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Last updated on August 5th, 2017 at 08:05 am
Noel Pearson interviewed on Lateline:
It’s an absolutely shameful hour that has descended on us, absolutely shameful hour where even an emergency intervention to protect the safety of our children is hindered, is hindered by people who supposedly have good will for Aboriginal people and in fact, those people are willing, they are willing the protection and succour to Aboriginal children to fail in the same way and as vehemently as they will failure in Iraq.
In the face of considerable (and sometimes very personal) criticism, Pearson isn’t backing down at all. Nor should he.
He is a true leader, and Australia needs more like him.
Posted by closeapproximation on 2007 06 26 at 07:51 PM • permalink
I had a conversation on Sunday where two friends got a shock when they asked me what I thought of Howards’ plan. When I said I agreed with it they had a look of horror on their faces and then started about denial of rights, etc etc. As they were both Queenslanders I asked them what their state Government was doing, after all it’s not just about the NT, given Pearson is a Queenslander, how are the problems of Aborigines there different? Silence ensued.
Time to ask do-gooders like Banisch over at LP who proudly crowed that he had been involved in Aboriginal affairs since 1988 what they themselves propose to do in their own states to help solve this problem. (sound of crickets chirping)
He is well prepared for the nay sayers and those who have a vested interest in the status quo.
I suspect that nay sayers will stick their heads up each day for a few days, the NP will knock their heads off.
I know many people who have not been actively involved in aboriginal issues in the past are now preparing to offer pragmatic assistance to Noel Pearson.
He needs the support of ordinary people to counter the crap that he is copping.
Noel P. will never be welcome at The
ABCALPAGE with comments like that!They seem to be happy while children are being molested to sit back and critise someone trying to make a difference.
Posted by curious george on 2007 06 26 at 08:00 PM • permalink
7. ” do-gooders like Banisch over at LP who proudly crowed that he had been involved in Aboriginal affairs since 1988 “
given the disaster that aboriginal affairs has become, I’d keep it to myself if I was involved. It’s rather like proudly proclaiming that you were lookout on the last watch on the Titanic…
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2007 06 26 at 08:05 PM • permalink
Pearson was so impressive, I was quite emotional while watching him.
The fact that hearing someone speak with such honesty,passion AND common sense was so surprising to me that it almost brought me to tears, speaks volumes about the standard of public debate these days. It was astonishingly refreshing.
At the Iraq line, I actually threw my arms in the air in celebration and declared Noel Pearson my new hero.
#1 Noel Pearson is indeed a giant among men.
they are willing the protection and sucker (PHONETIC) to Aboriginal children to fail
lol
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 06 26 at 08:08 PM • permalink
Our two great nations are the same, yet different. Ours, imported people and had them in chains. Yours, the Aboriginals were there, when white Britain came.
In the U.S. we have those people, those that supposedly care, but are false.
There was and is disgrace in both nations.
WE fostered a great deal of that disgrace, giving money hand over fist, to the point of an absolute “right” to those handouts. All along, WE should have been giving a hand UP NOT hand OUTS.
In our nation, we fought a great Civil War, to start, tiny as that start was, to go with the hand UP.
Noel Pearson. You sound very Lincolnesque. May you have the fortitude to press on, disregard the false people and win.
This is about the third or fourth time I’ve tried to compose a comment; but they were always inadequate.
This guy has it. I wish him well; he will have many enemies, mostly from the left and aboriginal welfare industry.
He himself may not be a natural ally for me, or Howard, and I’m sure he gets stick.
But he has it.
Also, his words are so applicable to Canada, where the Abo Welfare industry is so much more developed that $9 billion a year disappear and there is still poverty, drunkeness, gasoline sniffing and child abuse.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 06 26 at 08:17 PM • permalink
#9 Curious George, I think the principle is called “reciprocity” (not the famous Canadian debate of 1911) but where:
A group of do-gooders require the cause they are doing good for to be always in need of their do-gooding.
In other words, if the children weren’t being molested, or kids sniffing gasoline, or the community drinking water poisoned with their own urine, then these people would not have a political axe to grind.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 06 26 at 08:27 PM • permalink
Terribly sorry. I left out OUR “aboriginals”, the Native American Indian. We killed God knows, how many and housed the rest on tracts of what was thought to be worthless land.
Thanks to the ingenuity of the Native American Indian, that once “worthless land” now houses places called casinos, where now, the whites go to give them money, gladly.
As it has been said and it is so true…One, a fool and his money, are soon parted, because of…Two, the house always wins.
Noel has said it all !! Has put the cherry on it and sealed the deal. The fact that some people are in opposition to this just shows that we do infact face ‘mad’ people in this country. So absolutely twisted and torn up inside by their own hatreds, failures and vacuous ideas that they can no longer recognise truth from lies and good from evil.
I heard some trendy, city slicker Koori fellah say that the solution was more “empowerment” for Aboriginals in the bush. Man! I did not know weather to laugh or cry.
Noel is a legend and needs our support.
Watch for lefty media outlets like the ABC to start referring to Noel Pearson as one of Australia’s most “controversial” aboriginal leaders.
Posted by Hank Reardon on 2007 06 26 at 08:41 PM • permalink
I have sent a letter of encouragement to Mr Pearson at the Cape York Institute. I presume this to be the correct email address (the only one I could find on their website): info@cyi.org.au
The forthright words of this bloke can not be written off as those of a Howard lackey (as we can see from this interview with the soon to be failed ALP candidate for Bennelong ) when she was merely an impartial political reporter with the ABC back in 2004.
Seen here
This man is clearly in nobodie’s pocket…It’s a powerful endorsement and unlike that goose Jon Stanhope’s comments, Mr Pearson has knowledge of the situation.
A brave stand from him indeed .
(I must confess I am almost shocked Lateline didn’t shaft the piece..)
I just had an inspiring thought for a Leunig cartoon.
Hark back to the Iran-Iraq war and the use of kids to clear mine fields.
Leunig could draw a bunch of Age-reading lefties and rock spiders urging on a gaggle of malnourished, petrol sniffing kids to run cross a mine field to attack Howard on the other side.
Pity it will never get drawn.
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 06 26 at 09:05 PM • permalink
Yes it is a goody, that quote “ask the child cowering in corner if he wants a little bit of paternalism” will be one for the ages.
I wonder if Franny has taken up NP’s offer to spend a week in an aboriginal community ?
Come on Franny, care for a bit of fieldwork?
A bit more of an effort than walking over the Harbour Bridge, but it would do you much more good.
#24 I saw that guy, because he’s been getting a dream run on SBS as the counter-voice to Howard, but all he can offer is psychobabble about “empowerment”, and Canada as the shining example (see Wimpy at #17). With respect to our long-suffering Canuck friends, one can only ask, ‘If Canada’s the answer, what the heck was the question?’
- #32
They’re no longer advertising the daily podcast of this segment (that egg highlighted a while back), but it is still on the site here – c. 20 min mp3 file.The formatting of the daily podcast is below, FYI:http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/bst_20070620.mp3
Dunno when they eventually scrub the files.
Not many interviews on Lateline are worth the dot on the letter i in the word shit. Last nights interview with Pearson gave me goosebumps. He’s a hard headed rationalist with a touch of the Methodist preacher. Bloody impressive bloke – clean and articulate too.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 26 at 09:42 PM • permalink
The “progressive” left is so totally disconnected from reality it’s deaf to mainstream Australia shouting “Noel Pearson, go for it.” You only have to spend a day or two in a remote community to see how bad things are. Three months for me in the NT turned into an endurance trial. How the left expects remote area Australians, black or white, to continue living in those conditions is beyond me.
Mutitjulu resident Mario Giuseppe said people were considering fleeing into the sand hills around Uluru.
“They think that the army’s coming to grab their kids and the police are coming to help them take them away,” he said.
Other tribal elders, such as Donkey Kong and Crash Bandicoot, were unavailable for comment.
The fact that Noel Pearson doesn’t care about the opinion of the do-nothing do-gooders is great. The Lateline interview was classic television, I thought. It’s a pity dopey Red Kerry wasn’t the interviewer, though. I’ll be doing up a post on this subject later on.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 06 26 at 09:51 PM • permalink
- Any initiative, any solution, any outcome.
“Nay” they cry.
Anyone but Howard, the bottom line.Noel Pearson grows in stature daily.Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 06 26 at 09:52 PM • permalink
Not only that, if you know anyone who has ever spent time in a traditional Aboriginal area, he is able to clearly articulate EXACTLY elements that cause a lot of these problems, things such as sit down money, boredom, and grog. He effectively shoots the arguments raised by luvvies down in flames as he is able to present what REALLY happens versus what a dinner party in Carlton feels will work.
NP is a product of St Peter’s Lutheran College here in Brissie, lawyer and I think he did a stint with Slater and Gordon (large law firm)in Melbourne.
Personal experience, intellect, education, passion and pragmatism. Devastating combination.
I’m afraid the ABC have got their leg in a trap now. They can’t push him aside and ignore him and each time he comes on he’s going to be putting his knuckles on their eyebrows.
Poor Leigh Sales thought she was going to get Peter Sutton (link at #10)to shit can the plan, but that went very wrong for her as well.
Come back to Lateline soon Tony Jones, your dose awaits..
Public cluebatting should be in primetime. It’d rate it’s tits off in my house.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 26 at 10:04 PM • permalink
- It disgusts me that people are criticising JWH for taking action, calling it an election ploy (another Tampa); criticising JWH for not doing anything for the last 11 years. And it disgusts me more that there are aboriginal people out there stirring up fear and resentment; rejecting Noel Pearson’s ideas. I ask these people “What have YOU done to improve the situation?”
Well, I ask, what about the preceeding 10, 20, 30, 40 years? What about all the money that has been thrown at the problem over the years? What has that achieved?An election ploy. So the suggestion is to do nothing concrete, let’s have an inquiry. Investigate more. Form a committee. For the love of God, it is time to step in.
And now over at Fairfax it’s black children overboard.
There are lots of things to like about NP and lots to dislike but that he speaks loudly, well and logically about the issues of his people cannot be in dispute. I have little exposure to actual aboriginals but what I have witnessed cannot be a survival strategy for a race. Changes must be made and those proposed by the Government and Pearson seem to be the best options.
I have often wondered if the “short cut” solution to the Aboriginal problems is to just say “Here you go Noel you’re the Aboriginal “Czar” for the next 5 years, we’ll do it your way and we’ll give you want you want and need, lets see how you go.”
The big problem for the Left here is Howard just needs to throw this issue to the people of Australia and after 5 minutes of listening to NP they’ll throw their weight behind it. Australians relate intuitively to pragmatic back-to-basics solutions.
The Iraq line was stunning – pure integrity, that all that matters is people are suffering not who the “players” are.
Iraq is interesting to because there are strong parallels between the COIN strategies being used by Petraeus/Keane/Kagan and our Kilcullen and this plan for the Aboriginals, ie first and foremost SECURE the population!
Posted by the nailgun on 2007 06 26 at 10:42 PM • permalink
Here are the word tags Bahnisch at LP has put over the Pearson plan:
Politics, Philosophy, Poverty, Federal election 2007, Race, Howardia, Indigenous, Authoritarianism.
No mention of children, but plenty of hate.
This was a post by maugrim at LP the other day that sums a few things up:
Well Mark, what have YOU achieved in nearly 20 years? Do you think that Aboriginal children deserve yet another 20 years of procrastination just so that you can feel righteous about creating self-determination whilst you sit in comfortable surroundings feeling better about yourself?
Have you spent ANY time in the places that Pearson speaks of or do you support Aborigines from the safety of a pub in Brisbane?
I only read the transcript of Pearson’s interview this morning and it was, magnificent. I think you are right nailgun (#51) to say Australians relate intuitively to pragmatic back-to-basics solutions.
The bit of the interview that struck me was this:
There is within every community good people, and it’s an absolutely shameful thing that those good people are misled by people whose children sleep safely at night. You know, that’s the horrendous thing here. That the people who are nay saying any kind of intervention are people whose children, like my own, sleep safely at night. And I think that’s a terrible indulgence.
When our children sleep safely at night, we seek to put road blocks in the way and we wish failure, we wish failure upon any decisive action that’s going to deliver some relief of suffering to vulnerable children.
And then I thought, at the risk of bringing down a whole mass of ire upon my head, how many of nay sayers with kids who sleep safely at night are influenced in turn by people who don’t have any children at all?
- #32 and 35
They have scrubbed the Noel Pearson Interview and are only Playing a Kevin Rudd interview- Noel Pearson really got them pooping their pants- He won’t play tyheir favourite little brown man.
I see Noel Pearson as our First Aboriginal Prime Minister- Ihope I live to see the day.
The AB BLOODY C IS an ABC DISGRACE and should have its funding slashed, unless they balance b up their interviewers and ceases to be RIGHT OF PASSAGE FOR LEFT WING TRAITORS
A MAN has been charged with abusing two teenagers at the remote Aboriginal community of Maningrida, one of 60 communities the Federal Government will control under its plan to stamp out child sex abuse.
It is alleged the 40-year-old man assaulted the youths on May 21 at the community, about 500km east of Darwin.
He has been charged with assaulting a person indecently, attempting sexual intercourse with a child under 16 years, attempting to procure a child under 16 years and indecently assaulting a child under 16 years.
Earlier this week, three teenagers from Maningrida were committed to stand trial over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old boy over five months at the community.
The left’s view: intervening in this community is racist.
- logical thinking.
1. Howard thought of it.
2. Howard is racist and evil.
3. Therefore this plan is racist and evil.Illogical thinking.
1. There is an out-of-control social problem where many children are daily in grave danger. Someone ought to do something about it.
2. Someone is trying to do something about it.
3. Thank the Lord.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 27 at 12:50 AM • permalink
you should have told me there might be ABC types hanging around. I wouldn’t have ironically swapped the titles of “logical” and “illogical” thinking. Now they’ll think we’re utter leftoids. What a mess!
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 27 at 01:01 AM • permalink
#71 – Welcome aboard. Wronwright will be around with your jackboots later. Don’t say anything about the bee stings, he’s kind of sensitive about it.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 27 at 01:25 AM • permalink
The Age has launched its inevitable attack on John Howard’s plan. And what a cynical piece of left wing manipulation with its claim of Aboriginal elders saying this is John Howard’s new “children overboard” stunt. Children overboard is history except in the minds of bitter lefties who blame it for keeping Howard in the Lodge. Neither Aboriginal elders nor any other normal people would think of it. The “coaching” of the Aborigines to give the Age this headline is a disgrace.
The Age obviously fears Howard’s decisive action will put him back into power and that is a greater evil than any amount of child sex abuse.
The claims of child sex abuse don’t come from Howard, nor did he commission the report that revealed its extent. That was the work of a Labor government. So Howard could hardly have created child sex abuse claims for his own political gain. Yet the Age is now implying exactly that while at the same time down-playing the problem. Is it just me or is there something very sick and disturbing about the Age’s being willing to sacrifice toddlers in pursuit of its political aims? The Age staff will say the same thing about John Howard but it is the Age, and not JWH, who is taking the position that will allow child sex abuse to continue unabated.
In my observation. an interesting point about the left’s “discussion” of the matter is the focussing on the last 10-12 years and decrying the lack of progress during this time. By implication, the previous 20 years were an earthly paradise for the Kooris, under the kind stewardship of keating hawke and the secret leftoid fraser.
JoHo has of course been PM for what-nearly 12 years. I must be mistaken in my suspicions -surely a coincidence….. The left would never try to rewrite history like that. Would they?
Cheers
RodC
#75 – Prior to JoHo, all Iraqi and aboriginal children flew kites and frollicked in flower gardens.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 06 27 at 03:01 AM • permalink
A little story from WA. If any budding ABC chappie or chappette wants to make a State premier look like a total tool heres how to do it.
Send 1 camera team to Roebourne here in WA, on pension day. Set up a few cameas, 1 at the bar, 1 overlooking a couple of the parks and one at the nursing post.
Film the next 2 days, then play Allan Carpenters (WA premier) comments on “we need police to protect our own communities”, keep replaying that speech (and Stanhopes) as the blood flows and the fights start. You will be showing what happens EVERY week in that town.
My mum was a nurse there for a year or 2. One highlight was picking the maggots from the split open head of a lady whod been on a bender for a few days and got flyblown. Another was being told that they didnt test for AIDS or reccomend it despite high incidences of syphilis and other STD’s, because the health department viewed gatering that information “racist”. I strongly believe a previously undiagnosed wave of AIDS will be uncovered by the national health checks.
I have lived in communities blighted by this behaviour including Port Hedland, Geraldton, and a number of others. My sister works as a teachers aide in Roebourne now for a disabled Aboriginal boy. That disability was almost certainly caused by his mothers lifestyle while pregnant.
Many of the ladies (and it most often is the ladies) who try to keep a nice home and look after their kids do it this way. They get their welfare payments directly debited to pay for rent, power and other regular costs. This is because the family obligations would see her having to give any available money to relatives who happen to be nearby when she goes to wthdraw money.
Sounds a little similar to JHo’s plan doesnt it??Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 27 at 03:15 AM • permalink
How about Katherine, Tennant Creek, Roper River, Palmerston, Darwin mall? Everywhere in the NT and FNQ?
May I tell you how Darwin police do their policing? Last year I had a fishing accident on the Coburg Peninsula, when a heavy-duty fish spat a heavy-duty lure and I suffered a severe eye injury, was taken back to Darwin hospital, and the police arrested my husband for assault, interrogated me and tried to follow it through to a court action.
This was when hundreds of aboriginal women and children were being flogged by aboriginal men (and still are).
I’m OK now, but those women and kids aren’t, no thanks to the local police force.
- OT
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Havent been much out of WA. Wiluna was special as well. A pub with a sign in in back saying “No Soliciting”. Not to mention being offered a root for a pack of ciggies on the way in.
Every shop in town sells the t shirt “Wiluna-its not hell but you can see it from here”
Also has a huge car dump outside town near the reserve.Heres an interesting set of submissions to the liquor lisencing mob regaurding Meekatharra here in WA. Been through Meeka quite a bit and its as bad as anywhere. Get down to sections 2.1, 3.2 and 4.2 they are as bad as they get.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 27 at 04:40 AM • permalink
#71 And when Wronwright arrives and hands you the requisite 500 forms, he really does expect you to fill out every single one.
I know they’re all identical, but he’ll expect it anyway. No photocopying.
Apparently it’s his way of justifying the continued employment of the Penmanship Analysis and Consultation Organisation or something. I dunno.
- PIMF,
Would help if I put the link in?Here it is.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 06 27 at 04:44 AM • permalink
The whole indigenous communities thing is weird. I’ve been to lots over the years, some you can’t get into, some you can, some you just pay $10 cash at the community centre. Most of them pretend to be dry, but the XXXX and VB cans at the gate tell a different story.
The people are generally nice but are usually pissed or stoned out of their heads.
Broome’s the notable exception. Mixed race people, by which I mean black/white/asian people, are way out in front of the fullblood people down in the creek. The businesses and creative arts are developed and operated by the mixed people, the port and muscat flagons are still down in the creek.
And if anyone thinks this is rascist cant, just take a moment or two to visit and get an eyeful.
The truly cynical are those claiming that John Howard is being politically manipulative in addressing the problems of indigenous Australians in remote areas.
The time for the seemingly endless “consultations” is over and it is now time for action. Claims that the army is “invading” Aboriginal lands, that the Government is attempting to take those lands over to strip them of uranium, that people are fleeing into the long grass because they are scared of another “stolen generation” are put forward as obstacles to action and to generate support for the status quo.
I am amazed at the vast number of organisations and of people who make these claims, and who also claim to have been working with the people in these areas for decades. Why then, after decades of work and the enormous amount of both human and financial resources invested, have all those efforts not worked? Why are the Australians in these remote areas seemingly worse off than ever before?
The teams moving into these areas will include doctors and other medical workers, trained indigenous community workers; interpreters and local guides, military personnel to take care of both logistical and medical needs, police officers who will attempt to impose order, enforce the bans on alcohol and drugs, and interview those who have been subjected to violence and abuse (some of whom will, for the first time, be able to speak to a person in authority), and legal specialists who are to advise and assist in all matters related to the law.
These teams were not put together overnight. This is only the beginning of the long-term effort needed to bring some order back to these remote communities. Most people recognise this. Claims of a “Tampa II” are laughable and demonstrate blind political bias.
I do ask, however, who is doing this heedless-of-the-consequences scaremongering about another “stolen generation”? About a military “invasion”? About lands being taken over for their resources?
Those claiming that this is a shallow, politically motivated intervention on the part of the Government should instead question their motives in making that claim. They should also question the state premiers who have refused to take part in this effort, or who have done so very reluctantly, or even expected funding in exchange.
Denigrating this attempt to help other Australians, when it is barely off the ground, is despicable.
I apologise for the length of this post, but this is a subject that I feel very strongly about.
The truly cynical are those claiming that John Howard is being politically manipulative in addressing the problems of indigenous Australians in remote areas.
Right on target and anyone who has any doubts about what has been going on should read the first letter in the letters to the Australian last Saturday.
The contents are chilling: From the letter …..(aboriginal) children across the nation are being stripped of their self-worth in the violence of rape and its horrific sequel. Too long have I and many others treated and seen the victims of blatant sexual abuse in remote Aboriginal communities and outback towns. My many years as a remote area nurse saw me treat too many too often.
I ask the politically enlightened to give a 5-year-old boy painful penicillin injections for his anal sores caused by syphilis. Why don’t they come and change the colostomy bag on a 6-year-old girl so mutilated by her rape that her genitalia had to be reconstructed? Or let them help us convince an 11-year-old that her rape wasn’t her fault (whilst we are giving her antibiotics for the gonorrhoea she acquired). That’s what those at the coalface deal with on a distressingly regular basis…..
And these are the events that Noel Pearson has been speaking out about with so much compassion and understanding mixed with a fervent desire to correct the crimes that are taking place. He has my admiration for speaking out so clearly!! However, if the opponents of the protection plan happen to be successful in willing its failure, the tragedy will be that their success will be measured by the destruction of the very people and society that they allegedly support.
- Bolta picked a great time to go on holidays. For years, he has been campaigning for something to be done about the plight of aboriginal children and would probably enjoy being in the thick of it right now, instead of swanning around Tuscany or somewhere.
His May 30 column generated the usual rat bag comments.
My respect for Noel Pearson just went up several notches after reading that transcript, what a breath of fresh air he is.
darrinhV2, for an even better impression, listen to an audio of Pearson as well. The transcript can give the impression that Pearson is hesitant and primitive. In fact, he is a confident, coherent speaker and he dealt very capably with the interviewer’s loaded questions. These qualities are much more evident in the audio.
You think this is bad… just imagine how much worse the situation would be if it wasn’t for all those people walking across the bridge and saying “sorry”.
Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 27 at 09:24 AM • permalink
- Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 27 at 09:36 AM • permalink
kae … don’t take me literally. i am saying that a sorry statement will not solve the indigenous problem. it won’t. it needs people like pearson, you and i to give ideas on how to improve the lot of disadvantaged australians. i need to comment a bit more, i’ve been identified as a troll once!
i have a good idea on how to solve it, ask me how …
No doubt that Noel Pearson is an impressive thinker and a genuine leader. Quite a remarkable presence, too, when you hear him speak in person.
My reading is that he is respected by most of the commenters here because he dares to speak the truth against the entrenched interests of the separatist/welfare-dependency guilt-mongers. It’s certainly true that he stands for individual responsibility and accountability. But don’t think for a minute that he is party political – because he is not.
I think he is being 100% honest when says (words to the effect) that he “doesn’t give a damn whether Howard or Rudd wins the election” becasue the issues he cares about are “much more important than that”.
He will work with any Government, State or Federal, of any political colour, to achieve his ends. The fact that he will work with the Howard Government is just in itself enough for the strident left to condemn him.
The man is first rate Prime Minister material, frankly. The problem is that you have to be a party man and do the numbers first or you’ll never get there, no matter how damn able you are.
TFK
- Stevo,
Relax. I think everyone understood that you were being sarcastic.* In fact, it was a nice burn, which is why we’ve been working with it ever since.* Everyone, of course, except those at the ABC, who are now excited about your “subversive” left-wing comments.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 27 at 10:05 AM • permalink
PS: Just looking back over some of the comments, I must say that I thought that Leigh Sales did a good interview. Yes, she did go straight to a number of points of (trumped up) “contention” but that was the right thing for a good interviewer to do – after all, this bullshit is all in play in the media now and hearing Noel Person respond to it was brilliant.
Just remember that Sales got into trouble with the comrades back at the Haymarket Collective for being too “even-handed” in her recent book about David Hicks. She even questioned the credibility of his early calims of mistreatment <gasp>. Her politics are probably left of centre, but she is not as obviously biased as many others of the ABC set.
Then again, Lateline is generally of a better standard that (for instance) the 7:30 Report, Four Corners or <chunder> Media Watch. Even Snowcone looks pretty good compared to most of the ABC, and at least the show has a good balance of interview guests. Politicians of all kinds are tested in Lateline interviews and those on the right side of centre usually prove more than capable of defending themselves well.
TFK
#72 IT – I know that where there are bee stings there is mead. I just know it.
#86 Ash – if I drink enough mead, I can see 500 forms, no matter how many forms he has.
#79 Egg_ just glad to be a board. Bit flat this time of night though.
And I believe that Noel Pearson would have made a far better Australian of the Year than the museum curator. He has done more for Australia than Flannery ever will
- #105 right on all points. To a certain extent, a good interviewer needs to ask “hostile” questions. This gives the person being interviewed a chance to answer back to critics, whose views are summarised in the question.
I think Tony Jones is reasonable too. He had a good interview with Steyn. But us giving praise to anyone at the ABC, however faint, probably is the kiss of death for their careers.Posted by daddy dave on 2007 06 27 at 11:16 AM • permalink
I have always admired Noel Pearson, since learning about some of his work for Cape York indigines.
There was an excellent Australian Story on Noel and his brother Gerhardt and their work for Cape York aborigines.
These people might ostensibly care for aborigines (what does that cost them?) but they hate John Howard more. They are so desperate for Howard to fail that they will sacrifice the well-being of this nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
Shameful isn’t the half of it. These people make me sick.
Noel Pearson, you are a giant among men. I salute you.