Abolishing our "national day"

out of "respect for the culture and values of our First Nations people" is yet another move by our local council.

It seems our local council is now more about politics than it is about people. It is less about "roads, rates and rubbish" than it is about telling us how we must think and how we must vote.

I have complained elsewhere in this blog about council flying multiple flags that have nothing to do with state or federal government. It is my genuine belief that "rainbow" flags have no place on government buildings. If you want to fly a rainbow flag yourself that's fine. It's up to you but it just isn't appropriate to demand that everyone else supports the flying of it. The same goes for any other flag that is not a state or federal flag and that includes the "indigenous" and "islander" flags. 

Going a step further and abolishing our national day without consulting the rate payers is a step too far. This is not being done out of any genuine respect for "culture and values". It is a political gesture, just as flying the rainbow flag is a political gesture. It is a political gesture in just the same way as this same council is only allowing the "yes" side of the referendum to use council space or council resources. There is no question of any sort of balanced debate being allowed, indeed questions are not being allowed. No, we must all think, believe and act in the same way.

Yes, there are other organisations acting in the same way. It was disappointing to discover that one of the local church groups had refused to allow a debate on the referendum question. Instead the members were, according to my informant, told there was only one acceptable way to vote.

But, our national holiday? I don't have much time for the 26th January. It wouldn't actually matter which date was chosen. I have little time for national holidays of that nature. For too many people it is simply an excuse for a "barbecue and a booze up". It has nothing to do with national pride. 

The idea that it is "insulting" to some people however is a new one. It is an idea that has only become popular as activists have gained greater capacity to make themselves heard. It ranks along with the "Acknowledgment" statements and the "Welcome to Country ceremonies" which didn't even exist when I was at school and are no more traditional than damper was for the original inhabitants. What is more many of those making the loudest noise about all this are the very people who have ancestors who are responsible for the "invasion".

I asked someone who "identifies as Aboriginal" recently about her family.  She has one great-great grandparent who "might" have been but she still "identifies". I know that and she knows that. Her parents don't identify as Aboriginals. Her siblings don't but she does. This is less exceptional than people are led to believe. There are others like her out there. Her entire focus is on "being Aboriginal". She fights against any celebration of nationhood and for the proposed "Voice to Parliament". This is about her politics. It isn't about people. Right now it gives her some power, power to be heard. The idea that she is a member of some sort of repressed minority gives her that sense of power. 

Local councils who are abolishing our national day without reference to rate payers are trying to do the same sort of thing. They want to appear relevant and politically correct rather than do the dull jobs they were elected to do. Perhaps it is time to be rid of that tier of government altogether?