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Calling Australia home

1/9/2017

6 Comments

 
PictureCartoon by Natasha Williams-Novak
As these last few weeks in Canberra have demonstrated, the Australian monoculture is a myth, writes Dawn Rollins. 

By Dawn Rollins
 
IN THE past month, seven members of the Federal Parliament have been referred to the High Court after discovering that they hold, might have held or are entitled to hold dual citizenship, which has the potential to render their election to office invalid.
 
As the High Court begins its examination of who should be voted on or off the island, it is interesting to consider the issues in their broader context. The first question is whether dual citizenship or entitlement to dual citizenship necessarily means that allegiance is compromised. From a legal perspective maybe, but its practical application is pretty absurd.
 
The second question is, if we are to lower the requirements for our politicians, on what basis can we justify a higher standard of allegiance for Australia’s permanent residents? 
 
Amid the hoo-ha and palaver plaguing our nation’s capital, proposed amendments to Australia’s citizenship laws are making their way through the Federal Parliament. The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, has told us these amendments are necessary to preserve our national security and the integrity of Australian citizenship.
 
Under this new regime, permanent residents would be required to wait for at least four years before making an application. They would also be required to prove their commitment to Australia, including by passing a new English language test equivalent to that expected of university entrants – a test which many Australians who were born here would never be able to pass. As the 2016 Census tells us, these laws would apply to a vast number of new migrants to our country, many of whom happen to be brown.
 
The extent to which racism impacts depends on how the colour of your skin is assessed and graded by the dominant majority. “Black”, “white”’ and “brown” are not classifications that exist because of biology or scientific fact but because of social conditioning, history and political opinion entrenched over many decades. Skin colour is just a label to which we have attached our ideas about supremacy and inferiority. It also informs the global distribution of wealth and power.
​
Is it possible that there is a relationship between citizenship, skin colour and belonging in Australia? Are we prepared to accept the cultural heritage of some, but not others?

A few of us are First Australians – and the rest of us are from … well, just about everywhere. We are first generation, sixth generation, bi-cultural, bi-lingual and multi-lingual; some of us speak English, some of us do not. As Mikhaela Barlow pointed out last month in her courageous article Little white lies, in Bass Coast we are Bunurong, Boon Wurrung and, among other things, we also have a proud Italian heritage. Migration paths and current statistics show that 49 per cent of Australians were either born overseas themselves or one or both parents were. We also know that up to one quarter of Australians are dual citizens or entitled to become dual citizens.

Until now, however, we have acted as though we belong to a mono-culture and that it is this sameness that keeps us safe.

As these last few weeks in Canberra have demonstrated, we are not the same. Constitutional issues aside, this is an exciting time in Australia because the blinders are coming off.

So what is it that we are still not seeing?
 
In Canberra, our politicians know they have one job to do and that is to win or retain their seats; they understand the power of fear. They are well-versed in the business of anecdotal evidence and half-baked stories about law and order and border protection. Perhaps we should stop to consider that all this might not, in fact, have anything to do with “them” and everything to do with “us” because we have allowed our own sense of decency to become increasingly distorted.
 
Australia’s war is not with ISIS, Muslims, “boat people”, Asians or people smugglers. Australia’s war is against the mediocrity which has been polluting our minds, eroding our sense of fairness and ripping through the collective spirit like cancer.
 
In stark contrast to the dull and unimaginative minds that got us into this mess in the first place, it will take great minds of all colours to get us out of it.  
6 Comments
Geoff Ellis
2/9/2017 01:55:12 pm

Hear Hear!

Just over a hundred years ago Australia had a paternally German PM (Chris Watson) who had been born in Chile and came here on a boat.

He remains our only PM born in a non-empire/commonwealth country and I wonder if they'd even let him into the country today?

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Eve Hollole
8/9/2017 07:46:55 am

Well if he was also brown, muslim or gay I doubt he'd get a look in! Let's just hope that Nick Xenophon is not also a Cypriot lol.

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Mikhaela Barlow
8/9/2017 09:16:24 am

Your concern on this topic is touching, Councillor. However, you and your colleagues have done nothing about the racist mural in Cowes on the side of Bendigo Bank.
Signage requires permits. Council authorised a racist artwork. I'm wondering what you intend to do about this very issue in Bass Coast?

Reply
Geoff Ellis
10/9/2017 11:06:43 am

One of the pleasures of encroaching enfeeblement is being able to look back and say we have come this far. The downside is that there is still much work to be done.

Gender? When schooners were thruppence the wives and kids were outside in the parked cars while men held court inside. Equal pay, seriously? LGBTI? Wow, back then there was a set of words to define, contain and restrain. Differently abled? There are no more 'sheltered workshops', are there? But how many obstacles do we need to remove before there is access and inclusion for all. Nationality? In my primary school playground (Auburn, NSW) I saw every subset of humanity answer to the name chosen for them by our welcoming society.

Thankfully, times change.

I’m not sure what Dirk Hartog called the Aborigines who watched him nail up that plate on the west coast in the seventeenth century but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a compliment.

When Phillip landed with a few hundred convicts and marines with rifles on a beach in Sydney he started the journey that led to that mural, those cairns, these names and the sadness echoing to this day across country that was home to a great society that was smashed as people were shot, poisoned, raped, traded, starved…..god, the list of crimes is too long to bear and when did it end?

(FYI the opportunity to despatch the name of McMillan from that federal electorate arrives later this year. I am working on a submission to the AEC and trust that others are too).

We have a long history of treating ‘the other’ poorly. The lesson is that enacting laws and enforcing regulation mitigates the rending. 18C for example. Most people get it but some just toe the line waiting to explode. When that line moves shouting exposes the issues and hopefully talking brings understanding. As I alluded to earlier fundamental change is incremental, perhaps generational.

My comment that prompted this question was posted sans councillor appellation. I was speaking as just another voice with no more, or less, merit than any other person. A little sentence in a long conversation about our shared aspiration for equality and fairness for all. More power to the BCP for facilitating this conversation and promoting rational discussion.

So, this question has been posed to me: As a Councillor, what am I doing? Generally: like my eight colleagues there are a number of groups, communities and committees that I work with to ensure that we are moving in the right directions. The full list is available on-line at the BCSC website.

Specifically: The list of meetings and events that I attend is included in the Councillor reports in the minutes of each meeting at: http://www.basscoast.vic.gov.au/Council/Council_Meetings/2017_Council_Meeting_Schedule.

The decisions we make are recorded there too.

In my meanderings across the shire I speak to many people and, hopefully, set an example and act as a conduit for information about rallies, events and initiatives. Sometimes I need to call out some discriminatory comments or acts and we ensure that policies are in place to enable this.

In relation to the mural I have, as a councillor: visited the laneway several times to observe people’s reaction to it; spoken to the bank people; requested follow up to the CRS previously raised; spoken to a wide range of people about it; asked for an informed appraisal of its merits as a piece of public art and discussed the emotional impact of using ‘whiter’ as a maker of distinction. I have also passed on, to the relevant authority, threats of vandalism that were put to me via facebook.

My personal view of that artwork should carry no weight. As a writer I have a particular understanding of the damage seemingly pretty little words can do to a person. Words can be a weapon of choice. That’s why I didn’t want a postal survey of marriage equality. How much damage is being unleashed right now and how can we provide comfort?

As a Councillor I took an oath and committed to a code of conduct under acts of parliament that ensure due diligence, fairness and equity in my deliberation and actions.

Anyone who shared the hustings with me should recall that I committed to short speeches and long emails. I am testing generous editorial bounds with this reply ‘comment’ but I like to think that I am meeting those KPIs.

As I wrote this I heard that the Nationals had just voted 55 to 51. Can that be true? Banning the burqa nearly became part of the platform of one of our major parties. Today. Sometimes even I’m lost for words.

We all need to work together in the supermarket aisles, sporting fields and decision making chambers to bring everyone together.

Tomorrow someone will tell me to stick to roads, rates and rubbish.


Jan Fleming
2/9/2017 04:42:24 pm

I fully agree.

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Phil
30/9/2017 08:37:58 pm

"When Phillip landed with a few hundred convicts and marines with rifles on a beach in Sydney he started the journey that led to that mural, those cairns, these names and the sadness echoing to this day across country that was home to a great society that was smashed as people were shot, poisoned, raped, traded, starved…..god, the list of crimes is too long to bear and when did it end? "
Let us not forget that the first murders after Phillip landed were 2 convicts in what is now Rushcutters Bay carried out by the natives. Phillip went to great lengths to avoid bloodshed but as years went by the attacks and counter attacks mounted. History is a wonderful thing and should not be distorted by modern day political activists.

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