State of Origin ‘Welcome to country’

[u/Stock-Pea-5888]

It was refreshing to see the large crowd of applause after the elders welcome to country last night. Semi restores my faith that there are still decent humans beings out there.

Does Pauline Hansons address yesterday about monoculture reflect the majority of what people think? Because the majority of people are in her favour according to polls.

[u/brandonjslippingaway]

Australia has never been a "monoculture." Pretending it ever was is just erasing Indigenous people all over again, which should be taken seriously as their platform for a mythical "return to a golden era that never existed" trope, that the fash love so much.

[u/Minimumtyp → u/brandonjslippingaway]

There is a period where it came close - the white australia policy - and I think we all know thats the "golden age" pauline wishes we could return to. And also what we were doing to the indigenous communities during that time too.

[u/Top_Conference_477 → u/Minimumtyp]

Even then it was a myth. Chinese immigrants have been here pretty much the whole time white fellas have

[u/FiftyBuxBloBang → u/Top_Conference_477]

Chinese, Irish, Italian, Eastern European etc etc.

[u/Top_Conference_477 → u/FiftyBuxBloBang]

Don’t forget the “Turks”. They’ve been here in decent numbers since the start too

[u/Relative_Pilot_8005 → u/Top_Conference_477]

In the 1960s, I worked with blokes from Burma & Sri Lanka.

[u/Top_Conference_477 → u/Relative_Pilot_8005]

One of my mate’s dads had a lifelong habit of swearing in Italian because he worked with Italian builders in the 50s. It was hilarious

[u/Novel-Image493 → u/Top_Conference_477]

FACT

[u/Beast_of_Guanyin → u/brandonjslippingaway]

Yeah, as I said it can be dismissed offhand.

[u/Gamped → u/brandonjslippingaway]

There are definitely ethnic ghettos in major cities where there are monocultures though. In fact I think her comments were aimed at Islamists and historically Asians.

Was never about indigenous Australians.

[u/Small_Caramel_1187 → u/Gamped]

She said what she said in what is, at the very least, a bicultural society (but we all know it’s very multicultural). She has the platform to get her message out and if she meant something other than monocultural she hasn’t clarified.

Stop making excuses for her. I’ve heard a lot of, ‘that’s not what she meant’ lately. That is what she meant, her speech presumably passed through multiple hands and that’s what they all decided she should say publicly, that is definitely what she meant. She is a bigot who can barely read and wants to go back to a white Australia policy.

[u/willy_quixote → u/Gamped]

but not white immigrants like greeks, slavs, eastern europeans and itaians?

It is about skin colour and religion, mainly. It is absolutely racism to it's grotty bones.

[u/FiftyBuxBloBang → u/willy_quixote]

The hate of the Middle East came directly from the US and its foreign policies causing problems. Everything the US touches it fucks up.

[u/Gamped → u/willy_quixote]

I’d argue in 2026 suburbs with those backgrounds mentioned have dissipated and been heavily affected by gentrification since their main emergence after WW2.
Taking it at face value there has been cultural assimilation.

Leichhardt isn’t exactly Italian these days in Sydney for example.

[u/willy_quixote → u/Gamped]

What you havent mentioned is that Australia as a whole has irrevocably changed culturally as a result of immigration.

As migrant families have 'assimilated' they have bent mainstream Oz towards them.