as an echo chamber for grievances or a gravy train for activists.
That’s why I hope you will join people like Senator Jacinta Price, a proud Celtic, Warlpiri Australian woman, not just to oppose this unnecessary Voice which would be wrong in principle and bad in practice, but in finding better ways to recognise Aboriginal people in our constitution and to have the original Australians participate more fully in the great life we have here.
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Tesla chaos strikes: Long Christmas holiday queues for charging station reveals the harsh reality of owning an electric vehicle in Australia
The people caught out must be either gullible or a bit dim. Electric vehicles are just not suitable for long-distance travel
Australian Tesla drivers have been forced to wait in 90-minute queues at charging stations as thousands take to the roads over the holiday period.
Queues for charging stations have been spotted nationwide, including in Victoria and NSW.
The huge queues have angered Tesla owners, with many blasting Australia's lack of electric vehicle infrastructure.
ABC reporter Phil Williams shared a video of the electric cars all lined up at a charging bay in Wodonga, on the border of Victoria and NSW on Wednesday. 'Wodonga Tesla charge points overwhelmed with wait times around 90 mins,' he said.
In the footage, Tesla owners can be seen aimlessly standing around their cars as they wait for a charge before getting on their way more than an hour later.
There were similar scenes at a Coffs Harbour charging point in northern NSW on Wednesday, with Teslas stretching through the carpark as drivers waited their turn to power up.
Many Aussies were quick to call out electric vehicles after seeing the footage. 'Think I'll stick to a petrol powered car. Takes less than 5 minutes to fill up my car's tank, pay for the petrol and to then be on my way again,' one said.
'Why anyone would want an electric car that can take up to an hour to fully recharge is beyond me,' another declared. 'They obviously have way too much time on their hands to just wait either waiting to recharge or recharge!'
'So how do you travel during peak periods in an EV? Just be prepared to add 3 hours to your trip? That won't help with the take up of the technology?' a third said.
'I'm an expat Australian and this is the reason I left. We're 10 years behind the rest of the world with EV and innovation,' added another.
Others called for an expansion of the charging network across Australia to solve the problem of long wait times.
'There are eleven petrol stations in Wodonga, multiple outlets for every major brand, and only one place to charge EVs which is just outside the council offices.'
Another suggested: 'Every petrol station should have to fit charging points.'
Others suggested the long wait times were due to the Christmas holidays, while some said it was likely the scenes in Wodonga were from a Tesla club meet-up.
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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)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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