Cool Stories: Clubbing Balls

+ MRouge+: Labour Migration and Rejection from Jobs

JWren: Why the Victorian election was a farce...

Andrea: An Epic Tale of Good Versus Evil

When I was younger, like so many I grew up with stories from those from the older generation(s). Of particular note for me was paternal grandfather who had some extraordinary stories based on real life. The greatest story tellers of my life, weren't afraid to embellish their stories; drawing on real life stories and just making it slightly more exciting than it otherwise would be. 

I've had a very long week working this week and haven't been able to clear my head, read up on current affairs and really don't have much to write on. Plus considering Christmas is so close ,I think I might go back and write something lighter. Its interesting because the posts I use to write, use to be exactly this, a whole bunch of cool stories. 

Every year, the university calender is littered with "balls." No, that's not a euphemism.  Balls are just dances with less formality, a little more emphasis on fun and a good night out. I think every year, I've attended two, most of which I've organised. The success and enjoyment of each of them have varied but there is one particular one that sticks out in my mind.

Balls

This particular ball was in my second year at university. Out of the all the balls I've been to, this was the only one that wasn't a Melbourne University ball and one of the few I didn't organise. One of my friends organised it and asked me to come. To be honest, I think I was just filling up numbers but regardless, I didn't mind going; any chance to share a drink with friends and meeting some people.

Balls are usually themed and the amount of effort that's put into fulfilling the theme varies between ball to ball. Sometimes, they're very loosely used; just an excuse to wear a suit and for the girls an excuse to wear a nice dress. Others, are a lot less formal; onesies, full costumes of sea animals, game characters, characters from the future all spring to mind.

Terrible movie

The theme for this particular ball was "Midnight in Paris." Which, for that year, wasn't unexpected considering the movie had just come out. Me, having never enjoyed costume wearing/making just wore the same suit I do to all the balls. I think everyone else made some sort of effort but you know, I'm a fun hater.

When I first got there, it was striking how well decorated the venue was. The lighting and the theme was well matched . We all sat down and exchanged some pleasantries and you know, all the usual thing normal people do. At some point I went to the bar.

Part of the fun of balls is the free flowing alcohol. I mean, half the cost of any ball is the free flowing alcohol Its important for me as an University student and as Jackson Chen, it was important to get the most value out of any dollar. At the bar, there was a limit of two drinks per person.

Me, trying to get the most value out of the night took two drinks, even though really I was only going to need one. But you know, whatever. Found the most expensively looking drink and asked for it. A mixed drink called something sunrise. Or sunset, or something. It doesn't matter.

Weaving my way back to the table, drink in hand one of the girls (I didn't know) exclaimed where'd you get that!

In all good stories, the main character are detailed in long descriptions. I would like to give you this description but I honestly can't remember much. Not going to lie, pretty good looking though... We're going to call her Amy. Mostly because I don't know any Amys so no one can be offended.

In typical snarky Jackson style I replied.

> "At the bar."

>>"What's it called"

>"I dunno."

*short pause*

> "Would you like it?" *Offers said drink*

>>"Have you drunk from it?"

>"No"

>>Proceeds to take it from my hand. "Thank you"

Many Decorations

You know, looking back,  I never got to taste that drink. It was a very girlie looking drink anyway. Definitely not a burly big man like me.

(You know she probably knew exactly what drink it was, just didn't want to get up and get one. I don't believe I fell for that.)

The ball was certainly different from all the other balls that I'd been to. Being an 'other' University's ball, I saw a lot of high school friends there who I hadn't seen since graduating. It was nice catching up with them and seeing some other friends. There was a girl there who I hadn't seen for a very long time, where when we parted, we left a few things unsaid and it was nice seeing her again. Actually thinking back, we still left a lot unsaid between us.

Much alcohol

Anyway, I digress. I drank a lot, danced a lot and then drank some more. Again, looking back I don't remember a lot (which is unusual for me). I remember dragging friends on to the dance floor (because woo dancing), taking photos and using the toilet several time. I remembered being particularly tired after a long stint on setting the the dance floor on fire with some massive moves. The girl who had taken my drink, was also at the table sitting down.

So we started talking. I really, really wish I remembered all the things we talked about. I remembered her telling me about her cousins? Where she was staying after the night finished? I don't remember whether I decided to be obnoxious Jackson or charming Jackson. Probably obnoxious. I feel like we talked for ages but honestly it was probably 20 minutes? It was a good chat though, always good to have intelligent conversation with people you don't know well. They don't have pre-conception and misconceptions which these days is a real luxury to have. The conversation was honestly, very interesting and rather intense. I still remember bits and pieces. Alcohol infused conversations are the best.

As the night winded down, my friends filtered back to the table and Amy asked me whether I was going to the after party.

There's not a lot of things I don't like. Okay, thats a lie, there's a lot of things I don't like, but one of the things I don't like is clubbing.

>"Nah, I don't think I will"

>> Various back and forth as to why I don't want to and her saying why clubbing is great. (its not)

>>"Well, I'm going to get changed, but I'm coming back and when I'm back I expect you to be ready to go"

>"Um ... sure."

Such Wow

So she goes away and the friend who invited me started teasing me and egging me to go. You know how it is between guys. I had had a fair bit to drink at this point, but and there was still alcohol to be consumed to ensure the greatst value for money was achieved. I wanted to talk about anything but what I was doing for the rest of the night. But he was very insistent.

After 40 minutes of, "so are you going?" or "What did you talk about" or " why don't you want to go" or " Come, don't be a fun hater" I got sick of it and said

"Its been 40 minutes. If she comes back, which I highly doubt, I'll go, but you need to shut up and let me enjoy my beer."

Of course, as soon as I say that, Amy creeps up behind me and goes, "alright lets go, Jackson." Ok, creeps up is a bit of a strong word. Seriously, was it unreasonable of me to assume that she wasn't coming back after 40 minutes? Who needs 40 minutes to get change. I don't even.

Change

Now one of my biggest pet peeves is people not doing what they say they're going to do. I give my friends a lot of grief for it, so I not wanting to seem like a hypocrite I went. There was a bus to get there, and guess who I was left alone with to go to the club with. We just talked some more. Not going to lie, the conversation was pretty interesting. That conversation I remembered.

When I got there, there was apparently an entry fee, even though there wasn't supposed to be. As soon as I saw that, I made my apologies and left. After all, all I said was that I was going to go. I didn't say I was going to stay. That 40 minute detour cost me the last train home, meaning I had to split a wonderously expensive cab ride home. Slightly anti-climatic I know.

At the end of the day, that ball was probably the most enjoyable ball I've been to. It was nice, relaxing and I met some good friends. There were some conversation that night, that were absolutely magical, that I don't expect on having again anytime soon.

Story telling is something different. I exaggerated a lot of what happen and combined a few stories together to make something readable. What happen afterwards and which bit I did and did not exaggerate is up to you. Because every story needs a little mystery.

An Epic Tale of Good Versus Evil

This week, I’d like to speak about what makes a person evil. This is going to be based on a Ted Talk that I recently watched, given by Professor Zimbardo and relating to the crimes against humanity committed by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib. Zimbardo is a psychologist who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which he used university aged males to simulate a prison environment, giving one group the title of ‘prison wardens’ and hence the other group became the ‘prisoners’. Zimbardo observed that it didn't take long for the prison wardens, who were given power, to blindly follow orders from the experimenters and hence display acts of cruelty and injustice towards the helpless prisoners, who in turn displayed signs of mental breakdown within a short number of days. Overlooking the obvious and blinding ethical problems with this study, Zimbardo managed to show a different side to evil than what is generally given in movies, books and other media sources.

Many stories centre on a clear distinction between good and evil; take Harry Potter, where the distinction is made clear by which house one is sorted into, or the Lord of the Rings (yes I’m aware I’ve mentioned LotR in more than one post now), where, for the most part, being good or evil merely depends on what race you are. This overly simplistic view of two dichotomies causes problems when we translate these beliefs to our own reality. The prison wardens and prisoners in the Stanford Prison Experiment weren’t different in any way at the beginning of the experiment, however by the end, one group were committing sadistic acts on the other. So yes, it can be seen that good and evil seem to fall into group patterns. However, Zimbardo argues that the order should be reversed; one is not put into a group because one is evil, rather a group can become evil if the situation leads them to it. This hypothesis is validated in the event of the Abu Graib prison tortures, where previously upstanding American soldiers were told by authorities to obtain information from the prisoners as soon as possible. Blind obedience of these orders, stemming from values that are generally accepted and celebrated in our society such as respect for authority and ability to follow instruction, and a group mentality perpetuated by a misguided value of ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘serving one’s country’ resulted in horrific acts of physical and sexual violence and humiliation.

For me, this understanding of evil is terrifying. It is basically stating that, if given certain orders in certain situations, any human can commit evil acts. And from my understanding, following orders is something that is, if not innately human, definitely taught to us by school, family values and society as a whole. If this is the case, then anyone is capable of evil – and I think everyone has a few dark thoughts occasionally that can testify to the postulation that there is a bit of evil inside everyone. An interesting means of proof for this, I think, comes from the popularity of ‘shock jocks’ in the media – take Kyle Sandilands, for example, who is known for some very rude and derogatory comments and is generally publicly chastised for these comments, but whose listeners all followed him when his radio show moved stations. I think that the reason Sandilands is popular is because he merely voices all the negative thoughts that we sometimes have, and it’s comforting to know that someone else is also thinking them, but that someone is worse than you because he’s actually gone ahead and voiced these thoughts. So from ZImbardo’s theory, anyone can be evil if they’re in the right situation – which just means that those who haven’t committed any acts of evil have just been lucky enough to avoid such trying environments.

However, as Zimbardo points out (and I fervently cling to this inkling of hope for humanity), there are people who stand up and act as the ‘hero’, who are not slaves to blind obedience. And the only way that we can do that is if we’re aware of what is happening around us, and, more importantly, aware of what’s going on inside our own heads. If we KNOW that we’re in a situation that could possibly cause us to act cruelly towards others, then at least we may question our subsequent decisions. It is important that, while we may enjoy epic tales of battles between good and evil, we  keep in mind that one person is not born ‘good’ or ‘evil’. As Sirius Black wisely points out:  

Why the Victorian election was a farce...

While much of last weekend’s Victorian election was focused on the return of Labor after ousting a one-term Liberal government, not a lot was said about the results in the Legislative Council (upper house). In fact, I'm sure that most wouldn't have the slightest clue as to who was elected to the house of review, with the vast majority of coverage focused solely upon the Legislative Assembly (lower house).

Much could be speculated as to the root cause for this lack of interest – for one, the fact that voters were largely disengaged with this election (myself included, admittedly) right up until a couple of days beforehand. There is not much that can be done about this disengagement, given the increasing decentralisation of power away from the states (and towards the federal government), as well as the lack of motivational or inspirational party leaders. However, my main concern is how the general population’s disengagement teams up with the more serious issue at hand here – that is, the farcical nature of the upper-house election process.

The simple fact is that the current upper house ballot procedure doesn't work. Voters are given a ridiculously long piece of ballot paper, on which is listed senate candidates from the main political parties as well as candidates from a myriad of micro parties. These micro parties, listed here, often focus on capturing the vote of a highly specific segment of the population. For example, animal rights activists in the case of the Animal Justice Party, cyclists in the case of the Australian Cyclists Party, conspiracy theorists in the case of the No Smart Meter party (seriously, read their policies… they’re pretty out-there), or xenophobes in the case of the Rise Up Australia party. I'm not arguing that these parties don’t have a right to be heard – on the contrary, people should be able to vote along the lines of whoever they believe best represents their own interests. Where I take issue is when someone’s vote is transferred under a “preference deal” to another party at the discretion of the party they voted for.

In essence, the system of voting 1 above the line is intended to reduce the chance of informal voting due to a tedious voting process. However, putting such a system in place become tedious in and of itself once it gets to the counting of votes, and people’s votes are incorrectly attributed to parties due to the delegation of preferences.

The alternative to these dodgy preference-shifting deals is to number the boxes below the line in order of individual candidate preference (all boxes in the case of Federal elections, or 1-to-5 at least in the case of the Victorian election). This is such a daunting task that only a small percentage of voters ever do so – most don’t have the time/interest to investigate each candidate and sort out some sort of preferential ranking.

The end result of such a flawed system is the likes of which we saw in the 2013 election – the election of a Ricky Muir, a motoring (and Kangaroo faeces) enthusiast.

A similar result looks likely in the recent Victorian election, with the likely election of multiple Shooters & Fishers senators, as well as representatives from the Country Alliance, Sex Party, DLP and of course the major parties. For further details, see here.

While I am no expert in the design of elections, it is plain to see that the current system is flawed. By simply allowing for more than one preference to be allocated above the line, these back-room preference deals would be able to be rendered ineffective. This would also allow for voters to who usually vote below the line to vote based on policy, rather than on random name selection amongst the candidate lists of parties. Surely, any system would be better than the current one, which is just inherently bad for democracy.

In many ways, this problem is a self-fulfilling prophecy; the more the upper house becomes less representative of the broader population, the more voters become disengaged from the political process. Consequently, the more disengaged voters become, the more likely it is that these radical parties gain disproportionate representation in our democratic structures. By facilitating such a system, it allows the mandate of the majority to be used in order to make decisions in the interests of the minority. This process simply can’t be allowed to continue unquestioned. 

#J.Nic#

Labour Migration and Rejection from Jobs

So currently my life has involved a lot of rejection; that is job rejection. Going on various job interviews for internships and graduate jobs only to hear back a week later that it I did not get the job. I don’t have a lot of words to describe this feeling of rejection other than it sucks, it makes you question yourself, your skills, your abilities, your future, your previous decisions, pretty much everything. So how to take this rejection, well my dad uses the word resilience’s, definition; the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness, an individual's ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity.

But it would be really easy to blame someone else….

Like every good arts student I have over my university life looked at labour migration, I viewed it as an important part of my history; my grandparents like many others in this country were not born here and migrated from elsewhere. What I didn't really consider was that it would impact my future, or impact it in a negative way, I was going to travel, obviously, maybe even live in another country for a while but this was a positive of open borders, and a distant future. Not something that would have a practical impact on things in my life, like my ability to get a job.

The immigration policies of a country represent more than just how many lives the country can support, they are a reflection on how generations have understood and represented ethnicity and national identity. Expressed in the selection or exclusion of certain groups of migrants throughout history. National borders have acted as filter, separating out the unwanted and wanted flow of migrants. So how would I construct Australia’s migration policies today, in 2014 when I’m thinking about my future and my job prospects? I have always believed that we should have more open borders, that Australia has a duty to accept refugees, to help people searching and wanting a better life, those people were my grandparents 60 years ago. We are so lucky in this country, we should accept other people to come and experience this amazing country (not to go all nationalistic on everyone). I believed that those people who equated their ability to getting a job or losing a job to foreign workers were naïve, and downright wrong. But I am no longer just a arts student, I am also a economics student, I get to draw nifty graphs in international economics on how an influx of labour from a country whose workers’ wages are lower, in turn lowers the wages in their destination country. Nifty equations where it’s quite reasonable for countries that have an abundance of cheap labor to manufacture goods and those countries that don’t shouldn't. It’s an easy equation it means those industries should not exist in a country such as Australia, or at least not to the extent that they do, this has meant a lot of people lose their jobs, true, just look at the car industry. It is the fun world of outsourcing; fun fact 60% of jobs in the USA (I’m not sure about Australia) are non-tradable that means they need to be provided locally, which means that 40% of jobs are tradable, they can be provided at long distances, due to the ease communications; the internet. Some of these jobs everyone knows, call centers are prime examples, but they are plenty more emerging in the future.

This prompts a little personal reflection; is the University degree I studied for trade-able? Are my skills better suited to be provided in another country? We now live in a world of economic transformation spear headed by the buzz word, globalisation, with “border free economic spaces”, driving people’s desire to migrate, while at the same time there is an increasing trend to make people illegal through a process of re-bordering. Governments have essentially transformed migration into a complex web of legality regulating migration at an all-time high, including Australia. Would I feel more secure if Australia restricted its migration? To know that the jobs I am applying for will not be overseas in 5 years time available to people who are far cheaper than me? It is ridiculously tempting to fall into this line of thought, this suspicion of the foreigner, the other person, in the other country stealing my job. However despite my lack of any internship or graduate job currently I still do not believe it is an acceptable line of thought. Resilience in my case is not just about applying to another job despite the rejection; it’s more about not falling into the temptation of blaming others. I could go into a lot of detail on Australia’s immigration policy from 1901 to present but I've been informed to not give the readers one of my arts essays. So in short I believe that we should accept people from other countries, it gives us a richer society. We have the ability to support more people and we should.  That in the end those others are just people, there should not be an us and them mentality as they deserve the same opportunities as I do, even if those opportunities are in Australia.  Also despite the gloom and doom of economics in the end all the equations and graphs conclude that trade between two countries, even in labour, is always good, that sure some people lose, but on the whole everyone wins. 

-MRouge-

Reading

Today I want to write not about a topical issue or opinion, but something that I am nevertheless passionate about. A lot of the time, I think I can take reading for granted. It’s something that you can do whenever you want, wherever you want, without needing anyone else to participate or validate you. To pick up a book, and to get lost in it is completely your own choice, and I think it is such a unique way of exploring your own emotions and reactions to situations that may not present themselves in real life. To be able to become connected to characters that someone else has made up, in a way that is different to how anyone else is connected to them, is something really unique. To interpret a story, to imagine a place, to fall in love with a character happens to every person who reads in a different way. You aren’t told how to love them, or how to picture something. It’s true, reading isn’t easy – it’s not something that you can do to necessarily relax your brain after a long, busy day, because reading requires emotion from you, and thought. Reading isn’t like watching a TV show, where you are told how everyone looks, so you can just sit back and turn your mind off. When you read, you have to imagine.

For me, reading is an escape. Using a book to forget any problems I have in real life is a habit I got used to at a young age, and it hasn’t ceased. There is something comforting about being able to lose yourself in another world, the problems, passion and pain of another person. I think it always helps to reflect on this in order to get to know yourself a little bit better, because the characters that affect you the most are the ones that are most telling of your personality, I think. Not in that they are similar to you, but your reactions to their actions are what define them, and you. So I’d like to quickly list a few characters from some of my favourite books that have had a lasting impression on me:

Eowyn (The Lord of the Rings) – Okay, the first one has to be a kick ass girl in a tale dominated by men. The Lord of the Rings has always been my favourite, but I actually remember when I read about Eowyn’s deeds in killing the Witch King, and I just remember my heart soaring. I don’t think I realised that what I was missing from the Lord of the Rings so desperately was a character I could actually relate to – I was an impressionable young teenager when I became obsessed with the story, but needed someone to look up to. And while I can’t claim to have killed any Nazgul, I think Eowyn certainly taught me that girls can be cool and important in their own right, which is a lesson that I like to think has stuck with me until now.

Max Remy (Max Remy, Superspy) – I have always been a huge and dorky fan of all spy-related novels, but I think Max Remy is my favourite heroine. She is a no fuss, smart and funny girl who goes around solving mysteries with her best friend Linden – what on earth is not to like? She was someone I so desperately wanted to be, and someone who made me laugh when I was having a bad day.

Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) – This has got to be my favourite classic, but for a long time I had no idea why, because I really didn’t like the main character, Cathy. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that Heathcliff is who drew me in. He’s an awful person, really, and someone so grumpy and disillusioned he can’t have been easy to be around. But to me, he’s a perfectly flawed character. He isn’t a lovely person – in fact, he quite hates most people himself. But his one redeeming quality was that he loved Cathy with his whole entire heart for all his life, and with that in mind, his actions were justified in my eyes. I felt his pain and sorrow so deeply, but the reason why is still a bit of a mystery to me.

So there are three of my favourites, but obviously the list could go on. My point is, I think it’s important to reflect and understand why certain characters had an impression on you!

Why I Don't Like Nice People

A while back there was an open letter published to Tumblr regarding the toxicity the site has become. It a community which once prided itself on being progressive and open, the site had fallen far from its ideals. When asked which was worst, Tumblr or the opening hostile 4Chan, this particular user argued that 4Chan was more welcoming.

Today, society advocates transparency, to be welcoming and opening. It also advocates that people should be nice, trustworthy and hard working members of society. In our generation we strive to be successful, to be viewed as progressive all the while keeping our friends close. 

Friends, come in all shapes and sizes. For me, (and I emphasis for me) friends are not necessarily the most trustworthy and nicest people I know. Its not to say I don't trust my friends, but its not the pre requisite. Friends should be interesting, engaging, challenging and loyal. They don't need to agree, don't need to agreeable and certainly don't need to be nice to me.

I find myself suspicious of the nicest people, The really open people, the ones who portrays that they are nice and wants to be seen as nice people. Of course everyone wants to be seen as nice and be accepted but apparently, I'm more likely to be friends with people who aren't.

Don't look at me like that, I just find them hard to understand, that there are people who are hiding nothing.

People who claims that they themselves are horrible people, understand their own flaws and knows why they're not 'poster grade' people. They are more likely to understand the flaws in others and understand that people aren't perfect. At least I know they're not trying to hide all their flaws. They're comfortable enough to say, I'm not perfect and you're going to have to deal with it.

In many ways, I don't think 'nice people' are so accepting of such flaws.

Tumblr, despite everything it set itself to be, devolved into everything but. The community of Tumblr is not unlike society itself. We expect so much from the everyday people in the street. Similar to what tumblr expects from its members, society expects everyone to be nice, full of hope, inspiring and all those other great things we learn about in primary and high school. 4Chan at the very least, is exactly what it claims itself to be. Whilst its not the most positive community on the internet, it doesn't claim to be. It doesn't set up unfair expectations on its members to follow. This self serving community, has no illusions of perfection. They don't set out to be perfect and are in doing so, can be considered more accepting.

A lot of us don't have a lot of time for anyone but ourselves. When we're not studying, we're at work. When we're not at work, we're browsing Facebook and the internet, looking for whats wrong with our friends and society. And if its not a birthday, a group dinner or something like that, we're probably not going to go out. It is so easy, to find flaws, when we've been taught to find them from day one.

Its easy to expect perfection. Harder still to accept it when its not there.

~TastyJacks~

Recognise

Ok, so I really struggled this week to come up with a topic, so if this post seems a little convoluted, you can probably blame it on my exam-brain. In any case, it is incredibly tempting to focus entirely on topical, news-item discussions – especially given the current speed at which news items have been surfacing, then fading to irrelevance, before again re-surfacing etc. As such, I think it is often important to take a look more broadly at issues which tend to simmer under the surface and rarely gain much media traction, despite their objective importance. This is why today I’ve decided to concentrate primarily on the fight for constitutional recognition of Australia’s indigenous peoples.

Needless to say, Australia has had a long and turbulent history with regards to the recognition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in all respects. Prime examples include the failure to recognise indigenous voting rights up until the 1967 referendum and the failure to recognise native title rights until 1992 through the Mabo case. These policies of recognition finally made way to right the vast majority of the ship in the direction of reconciliation and broader recognition of indigenous Australia.  

In more recent times, you could single out our parliament’s failure to officially acknowledge and issue an apology for the Stolen Generations until as late as 2008. In contrast to the previous examples, this recognition was purely a no-strings-attached apology, designed as a purely symbolic admission of guilt for the mistakes of past government policy. I must further emphasise the point here that this recognition did not encompass the positive advancements in policy attained by earlier policies, but merely sought to apologise for the negative policy choices of past governments.

As this issue rose to contention in the mid-2000s, and prior to the apology being made by the newly elected government in 2008, then PM John Howard set out his reasons for not issuing an apology as:

1. Not wanting current generations to take responsibility of the actions of previous generations
2. Debate over the consistency of children removal and policy application
3. The apology is all symbolism and no substance, with it having little practical implications for the concerning gap between indigenous Australia and the rest of Australia.

Former PM John Howard citing his reasons for opposing The Apology

Say what you will about Howard and his policies, he definitely displayed courage of conviction in his positioning and reasoning. In spite of this, I would definitely take issue with the first two reasons he gives, particularly the first reason. I believe the “principle” of not showing accountability for past actions by previous generations is a backwards policy designed purely to shelve blame and ignore social responsibilities. Such a policy forgets the fact that the government is not just a collection of individuals governing, but a projection of Australia’s populous. Absolving the Australian Government of responsibility for the Stolen Generations would be akin to absolving the German Government of responsibility for the Holocaust, or the American Government for the Atomic Bombings etc. Maintaining sufficient accountability is a core tenet of a right and just system of government.

Despite this, I believe Howard’s third point holds a degree of validity. In secondary college, our school motto was Facta non Verba, which translates to Deeds not Words. Howard was contending that, without proper supportive action aimed at resolving major issues within indigenous communities, the issuance of an apology would be simply lip service and would hold little validity. Howard was committed in this respect, instituting “The Intervention” into the Northern Territory’s indigenous communities; a policy which has both been widely praised and widely condemned. In any case, as with any major shift in policy position, it illustrates the importance of supporting a position with strong and meaningful action, rather than just token gestures and piecemeal offerings.

Bringing this back to the constitutional recognition at hand, there have been many stalls in the process of pushing for a referendum to decide on indigenous recognition within the constitution. Interestingly (and somewhat surprisingly), the first push towards this recognition came from Howard himself in 1999, who suggested the implementation of a preamble at the start of the constitution recognising Australia’s first peoples. However, progress has stalled recently, with some likening the movement to being just a small “post-it note on the fridge” of the wider parliamentary agenda, indicating the lack of real concern or opinion either way over this issue.

Indeed, with the Abbott government recently reneging on their promise to take a referendum on recognition to the next election, it still remains to be seen if Australians will collectively ever care enough to push for this referendum, given the largely symbolic nature of it. While it is my opinion that it is a necessary step forward for reconciliation and community re-engagement with Australia’s first peoples, many still fail to recognise the importance of recognition, and much like in previous decades, deny accountability for the actions of others. This has to change in order for true progress to be made in Australian society.

For more information about the campaign for constitutional recognition, see www.recognise.org.au

#J.Nic#