The Prime Minister has been rehearsing.
"Unless they (Indigenous people) can get a share of the bounty of this great and prosperous country, their future will be bleak."
He has repeated his ‘bounty of this great and prosperous nation’ statement many times in the past two days.
What he really means by that became clear when he was interviewed on CAAMA radio yesterday:
"Part of sharing the bounty of this great and prosperous country is ownership of land and without disputing the importance of community in the life of Indigenous people, the right of people and the opportunity of Indigenous people to have their own land is very, very important and that’s why we think that past attitudes to individual ownership have got to change.
Rather than trying to find a way to co-exist with Indigenous nations, the PM has announced that the only way to be considered a worthwhile member of the Australian nation is if you own your own home on your own little piece of land: a mortgage, a house, a nuclear family no doubt.
He sounded even more like a character from ‘Mars Attacks’ when he said; "we come here in goodwill," at a community lunch near Hermannsburg’s Lutheran church on Tuesday.
Despite sending in the army to conduct compulsory health tests and implement compulsory ‘reforms’ to every aspect of Aboriginal life, the Prime Minister continues to push the line that the government hasn’t "come here to take anybody’s land or to push anybody around."
For a Prime Minister to do one thing and say another isn’t unusual or remarkable. What it does say, however, is that something stinks.
The final nail in his intervention coffin came with his remark at his press conference in Hermannsburg, that the future of Indigenous people “…can only be as part of the mainstream of the Australian community."
Be more like the Anglo Saxons in Australia. Then you’ll be valued.