Australian Leader and a mate rescued by riot police in Canberra

[Heinz Guderian]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ot-police.html

So this lady who is a Prime Minister/Chancellor in Australia and this mate called Abbott who is the opposition leader were at a function celebrating "Australia Day" having a nice bit of wine, maybe some chicken. Meanwhile across the street these people were having a protest for Aboriginal rights at an "Embassy" the Aborigines built over a few years - i think its like a tent.

So Abbott says something on tv about this tent saying it shouldnt be there which inflamed the protestors so they surrounded the building the lady and mate were having chicken and wine in.

RIot police had to drag them out.

Here are some pics



GET DOWN MISTER PREZIDENT!



One for all you foot lovers out there. She keeps in shape. I like that.

People were shouting and banging on the window because they were angry about what the lady's mate said about their tent. The Australian leaders seem to be out of touch with the rights of their minorities much like they were in 1938. And the pics and video of this incident makes them look powerless and afraid. There is also a guy covered in paint and a didgereedoo too in the vid.

Are Australian leaders as racist i think they are, and trying to make them out to be, and what can be done about it? Will the Australian public think less of them now after this incident?

[Exarch]

i'm not a gillard lover and am even less of a fan of abbot, so this piece of news mightily pleased me.

she lost a shoe from the looks at it; classy broad.

btw, how can there still be problems with the indigeneous ppl? i woulda thought the government exterminated all/most of them so they wouldn't be a problem for us; that we could just blithely ignore them as we've done for the past century and a bit

[Pontifex Maximus]

Is Australia really like 40-50 years behind every other "western", industrialized state?

[Exarch]

Is Australia really like 40-50 years behind every other "western", industrialized state?

yes, and we'll die to prevent otherwise!

(no joke)

[Pontifex Maximus]

yes, and we'll die to prevent otherwise!

(no joke)

But it looks so nice there

[Simon Cashmere]

Is Australia really like 40-50 years behind every other "western", industrialized state?

Why do you posit this as an hypothesis?

Not saying I disagree, while I live here and I am as Australian as you can be, I hate the place - just want to see what your reasoning is.

[Sharpe's Company]

Trying to attack a women shows us what savages they still are.

[Treize]

Trying to attack a women shows us what savages they still are.

Chivalry is dead and burried, women are emancipated now appearantly.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Why do you posit this as an hypothesis?

Not saying I disagree, while I live here and I am as Australian as you can be, I hate the place - just want to see what your reasoning is.

Because the civil rights movements in the US happened about that long ago. That could be an inappropriate comparison, they might be like 90-100 years behind if this is in terms of settling problematic natives (Not that the US did it right, mind...)

[Simon Cashmere]

Because the civil rights movements in the US happened about that long ago. That could be an inappropriate comparison, they might be like 90-100 years behind if this is in terms of settling problematic natives (Not that the US did it right, mind...)

That's assuming that Australia is comparable to the deep south in the early 60s. And it isn't.

Just because someone is protesting, does not follow that this is the case.

Also, whatever your grievances, threats of menace or violence have no place in Australian society and should not ever occur.

I can't stand Julia Gillard, but the dignitiy of the office of the Prime Minister needs to be respected - and she be allowed to freely go and enter places on public occasions without being attacked by a mob. Whatever the merits or lack thereof are of that particular mobs claim.

[The Gurkhan]

In some of the footage them be some of the whitest looking aborigines I've ever seen.........

[SLN445]

Because the civil rights movements in the US happened about that long ago. That could be an inappropriate comparison, they might be like 90-100 years behind if this is in terms of settling problematic natives (Not that the US did it right, mind...)

Considering they are equal to the rest of us and its only social issues amounst themselves that are causing the contiueing issues, neither of your comparisons are close.

[Dewy]

Because the civil rights movements in the US happened about that long ago. That could be an inappropriate comparison, they might be like 90-100 years behind if this is in terms of settling problematic natives (Not that the US did it right, mind...)

Last I checked Australian Aboriginals were given the right to vote in Australia before African Americans were in the US. And it's not like we had to call in the army because of the riots like in LA not so long ago. So before trying to paint another country as backwards why not look at your own country.

[Niles Crane]

Is Australia really like 40-50 years behind every other "western", industrialized state?

Supporters of a republic like to go on about how we've 'matured' as a nation, seemingly ignoring the issues we still have with the indigenous people (among other things), but which most post-colonial countries have dealt with well enough.

[boofhead]

Is Australia really like 40-50 years behind every other "western", industrialized state?

Nope. We're more advanced. Probably not as advanced as the Scandinavians though.

[Prosaic Visitant]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ot-police.html

So this lady who is a Prime Minister/Chancellor in Australia and this mate called Abbott who is the opposition leader were at a function celebrating "Australia Day" having a nice bit of wine, maybe some chicken. Meanwhile across the street these people were having a protest for Aboriginal rights at an "Embassy" the Aborigines built over a few years - i think its like a tent.

So Abbott says something on tv about this tent saying it shouldnt be there which inflamed the protestors so they surrounded the building the lady and mate were having chicken and wine in.

RIot police had to drag them out.

Here are some pics



GET DOWN MISTER PREZIDENT!



One for all you foot lovers out there. She keeps in shape. I like that.

People were shouting and banging on the window because they were angry about what the lady's mate said about their tent. The Australian leaders seem to be out of touch with the rights of their minorities much like they were in 1938. And the pics and video of this incident makes them look powerless and afraid. There is also a guy covered in paint and a didgereedoo too in the vid.

Are Australian leaders as racist i think they are, and trying to make them out to be, and what can be done about it? Will the Australian public think less of them now after this incident?

Abbott said that the Tent Embassy was not needed, that it has out-lived it's use (which, to an extent, it has); their founding was due to land rights, which has since been settled. The Tent Embassy feels more like a relic of another era, a relic trying to be relevant but failing to be so. Sure, Aborigines aren't equals to mainstream society in many sociometrics (typical stuff; lower life expectancy, higher unemployment, higher crime and addiction rates, higher disease rates etc), but much progress has been made and these things take time; although the government has the typical government mindset; employ bureaucrats, hold committees, pass more laws and hopefully thing will work out.

Things don't help that Aborigines really can't agree on what they want Canberra to do.

Yes, we are generally portrayed as more racist than what our society is. Our leaders are no exception and while they do live in some parallel and esoteric universe, I wouldn't call them racist.

yes, and we'll die to prevent otherwise!

(no joke)

Typical self-depreciating "grass is greener on the other side" remark. My brethren really are quite cynical.

[Father Jack]

I thought Heinz Fischer was the Austrian premier?


He was born in 1938 too...

[Heinz Guderian]

I thought Heinz Fischer was the Austrian premier?


He was born in 1938 too...

sorry, i blame myself for being unclear in the OP. Mr. Fisher is head of state whereas Ms. Gifford is the prime minister. You can see the Queensland State Flagge in the background of that pic you posted.

[SLN445]

sorry, i blame myself for being unclear in the OP. Mr. Fisher is head of state whereas Ms. Gifford is the prime minister. You can see the Queensland State Flagge in the background of that pic you posted.

wha?

If those days ever existed, they are long, long gone. Naive fantasy to think otherwise.

Those days have always existed and should continue to, frankly it would be unaustralian to keep our Prime minister at a distance from our populace.

[Simon Cashmere]

wha?

Those days have always existed and should continue to, frankly it would be unaustralian to keep our Prime minister at a distance from our populace.

I think what would be more un-Australian, is to put the PM at risk because of some belief about being approachable.

The same reason why JFK was the last President to have an open motorcade. Times have changed. Naivety will not keep VIPs safe, real world security planning will however.