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Episode 390 - Cluster Bombs and Cluster F#@ks

In this episode we discuss:

(00:43) Intro

(03:02) Robo Debt

(14:44) Cluster Bombs

(17:43) NATO in Asia

(26:33) Calvary Hospital

(28:57) More Polls

(31:36) Culture - Fixed or Evolving?

(36:47) Challenging the Indigenous Culture Industry

(43:49) Malik on Culture

(49:19) Ray Halpin

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Transcript
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Suburban Eastern Australia.

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An environment that has over time evolved some extraordinarily

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unique groups of homo sapiens.

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But today we observe a small tribe akin to a group of meka that gather together

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atop a small mound to watch question and discuss the current events of their city,

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their country, and their world at large.

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Let's listen keenly and observe this group fondly known as the

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Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.

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Hello and welcome.

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Yes, we're back again.

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We're a day early.

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It's Monday night and we're doing the podcast.

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The reason is that my wife is turning 60 this week, so we're going away

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with the kids and I'll be up somewhere near Montville tomorrow night.

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Celebrating that.

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And so we've pushed forward the podcast and here we are.

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So if you've made it into the chat room to join us, congratulations.

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We'll do our best to entertain you.

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I'm Trevor a k a, the Iron.

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Fist with me as always, Scott, the Velvet.

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Glove.

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Good day.

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Trevor.

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Good day.

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Joe Goodday listeners.

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I hope everyone's well.

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And Joe the tech guy.

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Evening all.

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So, yeah, looks like we might have a problem with Facebook

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with this live stream.

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It was coming up with error signals, but we'll see what happens with that.

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So on the agenda, look, there's not, is there a lot happening in

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politics and news around the world?

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robo debt, report came out from the Royal Commission, so we'll talk about that.

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We've got the USA deciding that it's perfectly fine to send

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cluster bombs to the Ukraine.

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Talk about that.

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NATO wants to expand into Asia cause.

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It's perfectly normal for the North Atlantic Treaty

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organization to be involved in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

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Mm-hmm.

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our friend Paul Keening had something to say about that.

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and oh, what Australians think of Americans was in a poll, depending how we

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go, because those things may not take that long and it might force me to actually

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start talking about some indigenous issues and we might end up talking about

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culture and what culture is and how culture is mixed up in the idea of race.

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And these are concepts that we need to understand if we're to talk

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coherently about the whole debate over the voice and the yes and the no.

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So I'm fearful, hopeful that I told Yes.

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Culture is what your got HA has in Australia doesn't, right?

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Yes.

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So that's where we're heading on this one.

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See what ra rabbit holes we end up in.

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If you're in the chat room and there's one person there right now,

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you can make a comment, and we'll try and incorporate if we can.

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Alright.

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Ah, Scott, robo debt.

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A fairly scathing report has come down about politicians and public servants.

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What was your thoughts about the report?

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I thought that, the winner of it goes to that, no, I can't even remember

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which, which, publication it was.

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But someone had actually come out and said that, if Peter Dutton, if Peter Dutton

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doesn't get sick of his politics, Lark, he could go and become a comedian because

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he was suggesting that it was wrong.

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That Shorten and Albanese were trying to make politics outta the whole thing.

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Mm.

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You know, and I think that hit the nail right on the head because,

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you know, it's got these, it's got their fingerprints all over it.

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The Tories were completely involved in it.

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They pushed it and they were behind it.

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So I think everything that went wrong with it has to be sheeted home to them.

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Yep.

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They started it.

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Yeah.

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They're in control of it.

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It is entirely their responsibility.

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Now, they did lie and that type of thing to try and make out the Labor Party

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started it, but clearly they didn't.

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Mm-hmm.

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It's, it was a bloody disgrace actually, you know?

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Mm.

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I cannot believe that the public service has been so thoroughly

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muted that they would, that no one actually stuck their hand up and said,

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minister, you can't just do this.

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Mm.

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You know, because I'm on a very good wicket, but there was six

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months where I had to claim the doll because I was unemployed.

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Now had they have actually done an averaging on my income that I earned

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in the second six months of that year.

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Mm.

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Then they would've come back and said, well, you've clearly over, you've clearly

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claimed when you shouldn't be claiming.

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Mm.

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Now that is wrong.

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And it's just one of those things that I cannot believe that no one

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actually put their hand up and said, minister, you can't do this.

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The sort of people, the sort of people who are victims of this

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were the least equipped to mm-hmm.

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Battle against it.

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Mm-hmm.

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Mm-hmm.

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You could just imagine that they were the ones who were like, oh my God, you

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know, their ability to go through their records and sort things out and deal with

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the department and have the time to do that, they were the, the least equipped.

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So see for bugger, if it had actually happened to me, I would've ignored it.

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And I just would've said, look, if you want to come after her and sue

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me, sue me, cuz I'll stand up in court and tell you where you're wrong.

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Mm-hmm.

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That's no problem at all.

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You know, and I wouldn't have been intimidated, but.

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I've got a fairly good head on my shoulders and that type of stuff.

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I would know exactly what to say.

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You were not a typical Dole recipient.

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No, I wasn't.

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Mm-hmm.

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I wasn't.

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Mm-hmm.

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I got it for that six months when I got tapped on the shoulder up

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here in Rockhampton, you know?

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Yeah.

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It's just, but the people that did actually, you know, I cannot believe

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that they were that intimidated that they took their own lives.

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Well, they clearly did.

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I mean, it's not Yeah, I know.

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Mm.

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I I think if you weren't in a good space to begin with and that's

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why you were receiving government assistance, this could very well

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be what tipped you over the edge.

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Oh, exactly.

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And, and it was all about punishing poor people.

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It was seeing be, being seen to be tough whilst not actually caring about

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the billions of dollars hidden in The Bahamas or wherever it was that,

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Malcolm Turnbull had his dollars.

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But, but you know, you can just feel that sort of, that Christian fingerprint

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on all this where if you are poor, then there's this Christian judgment

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that you are not favored by God and that godly people are hardworking, well

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organized, and if you're not that then you are ungodly and, and a slacker.

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Yeah.

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And, and yeah, that was clearly in Morrison's head when he

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kicked the whole thing off.

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Mm-hmm.

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Mm-hmm.

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As the whole thing was turning bad, the public servants were

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cowed to their masters and didn't want to, stand up to them.

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So they were, you know, properly for career advancement reasons, wanting to

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try and achieve what their political masters wanted rather than what was

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good and proper country control best.

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Mm.

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Mm.

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It's one of those things, you know, I heard on the podcast this morning

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that I was listening to, I think it was the, I can't remember, it's called

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the ABC Daily News or whatever it is.

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There was a, they went into it in depth and they had a sound bite from Morrison

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and that sort of stuff, and he was beating his chest saying that, 80, you

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know, however many million go out to work every day and that type of thing.

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They expect that we're gonna have a tough cop on the beat over welfare recipients.

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Mm-hmm.

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You know, the whole language of it was really very sickening actually.

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Meanwhile, they throw money at people like Barnaby Joyce for a non-existent report.

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Mm-hmm.

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Pricewaterhouse Keepers and other consultancies for nothing.

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Mm-hmm.

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people running detention centers with Harvey.

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Zero people in there, Harvey, like they'll throw money at the other end.

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Mm-hmm.

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Willynilly.

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And yet these people.

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It is disgusting and well will things change?

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You know, hopefully out of all this, it will depend a little bit on what

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happens to some of the players in this down the track, whether they

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end up, in jail or other things.

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I was gonna say, I'm glad to see that criminal charges have been recommended.

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Yes.

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So hopefully down the track in two or three years time or something.

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When a minister is putting pressure on a public servant, the public servant

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will think, well, I don't want to be.

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who's this lady in this one?

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Who's the main culprit?

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Campbell.

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Catherine Campbell, their names is, is I am not going to be

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another Catherine Campbell.

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And so no.

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Mm Um, hopefully what happens to her is an example that scares a lot

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of public servants over the next decades into doing the right thing.

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That's how things will change, I think.

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Change the culture.

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we'll see.

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So, yeah, Dutton you mentioned was sort of suggesting that labor was too gleeful

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in the way it was talking about this issue and incredibly, James Campbell

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of NewsCorp hard right wing NewsCorp guy basically blasted Dutton for

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suggesting it, which was interesting.

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And I think there's some elements of NewsCorp and the right which have given

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up on Dutton, and I think that's right.

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He, he may not survive Unelectable.

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Yes.

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I think they're just doing the sums on the popularity and, and they're

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thinking, well, there's no points just.

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Loyally supporting this guy.

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Exactly.

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You know, he, we'll drop bombs on him when we need to in order to get

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another liberal leader and his position.

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Fuck.

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Who are they gonna put instead?

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The caliber of stuff there is just horrendous.

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Who are they gonna forget?

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No, it's because of the success of the Teals and I don't begrudge them

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their success because, you know, they did actually take out the

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moderate wing of the liberal party.

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You know, you had those, you had those moderate held seats and that type

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of thing that were taken by them.

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I don't begrudge them that, because I thought to myself, they had a very

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good campaign line when they said, yes, of course you could vote for Josh,

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but you're gonna end up with Barnaby.

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You know, that is a very solid line for them to take.

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They were actually, when they're actually talking to those people that had a

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moderate voice, and they were saying to him, yes, you can vote for Josh, but

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you're gonna end up voting for Barnaby.

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And that is the, what's wrong with Barnaby Barnaby's an idiot.

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He might become leader again.

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Apparently they're not happy with Little Proud.

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Yeah.

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I know they're not happy with Little Proud, but you know, that that would be

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suicide for them to go back to Barnaby Joyce, because Barnaby Joyce is an idiot.

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Mm-hmm.

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But an electable idiot electable in his own electorate.

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Yes.

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He his own electorate.

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He's electable, but you know, he's, he actually said that

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he takes no responsibility for what happens to the liberals.

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But you know, they, they were actually mentioning him by name and that type

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of thing in the, in the campaign.

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Mm-hmm.

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You know, he's a fucking tool.

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Mm-hmm.

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Well, you know, in a democracy, if people aren't performing, then

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the voters just vote 'em out.

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Mm-hmm.

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Well, assuming that the voters realize that they're not performing, Yes.

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And they get snowballed by, certain media interests.

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Yes.

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So I would've thought the Labor Party's got probably at least three or four

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terms left in them because the, the liberals haven't learnt anything.

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They have just doubled down on their nonsense.

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You've got, Dutton talking about nuclear power.

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He's refusing to accept that the renewable energy is cheaper than nuclear power.

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No, no, no.

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But nuclear power is there for a reason, because all the time

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we're talking about nuclear power.

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We're not talking about renewables, and it allows us to burn coal for a bit longer.

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That's why nuclear powers there.

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It's a distraction.

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Distraction.

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It's perfect.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I suppose anyway, it's just one of those things like, you know, but it, it, it

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might well be a distraction, but people are actually gonna be just, they're just

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gonna be saying, well, no, fuck him.

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I'm just not interested.

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So I just think to myself that, they're, they're sort of lemming le they're being

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like lemmings and that sort of stuff.

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They're all just stepping off in, into the, into the wild blue yonder

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and they're not keeping an eye on where they're actually stepping and

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they're just gonna step into the abyss of their own self-destruction.

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Mm-hmm.

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The only thing that'll save them is a massive recession that

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could be sheeted home to labor.

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And, you know, if there is a really bad crushing recession, then that

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might shorten them to only two terms rather than three or four.

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Well, I suppose so, but no, it's.

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If, if people start, there's a little secret here that, you know,

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governments don't really get that well involved in the economy.

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Yes.

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But it's about spinning the line that they are responsible.

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So you're right, particularly in Australian government.

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Mm.

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Is, is like a little ship tossed around in a big ocean.

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There's lots of factors at play that they can't control, but, and

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most of them are international.

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Yeah.

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But certainly you can, Catherine managed in the global recession, didn't he?

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Yes.

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That spending stimulus did make a difference.

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Yes, he did make a hell of a difference.

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Now I was opposed to it at the time, but you know, looking

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back on it, he was right.

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Mm-hmm.

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You know, he targeted the households.

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He's, you know, he, what was it targeted the households early, wasn't it?

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Or something like that.

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It was the line basically put cash in the hands of people who

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were gonna spend it, not say it.

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Exactly.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I remember going to a trade show around that time when people

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had just got their checks.

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That was one of the greatest trade shows I've ever been to.

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People were spending money like you wouldn't believe at that.

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So it certainly boosted that economy.

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So, yeah.

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So anyway, we'll see what happens.

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Along those lines, internationally, things are not going well for, Ukraine

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and the United, I don't know about that.

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Well, okay.

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They are holding their own, you know, they haven't done, the

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counter offensives gone nowhere.

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I know.

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The counter Offensives gone.

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No.

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And, but Oh yeah.

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The Allies, they could be waiting for a, the Allies in the

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First World War went nowhere.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Oh, D-Day landing got the first a hundred meters and then bogged down for a month.

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Yeah.

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And this is, this is what happens in wars.

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Yes.

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Unfortunately, it takes time.

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Sorry, I take it back.

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I take it back, things are obviously going well for Ukraine ly.

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Well, no, I mean, they're not obviously going well for Ukraine and it's

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all Ukraine just gonna happen for them over the next, if they were up

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against the second world's, the third largest military in the world and

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everything else, and everyone thought it would be over in two or three days.

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What are we, 16 months later?

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They're still fighting

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anyway, according to, reports.

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Well, America's agreed from from rte.com Yes.

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To supply.

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America's agreed to supply cluster bombs.

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Mm.

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It has, yes.

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To the Ukrainians, but the cluster bombs that were going outta date

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anyway, and that had manufacturing tolerances that were fairly shit a and

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have probably only got worse over time.

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Yes.

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So they're not getting the shiny new cluster bombs.

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They're getting the old ones, which will, half of which won't explode and will leave

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unexploded ordinance all over the, yes.

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The, the, the countryside until some kid decides to pick it up and play with it.

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Yeah.

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Or a farmer runs a tractor over it or something like that.

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Yes.

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So, my goodness me, what be a decision the Soviet occupation by

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then, anyway, won't it, Trevor?

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Well, that's, if they think that, sure.

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But they don't, they think they're gonna win and that they're going

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to litter their own territory.

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The Ukrainian territory with unexploded cluster bombs.

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Yes.

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What a terrible decision.

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What a terrible decision.

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And it just continues.

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So, but it's all right because none of them are signatories to the

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whatever it is, arm's convention that limits cluster bombs.

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Yes.

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America's not a signatory to that.

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So they haven't breached an international treaty by supplying the cluster bombs.

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Presumably.

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Ukraine isn't either.

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Yeah.

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Ukraine isn't the US isn't.

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Yeah.

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There we go.

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Want miss that when you need St.

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Diana to go and bang some heads together?

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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She was big on the, she was big on the cluster bombs.

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Yes.

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Mm.

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Right.

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That's Ukraine.

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NATO has been talking about setting up office, a branch

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office in Tokyo, in Japan.

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Mm.

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And the French, fortunately have been saying that's not a good idea.

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And we, the French, when have the French.

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Ever gonna get something that was suggested by another country?

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Sometimes their recalcitrant works out well.

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I think so.

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So yeah.

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I mean, it is the North Atlantic Treaty organization designed

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to point missiles at Russia.

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Hey, come on.

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The French are only new members that don't count.

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Yeah.

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And they're talking about creating this shop in Japan.

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What possible purpose could they have except mischief?

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Yep.

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E exchange of, technologies.

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Mm-hmm.

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What do you think, Scott, is it legitimate for NATO to, to, join up

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with Japan and other Asian countries?

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I don't think it's, I don't think it's legitimate to have these.

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You know, post-Soviet, alliances anymore.

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Mm-hmm.

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You know, because the, it was clearly a, it was clearly designed in the

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forties and that type of thing as a, as a countermeasure to the Soviet Union.

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So now that the Soviet Union no longer exists as, as a countermeasure

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to Russian expansionism.

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Yeah.

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So you're saying it shouldn't be a NATO even in, in Europe?

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Is that what you're saying it, Scott?

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No, I don't think so.

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Yeah, I don't think, I don't, I think it's outlived its purpose.

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Okay.

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Yep.

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And having said that, though, the, the Russians are clearly expansionary

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and that type of thing, so I think that, it's quite legitimate for the

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Europeans to guard against that.

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And Finland has joined up, and Sweden has too.

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So you're saying it's legitimate to have a NATO then?

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Yes, it is now, because, you know, you've got the, you've got.

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Prior to this invasion, it had become irrelevant.

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Yes.

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It had.

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Now it's, it had become irrelevant regain Now, now it's become, now it's

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become relevant again because the Russians clearly can't be trusted.

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Right.

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Okay.

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we've diverted there just back to Asia.

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so I don't think it's, I don't think it's right for them to set up anywhere in Asia

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though, because it depends if they're trying to recruit countries, probably not.

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Mm.

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But what, what are they doing there is the question.

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Mm.

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Well, well I would've thought that if, if you've got anything about, sharing

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of technology and that type of thing, you could do that very easily over,

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you know, you just gotta fly people and that sort of stuff and have,

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have a meeting and, yeah, exactly.

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Maybe we could look at what the NATO Secretary General Jens

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Stoltenberg said about the matter.

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He sounds go Norwegian or he, Dutch Dunno where he is from.

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He said, we should not make the same mistake with China.

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And other authoritarian regimes.

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He said his comment is seen as drawing a link between the Ukraine and Taiwan.

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Quote, what is happening in Europe today?

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Could happen in Asia tomorrow.

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He said, so the head of NATO wants to be there because they don't wanna

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make the same mistake with China that they did with Russia, seemingly.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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I can understand that.

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But don't you think it would have more legitimacy if the, if the Chinese were

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contained by a alliance between the United States, India, someone local, someone

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local in the area like the Americans?

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Yeah.

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Well, we're really close.

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You know, Americans pacification.

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I know the Americans aren't local, but they are, they are the, they

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are now the second superpower in the world and that type of thing.

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So I think they've got to have some sort of presence.

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and Japan and the Philippines are both American colonies.

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Yeah.

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There we go.

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It's their back.

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It's their backyard's, their backyard from America.

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Well, is America's backyards because they have expanded, because

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nowhere is not their backyard.

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Deepest, darkest.

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Africa is America's backyard.

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As far as America's concerned.

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Well, America's not really involved in Africa because

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Africa won't have him there.

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Mm.

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anyway, the French president, Emmanuel Macron has put his foot down insisting

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such geographical expansion would risk shifting the alliance remit too far

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from its original North Atlantic focus.

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He's not in favor of it.

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and he reckons the Japanese authorities have told them that they're not

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actually attached to it either.

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So according to Macron, the Japanese don't want to, don't wanna be involved in it.

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So see where that ends up.

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I've got no problem with that.

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I mean, it's just one of those things, you know, like I said, if they really

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want to get involved, then they can have meetings and that type of thing

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that, you know, we've got, Albanese is on his way over there now, isn't he?

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Over there to NATO meeting?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Why is Al, why, why is Australia involved in a NATO meeting?

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I don't know.

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Well, Australian New Zealand are part of five eyes.

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Mm-hmm.

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Five eyes.

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five eyes.

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But as opposed report to NATO via the US and the uk.

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In the uk Yeah.

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Just cuz in the last few decades there was never a war that going on that

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Australia didn't wanna get involved in.

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So, How it seems.

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Mm, trust if you want a straight shooter on foreign policy trust, Paul Keating.

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He came out with a statement as he's seen, what's happening with NATO in

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Japan and Albanese heading over there.

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And, according to Paul Keating, ex Prime Minister, president Macron

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of France is right to warn NATO away from any expansion into Asia.

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He says, the Europeans have been fighting each other for the better

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part of 300 years, including giving them the rest of us two world wars.

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Exporting that malicious poison to Asia would be akin to Asia,

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welcoming the plague upon itself.

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And of all the people on the international stage, the supreme fool amongst them

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is Jens Stoltenberg, head of nata.

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Stoltenberg by instinct and by policy, is simply an accident on its way to happen.

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And, according to heating, I, I think he's got a bit of a selective memory.

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Heating has.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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And it's like, you know, Japan didn't invade China and

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the whole of Southeast Asia.

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Mm-hmm.

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No, nothing to do with Europe at all.

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Yes, yes.

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Good point.

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Well, the second World War was a global war.

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It started in Europe, but it ended up in, it ended up in the Pacific.

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Yeah.

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But, but Japan invaded China in the thirties, early thirties.

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No, I know that, that, that was, I think they got kicked off in

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the mid thirties, didn't they?

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Yeah.

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Something like that before the Second World War happened.

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Anyway.

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Committed a few atrocities along the way.

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Yeah, yeah.

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No, the rape Apian King was in the thirties.

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Mm-hmm.

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You know?

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Yeah.

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And it was, it was said at the time in Time Magazine that it was, it was

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very hard to get excited about because it Yellow Man Killing Yellow Man.

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Yeah.

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You know, it's, Yeah.

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Whereas with these Ukrainians, they're white guys like us.

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Yes, exactly.

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Yeah.

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Can't have that.

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No, no, no.

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They're not.

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They're Russians.

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Yes.

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Keating says about Stoltenberg in February, he was drawing parallels

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between Russia's assault on Ukraine and China saying we should not

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make the same mistake with China.

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That is, that China should be superintendent by the West.

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And strategically circumscribed, olberg in his jaundice view, view overlooks

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the fact that China represents 20% of humanity and now possesses the

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largest economy in the world and has no record of attacking other states.

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Unlike the United States whose bidding Stoltenberg is happy to

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do, Stoltenberg conducts himself as an American agent rather than

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a leader for European security.

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And Emmanuel Macron is doing the world a service.

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Putting a spike into Stolbergs wheel is Paul Keating.

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It doesn't hold back.

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He's been no quoted by a number of people internationally.

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You enjoyed that.

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we talked about Calvary Hospital mm-hmm.

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Last week and how the a c t government, how about the poor

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Catholics were being pro persecuted?

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Yes.

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Yet again, meanwhile, the sisters who actually run the place, were

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really looking to get out and get into sort of end of life hospice.

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Yeah.

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Which is what they're suited for, rather than running a multidisciplinary hospital

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anyway, which had to provide, you know, abortion and also, reproductive services.

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Yes.

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So crosses attached to the hospital were taken down, and the Goulburn

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Archdiocese, Archbishop Christopher Pra was not happy and he said, The very

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first thing a totalitarian government does when it seizes Christian assets,

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the very first thing they all do, they take down the crucifix when the

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religious cage is shaken by a wolf.

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When the cross is taken down, we realize how important our

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religion is when it's under attack.

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And right now, today, over at the public hospital, today is Sunday of all days.

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They picked is the Christian gathering time.

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They're taking the very big blue cross from outside the

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public hospital down today.

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There was a collective wrenching going on, but there was a sense of

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hope because they realized you can take down our physical CR of fixes,

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but you'll never take away the cross.

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Jesus's cross inside my heart.

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All very dramatic except the a c t Health Minister said, taking

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down the cross was entirely to the decision of the Calvary Healthcare.

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We've been very clear about that whole time.

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Any decision around those items, how and when they were removed

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was entirely the dec decision of Calvary and Calvary admitted.

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Yeah, it was our decision.

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We just decided to take 'em down cuz we thought my moms mow well,

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sounds like some Marion going on there, doesn't it?

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Oh, that's right.

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Love to be persecuted even when you're not.

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Yes, they, they do love it, don't they?

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Motivation complex is one from the early days.

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Yeah.

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Mm.

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Okay.

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That's, maybe that's the last we'll hear of Calvary Hospital in Christians.

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Maybe.

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We'll see.

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This is not gonna be the last pair of Christians.

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No more polling.

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this one, there were polls from, pew Research and from the Lowe Institute.

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And Broman, our listener, Broman, brought it to my attention that

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there was an article in Crikey.

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And basically from these polls of particular interest is that Australian

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skepticism is alive and well.

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Australians are the only group in the Asian Pacific region that thinks

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China is now the world's top power.

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The others thought it was the US and Australia's attitudes to the US

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have been strongly influenced, not in favor of the US by the Trump era.

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So we think less of the US and we think China is more powerful

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when some of our neighbors haven't yet come to that conclusion.

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I don't know.

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I looked at some of the results in these polls and some of

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the stuff was still worrying.

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looking at countries that have a positive opinion of the us, Australia was one of

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those 52% favorable, 47% unfavorable.

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Now be used towards the us.

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one question was, asking whether USA interferes in the

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affairs of other countries.

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All countries basically thought that was the case in Australia, 79% of

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people said yes, the US interferes in the affairs of other countries.

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20% of Australians said, no, they don't.

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I mean, what rock or cave are these people living under or in if you don't

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think the US is involved in interfering in the affairs of other countries?

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But my Murdoch's an American, so obviously yes.

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And and then the question was that the US contributes to peace and

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stability around the world and 61% of Australians think that and 38%.

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disagree.

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So, huh.

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That was part of the polling of Hugh Research and the lower poll basically

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showed, that people now are thinking in the ch in Australia, people thinking

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China is more of a threat than a security than an economic partner.

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But if, if there is a war involving Taiwan, they don't want

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Australian troops sent there.

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So, the majority of Australians don't.

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So, so anyway, those are some more polls that came through on Crikey.

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Nothing startling about that.

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And where we're at, we're at 8 0 5 already.

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25 minutes left.

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Goodness me, I'm probably gonna have to talk about indigenous affairs and culture.

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Racist.

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Yeah, the loins.

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Everybody.

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I've been reading a book.

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culture, the story of us from cave art to K-Pop by Martin Honer.

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It's been a good one, and the more I think about the indigenous affairs,

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the voice, and it's trying to work out culture and how culture fits into

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things and how we think about culture.

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So here's an idea.

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You could look at culture in two different ways.

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One culture belongs to the people born into it and must be defended

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against outside interference.

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Culture is a form of property that belongs to the people who live it.

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That's one way of looking at culture, and I would suggest that's a view of

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culture that's being encouraged for Australian indigenous communities.

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The second way of looking at culture is that culture is made not only from

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the resources of one community, but from encounters with other cultures.

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Culture evolves through circulation and reading this book where he traces

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the history of different cultural EV events throughout human history.

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It's pretty clear that the second version is what actually happens.

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That culture is not from one community.

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It has encounters with other communities, other cultures, and

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it evolves through circulation.

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That's what actually happens.

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And you get rare events where culture is frozen in a kind of a time capsule, and

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that's when it is through certain events.

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Frozen out from interaction with other cultures.

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So, have you guys heard of the Sve cave in France?

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It's one of the, of the oldest extent cave art.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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So it's one of the oldest examples of cave art.

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And it exists because, tens of thousands of years ago, the entrance to the

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cave was blocked by a landslide.

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Mm-hmm.

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And that stopped people going in and defacing it, defacing it, or

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putting up their own drawings, their own drawings, or Yes.

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You know, had that cave been open since that time, there's no way the

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original cave art would've survived the influx of other cultures and

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the influence of other people.

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The other example would be, say, Pompeii.

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With the ashes falling on Pompeii, effectively freezing that culture

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in place and excavations now allow us to see what it was at that time.

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And there was another example where the, parents of, Tutton Carmen, it

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basically left the city that they were living in, created a almost

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a new religion in a new city.

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And when they passed away, that city was abandoned and, and covered.

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And, and it wasn't like there was then a new population in there that,

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that then adjusted everything and it sort of remained frozen in time.

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So, so the sort of examples that we have of cultures that have survived intact,

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untouched for a long period of time.

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Come about because they haven't had contact with other cultures.

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Mm-hmm.

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Because that's what happens.

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Other cultures come in, build upon use, bits and pieces,

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destroy, and change cultures.

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They're not they don't stay fixed.

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They don't remain the property of a group.

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So in his book, this guy says, if we wanna talk properly about culture,

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we need a different language from property and ownership, because

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that's not how culture actually works.

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And I think one of the issues that we have with indigenous people and their

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plight and the way we think about things is, appears to me that there is an

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insistence on maintaining cultural purity and trying to almost freeze in time and

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take ownership of it for a select group and build a wall around it, if you like.

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So well, if that's true, then they just all modern civilization.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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But they'll take on bits and pieces, exactly when it suits.

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But to the, to the dismay of the purists, I guess.

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but I'm guessing even the purists are not animistic, they're probably

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deepened faithful Christians.

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Yes.

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That's the hypocrisy of it, right, Joe?

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Yes.

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So, here's one I, the more I look at it, the more I think of, indigenous call

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for a voice and culture is, is there's a lot of similarities with religion.

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And what if it was a religious group wanting special representation?

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and what if they were saying, only we Christians know what Christians

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need and we need a voice made up solely of Christians because we're the

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experts on the needs of Christians.

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That's what happens in the uk.

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Mm-hmm.

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Many of us would suggest that the best thing for Christians would be to hear

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from some friendly atheists to cause them to question their religious belief.

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You know what, it'd be good for you lot.

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Here's some information that calls into question your here ideology.

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But there's no way that would be accepted in indigenous culture where

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people are allowed to say, you know what, there's probably some parts of

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indigenous culture that might probably be leading to some of the issues that

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the indigenous people are facing.

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And here's from a study, official Australian study of some sort.

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I, I got a paragraph from it.

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So, Family structure for indigenous Australians extends beyond the

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nuclear family concept, commonly seen in non-indigenous contexts

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to encompass extended family and community in a collective system of

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resource sharing that is a testament to their rich cultural heritage.

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this traditional practice underscores community resilience and unity, though

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it does present challenges in balancing resources in the face of income disparity.

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So basically family structure in indigenous Australians is more

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than just the nuclear family.

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And what you have is a collective system of resource sharing.

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I and Heri Ali says the same about Somalis in her book.

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Yeah.

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Mm.

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Talking about the, the culture shock she felt Yes.

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Coming into Western Europe a and where historically she would've gone to the

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tribe to get resources if she was.

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On hard times.

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Hey, was the government giving her free money, right?

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What idiot idiots they were, right?

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So an article that was speaking about the Canadian experience from the

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sky, I'll quote from where he goes.

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I will not dwell too much in the space of the cruel, cynical, and utterly disastrous

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government decisions that have led to the current state of affairs in indigenous

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communities, Canadian indigenous communities, but perhaps the single

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largest enduring difficulty originates in the fact that land on indigenous

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reserves is not owned by residents in their capacity as individuals.

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Rather, it is controlled collectively so no person or family can buy,

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sell, lease, or mortgage their property in the normal manner that

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the rest of us take for granted.

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This has had a crushing effect on business formation and land improvement, and

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is one of the reasons why the housing stock on reserves degrade so quickly.

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Since no one owns their house in the normal way, there is little

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financial incentive to invest in any even basic upkeep activities

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such as mold eradication.

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indigenous people are no less industrious or and ambitious than anyone else in

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Canada, but they often must leave their reserve communities to find their fortune.

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To remain on reserve is in many ways, to exist as a surf within a welfare state.

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So, so the question of how to resolve this difficulty, he says,

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obviously does not fall to me.

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It's something that indigenous communities must determine themselves.

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It's a wrenching issue because a capital style land ownership system

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would allow non-indigenous outsiders to buy these communities out, thus

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undermining the goal of preserving authentic indigenous culture.

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In some cases, both economic and cultural goals can be achieved, but in other

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communities, especially in remote areas, There will be wrenching choices to

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be made pitting jobs against culture.

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And that strikes me as one of the key problems for indigenous communities

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is, this communal ownership problem.

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And that makes sense to me.

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And I can see that that is part of, inherited sort of cultural trait.

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And my concern is, or my thinking is that the people who would be

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on the voice, their business is the indigenous culture industry.

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If there is a point where you should say, you know what, time to ditch a

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couple of cultural features because it's not working in a modern.

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21st century situation.

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That might be something that has to be said and I think should be said, but the

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very people likely to be in the voice are the least likely to admit to that need

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to abandon parts of a culture because they're in the industry of possessing,

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protecting, owning, fencing off culture.

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The, the same has been said in the UK about the Muslim representative groups.

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Mm.

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Who are very entrenched in the status quo.

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Mm.

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And so the government consult with members of the community.

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Mm.

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Who say, well, of course all Muslims don't want gay people in their area.

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And the gay Muslims say, well, hang on, you haven't asked us.

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Mm-hmm.

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But the people in charge are the least likely to be liberal in the community.

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They, they want to defend the status quo because that's what

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gives them power and authority.

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Yes, yes.

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So that's what I see as, one of the problems of, of, of deciding that, a

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purely indigenous based voice is going to solve all the problems when I think one

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of the real major fundamental problems for indigenous people is something that

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these people are least likely to address.

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their motivations are for the opposite.

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So, and it would need an outsider perhaps, to say that who will not

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be allowed to be on the voice.

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Found an old article by Kenon Mallick just talking about race and culture

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and, and how essentially race has been abandoned as a concept and kind

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of replaced by culture, which is a backdoor way of, of speaking racist race.

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Yes.

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I can't really, like, we know that there's no difference between people.

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Racially, we know scientifically that there's nothing in the dna.

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We know people are people, so we can't rely on a racial difference argument.

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But what's happened instead is people have gone, well, of course these people

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have a different culture and that cultural difference is used in the

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same way that race is used or used.

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Race used to be used, so.

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In this article he says, last week, Sandeep and Rina Mander were

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denied the chance to adopt a child.

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Amandas are of Indians seek heritage.

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Though both born in Britain and the only children needing adoption were white.

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So Indians seeks in Britain not allowed to adopt a white child.

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That's bloody ridiculous.

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And, it speaks to a broader confusion about the relationship

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between race and culture.

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A confusion that afflicts anti-racist as much as it does racists.

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Few people these days claim that whites and Indians are racially incompatible,

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but many argue that whites and Indians belong to distinct cultures and possess

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and possess discreet identities.

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Many argue too that especially for children, it's important

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not to undermine their sense of identity or create confusion

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about their cultural attachments.

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Has anybody seen splitting airs?

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The Eric Idle film?

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No.

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No.

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In idle film?

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Yeah.

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He's, he's raised by an Indian family, and he claims proclaims very loudly that

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he's a, he's an Indian, and he has these fantastic Bollywood dream sequences.

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How long ago was this movie made?

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Oh, in the 1980s, right?

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Yeah.

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According to Maleek.

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Just continuing with this story, it's plausible, the council imagines

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that to be white is to belong to a particular culture, and that non-whites

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belong to the other cultures.

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A white child can only be brought up by white parents because otherwise he or

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she would grow up in the wrong culture.

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I mean, we have that here in Australia.

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With indigenous children.

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Mm-hmm.

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so, let me just see,

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talking about the right here.

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So, traditionally a race was seen as a group of human beings linked by a set of

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fundamental characteristics, unique to it, that was the traditional view of race.

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In the post-war world, this concept of race disintegrated

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racial categories were shown to possess little scientific validity.

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and after the Holocaust, the idea of racial inferiority or

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superiority, became a big no-no.

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But if old fashioned racial science was buried, many of the racial thinking,

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assumptions of racial thinking survived.

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It's just that humanity could be divided into discreet groups.

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Each of which possessed a set of unique characteristics

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shaped an individual's identity.

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These ideas came to be race, recast in the language, not of biology, but of culture.

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Insured cultural differences replaced racial differences, and this was

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done by both the left and the right.

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So Marie Lappen in France would say on the right wing, we not only

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have the right but the duty to defend our national personality and

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have our right to our difference.

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So defending the purity of the French culture and from the left,

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different minority groups, are seen as possessing different cultures,

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identities, and ways of thinking, and.

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To confront racism and oppression.

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Many argue on the left, requires a defense of each group's distinct

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identities, which is really just repeating the Marie Lapin argument

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and on both the right and the left.

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Many now view cultures as fixed bounded entities, each the

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property only of certain people.

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Once culture was seen as providing the tools with which to open up and transform

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the world today, many regard it more as a protective wall to shield its members

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and to keep out unwanted visitors.

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there we go, bear's some thoughts.

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Think about when it comes to the indigenous question and how we

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think about race and culture.

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Ove.

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Yes.

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Ah, have I got another story here?

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I wonder if I'll tell the Ray Halton story.

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I've told this one before.

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ah, I'll tell this one.

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So that story that I just read from, Ken and Malick was on his website

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and in the comment section was a comment by a guy called, Ray Halpin,

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who I actually reached out to.

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And we, and then friends on Facebook, it's like, sort of six years ago now.

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Interesting guy.

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He sort of ended up on the streets in, in Ireland, like as

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a, almost as a homeless type guy.

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And I was saying to him, do you need some money?

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And he was like, no, no, I'll be right.

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And he interesting guy.

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So in response to what Ken and Malik wrote, This is in the comments by Ray

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Helpin and he said, I'm an unskilled manual laborer, living in Dublin, but

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I spent the 1990s working in Outback Australia as a field operative in

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the mining exploration industry.

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During those years, I came to befriend many aboriginal Australians, and at one

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stage even considered proposing to one.

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The Mabo Lands rights decision was a watershed moment.

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From that point on, the political consciousness of many ordinary

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aboriginal Australians really flourished.

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Although at the time, the significance was not grasped by

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many of the indigenous friends in Mount Isa, they resented the idea.

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This is his Aboriginal friends in Mount Isa resented the idea that Torres Strait

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Islanders were getting a percentage of the funding set aside by Canberra for Atsic.

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Aborigines were the real indigenous Australians, whereas

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Islanders were something else.

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I found this sort of rivalry to be depressing cause the, my excessively

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idealized way of thinking at the time, it resembled a mild form of the

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kind of racism pervasive throughout the white Australian community.

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Abes should have been immune from that kind of thing, given their experiences.

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They should have known better, but they didn't.

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They were a stubbornly human as any other group.

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he goes on the issue of exactly what it meant to be an Australian Aboriginal

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came, became a frequent topic of discussion around the barbecue.

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Some of my black friends refused to join the discussion

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because politics irritated them.

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Others dismissed the whole idea of aboriginality and preferred to

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concentrate on the apparently less controversial idea of common humanity.

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There was always one, usually the one who had an arts degree from the University

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of Queensland who pursued a degree of exclusivity that would've impressed the

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most fastidious phenologist he'd demand to be referred to by his tribal designation.

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Even though he often didn't know it and accused his cousins of being yellow

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rather than black, because some of their distant ancestors turned out

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to be Afghan Cavaliers when their cousins retaliated pointing to the

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extraordinary number of white fellas in their accusers pedigree, he'd blanche

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and say he was proud of all of his ancestors, but you could tell he wasn't.

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As far as I could tell, the absurdities of black identity were as comical

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and as potentially dangerous and tragic and veno phenol as those

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infecting the white identity.

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I met Australian Aborigines who adapted, adopted an identity for

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purely cynical reasons because there was funding to be had from it.

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Its steady work and academic kudos and compensation from mining companies, ime

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aboriginal Australians who were purists of the most intimidating kind, who condemned

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all whites as genocidal murderers and assumed a right to kill them wherever and

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whatever, and felt justified in doing so.

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these experiences are many more liked them, forced me to reflect long and

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hard on the pros and cons of identity and into view with growing detestation,

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the emergence of an illiberal left winging variety of identity politics

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that in effect deferred very little from its right wing counterpart.

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There we go.

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Thoughts on indigenous issues.

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All will be reexamined in a bumper indigenous episode.

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Appear at some point.

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Did you see Lydia Thorpe's comments?

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I, I saw, this is 60 minutes.

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Oh, I dunno.

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I just saw some headlines.

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Which comment was that, Joe?

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Well, specifically, it, it's okay to be black and vote no.

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and no, it doesn't make us racist.

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Mm.

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I, I refuse to be lumped into the same group.

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you know, there are different reasons for voting no.

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And you don't have to be a racist to vote.

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No.

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Was effectively what she was saying, she classed herself as a progressive No.

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Hmm.

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Is how she described it as opposed to a racist.

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No.

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Yes.

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And I would describe the theories that I'm trying to espouse as a rationalist.

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No.

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So you can have different reasons for I, I think so, no.

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Yes.

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But I think we are just going to see a taring of a whole sway of the

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country as racists, uneducated bigots.

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Yes.

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That's what we're gonna see and this is what's gonna happen.

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Yeah.

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And yeah, I've been keeping a, clipping all sorts of stuff from social media from.

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Different people who I normally agree with on the left, and they're just going

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to town when they talk about the racists who are contemplating the no vote.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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one of the Facebook pages I follow was, if you're voting for no, then you

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know it's as good as a vote for Daton.

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Yes.

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And I just put up, what was it, your, your logical fallacy is

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black and white thinking, right?

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Yeah.

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It's, these are not two sides of the same coin.

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You, you can vote no and not be for Mr.

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Ton.

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Yes.

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So it's a complicated topic because it, it's, it's, it's, it's

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these issues of culture and, and.

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There's almost a religious reverence for the purity of

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the culture being maintained.

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And there's, well, welcome to country has just become, sorry.

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what's, what's, yeah, it is welcome to country has become the Lord's Prayer over.

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It has, yes.

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And a lot of atheist rationalists who would normally object to overtly

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rich religious happenings are quite happy to wave through Indigenous.

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Indigenous Oh.

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Or even spiritual.

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Yes, indeed.

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And it's complicated because it is a mixture of feeling sorry for

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what has happened to the plight of modern day indigenous people who

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are suffering mixed in with a a, A feeling of compensation for stolen

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land of what happened to, indigenous people, you know, two 50 years ago.

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And it's, it's that mixture of those two things that justifies a position

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that would otherwise be unjustifiable.

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And it's just illogical at the end of the day.

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So we'll get to all that and we'll upset a lot of people.

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Sorry about that.

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That's just the way it is.

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I get a bumper episode to come.

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Oh, I notes are just getting longer and longer on this.

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Yeah.

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Which is fine.

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You'll have to send them to me well in advance because I've gotta get across it.

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But, I'm still leaning towards a yes vote, just to protect it from

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the Tories more than anything else.

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Mm-hmm.

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But I understand where you're coming from.

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You know, it's one of those things, it's not as easy as

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they are trying to make out.

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I still don't understand why Albanese wants it as bad as he does.

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I mean, I would've thought that he could actually take a look at the

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polls and that sort of stuff and actually sit the people down and say

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to them, if we put this up now, there's every likelihood we're going to lose.

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So I don't think it's a good idea for us to go ahead with it.

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Now, I don't think he's a particularly deep thinker.

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I think he just, no, he just thinks there's a lot of disadvantaged indigenous

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people living in terrible circumstances.

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And, land was stolen and the grievance of that has been

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transferred through the generations to present day indigenous people.

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And that's the way a lot of people on the left think.

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And that's the thinking that he would adopt without questioning.

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Whether that's actually logically appropriate or not, so Mm.

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Yeah.

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Have we heard anything from Keating over it?

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he would be in favor of it, I would've thought, because I don't know.

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his speech that he read Fern speech and all that, I would've thought.

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Mm-hmm.

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So, yeah.

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You know, Scott, we actually spoke about this way back in episode three.

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Really?

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Yes.

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Way back then.

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Noel Pearson.

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Yes.

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Because in episode three we referred to an article where Noel Pearson, was

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proposing that he wanted a voice to parliament way back then, eight years ago.

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So yeah, as I was, bloody hell, that was working my way through the notes and

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finding every reference we've made to indigenous matters as part of the, 10 hour

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episode that will appear at some stage.

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Yeah.

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Alright, that's enough.

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I've gotta get ready for a 60th birthday gathering.

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Mm.

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I hope you enjoyed that one, and, we'll be with you next week.

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Bye for now.

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And it's a good night from me and that's a good night from him.

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The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove
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