This post was first published May 29, 2012
Bonjour,
They say ‘time is money’. A concept that drives the global economy, that house of cards that has the imperative for perpetual growth, as realistic a concept as perpetual motion.
‘Time is money’ as abstract a concept as zero divided by zero is infinity.
http://youtu.be/MUt7qmSvxLI is http://youtu.be/8_ofFa50LzY ; http://youtu.be/2hM3CNOhkFs divided by itself is infinity.
Soon the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response) will ‘celebrate’ its 5th. Anniversary, when like the Cheshire Cat it will vanish leaving only its grinning bare teeth in the form of Stronger (Stolen) Futures. We will have to grin and bear it.
A figure of $2B is bandied around as the money spent on the Intervention. Now please bear with me as I do a few calculations. $2B in 5 years is $400M p.a. In round figures that is $1M per day. Around $40K per hour. Around $600 in the time it took you to read so far, around $15K if you took the time to listen to the nice music. Can you feel the Gap palpably closing?
On last night’s Q&A (ABC TV) there mercifully were no politicians on the panel (unless you count ex-politician John Hewson and Barry Humphreys’ alter-ego Sir Les Patterson). It was a hilarious episode.
Much about ‘Australian Identity’ was discussed and whilst admitting to racist elements in Australian society the consensus was that Australia with its multiculturalism and ethnic diversity was a great place. Not a single mention of the First Australians. Much mention of the First Profession.
An Australian politician is in deep water because he’s been sprung spending 10 Intervention Minutes ($6K) on prostitutes using a Union credit card. The Federal opposition is hounding Craig Thomson, purportedly because they feel he’s guilty of grievous immoral unethical and dishonest behaviour. The fact that should Craig Thompson be replaced in a by-election the likely consequence of this would be that Tony Abbott would replace Julia Gillard as our non-elected Prime Minister of course has nothing to do with it all. Nothing whatsoever. Perish the thought.
The press is also hounding Craig Thomson. It is even alleged that a TV Station is prepared to spend almost 2 Intervention Hours ($60K) for an interview with a prostitute that, before the NTER was launched, serviced Craig. What a fascinating interview it will be: “seven years ago he did it with me”. Well worth 2 Intervention Hours I think. Undoubtedly she will be banished from the Prostitute Guild for breaching client confidentiality
Another discussion on Q&A ensued regarding Gina Rinehart, believed to be the world’s richest woman with a fortune of 72 Intervention Years ($29B) and Clive Palmer worth 2 Intervention Decades ($8B).It was stated by one panellist that it was thanks to the likes of Gina and Clive (sounds a bit like Bonnie & Clyde n’est-ce pas?) that Australia had been immunized from the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) and was now ‘enjoying’ an unprecedented ‘Mining Boom’. Never mind that it wasn’t all that long ago that the iron ore mountains of the Pilbara and the coal deposits of the Bowen Basin belonged to the Commonwealth (get it? ‘common’ ‘wealth’) and again never mind that the First Australians didn’t get to own even the surface of Terra Nullius let alone what was below it.
I’m sure that Gina Reinhart is not even remotely related to Django Reinhardt but why pass up the excuse to play this?
So how does all this differ from Medieval feudalism? Je ne sais pas. How is it different to post-communist U.S.S.R. (Russia) where Vladimir Putin is suspected of hiding a personal fortune of as much as an Intervention Century ($US40B) Je ne sais pas.http://youtu.be/Yn3YqoRDTQo
What is it these people have done to deserve such a large slice of the pie? Why is it seen as normal? Why is it no one seems to ask the question? Why is the disempowerment and marginalisation of Aboriginal Australians seen as normal? Why are Aborigines regularly omitted from the vision of a diverse multicultural multiethnic Australia that we can all be proud of? Will future Q&A episodes provide the answers?
Is this what we deserve?
Is this what we deserve?
Is this what we deserve?
Can you tell me now
Is this what we deserve?
Your laws are so unjustified
Our basic human rights have been denied
You come up with excuses, that your hands are tied
But you go on committing genocide
The Craig Thomson ‘scandal’ has occupied the Australian Parliament for days on end in sharp contrast to the passing of the Stronger (Stolen) Futures legislation in the lower house which they ‘achieved’ in the blink of an eye.
Most Australians know who Craig Thomson is. Not that many know who Djiniyini Gondarra and Laurie Baymarrwangga are. No, they’re not foreigners, they’re Australian as is Gurrumul Yunupingu
Jusqu’à la prochaine fois
François