Together We Write History
They were just cast there. His brother was ailing. The country was toxic.
"The country's gone bad," he said at his morning coffee. "The world's gone bad," the proprietor replied.
"English!!!" he thought. This strange language.
Around, about, above, below, the Voice campaign, for those who were paying attention, grew more putrid, more divisive and more confusing by the day; dragging the country down with it.
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's whole hearted involvement diminished him and diminished his office.
The gravy train of indigenous activists, with thousands of organisations and billions dollars, some $28 billion on one count, exposed.
What? Nobody else's voice counted? No one else had a history?
The Rousseauian discourse, the noble savage, defied all logic, stepped outside the realm. It was nothing. It was everything. It was just damned downright putrid, this disgusting and unnecessary conflict, this repeated name calling, this terrible stench propped up by taxpayer's dollars and advocates everywhere.
It should have come undone long ago.
Almost nobody was decent; there was no decency in the debate. It was just a rabble. There may have been some with good intentions, but most of it was just plain damn stupid, this contesting not of ideas but of virtue, not of practical or administrative goals, but of feel good garbage from a government which should have known better.
After three miserable years of non-existent summers, relentless rain and cold winters they were all finally luxuriating in a blast of warm weather. The Bill Gates funded climate change squawkers could carry on as much as they liked, it was just wonderful, this blast of warm, old fashioned air, a return to summers of 100 degree temperatures and the blessed warmth which seeped through to the bones.
On headlands and stark cliffs.
He noticed it; the uptick in mood, the joyous smiles, the incidental leap into delight; and all around, beauty, an indescribable beauty.
Could it have even been imagined all those years ago, when the first seeds were released, or arrived?
Well, it had happened before, it would happen again. There was no beginning and there was no end.
And this country, a stage fright, an instant petrification of hope, a caught flash. And they stepped forth joyously.
The politics was nothing. The media was nothing. Enjoy the day. Delight in this, our glorious place on this fascinating planet.
Let it be. Thrive. Live Long And Prosper.
AUSTRALIAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA
SKY NEWS
Prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine clarified his comments about two key matters that have divided his side of the campaign in the lead up to the Voice to Parliament referendum.
The Indigenous leader sparked questions over the weekend when he said he supported treaties and changing the Australia Day date – a stance that is in direction opposition of his fellow campaigners.
He also suggested voting No to the Voice will make a treaty between First Nations people and government more likely.
“One of the things about this debate is that I have always been honest even though I know people on my side don’t agree with me on these two issues and that’s treaties and that’s changing the date,” he told ABC Insiders on Sunday.
THE NEW DAILY
Pressure is mounting on Richard Goyder before his scheduled appearance at a make-or-break Senate hearing that could decide the embattled Qantas chairman’s future.
The Qantas, AFL and Woodside chairman is facing calls from union officials to resign from his position with the airline, and pave the way for a new direction and new leadership.
Michael Kaine, national secretary of the Transport Workers Union, on Sunday called for the board to be spilled and Qantas to strip former CEO Alan Joyce of his $24 million bonus after the company was found to have illegally sacked 1700 employees by the High Court.
“The Joyce regime has been toppled, but the airline cannot achieve the reset necessary for its survival under the same board that presided over the largest case of illegal sackings in Australian corporate history,” Kain said.
***
Comedian and actor Russell Brand is facing further claims after more women have come forward with allegations, it has been reported.
‘Several women’ are said to have contacted The Times and The Sunday Times in the wake of a joint investigation with Channel 4 Dispatches which aired on the weekend and which saw separate allegations of sexual assault from four women.
The Times said on Monday that the new allegations had not yet been investigated, and will now “be rigorously checked”.
Brand, 48, vehemently denies the allegations and said all of his relationships have been “consensual”, in a video posted online on Friday night.
The initial claims of rape and sexual assault are said to be from a period between 2006 and 2013, when Brand was at the height of his fame and working for the BBC, Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films.
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
A slim majority of Australians intend to vote no in the referendum on 14 October, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.
After two punishing weeks of partisan contention, the latest poll of 1,135 respondents has no voters in the majority (51%) for the first time in the Guardian Essential survey, with 41% intending to vote yes and 9% on the fence.
Significantly more respondents (42%) report being a “hard” no than a “hard” yes (28%). A further 8% are a “soft” no and 12% a “soft” yes, with 9% undecided. Those ratios are consistent with results a fortnight ago. (Figures may not total 100% due to rounding).
All the negative movements recorded in this fortnight’s survey are within the poll’s margin of error, which is plus or minus three points. The data also indicates 29% of respondents remain persuadable – describing themselves as hard or soft yes or no, or undecided – which is the same percentage as a fortnight ago.
But the trend over the past couple of months suggests the yes campaign is going backwards.
NEWS
BHP shareholders have joined a chorus of criticism levelled at the mining giant over its support for the Indigenous Voice to parliament.
Last week, lawyers from Pogust Goodhead smashed Australia’s largest company over its $2 million donation to the Yes campaign, labelling it hypocritical.
Pogust Goodhead is currently leading a $70 billion class action suit against the mining giant over the Samarco mine disaster in Brazil in 2015, which devastated Indigenous peoples’ lives.
A total of 700,000 people – many of them belonging to Indigenous communities – are pursuing a class action suit against BHP in the UK for its role in the dam failure.
A number of shareholders piled on as Pogust Goodhead’s criticsm went public, with some saying they were confident they could “make their own mind up” without major corporations wading into social issues.
“I am pretty sure people can make up their own mind on these social issues,” one wrote in a lengthy thread on HotCopper, Australia‘s largest stock trading and investment forum.