To the Editor It is 10 years since the Sorry Statement was made in Parliament. It is worth reflecting on what progress is occurring in the reconciliation process. The Rural City of Benalla takes part in this reconciliation process and has a statement that is read out before all council functions. This is the statement:- "We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay respects to their elders and the elders from other communities who may be here today. We also acknowledge all other peoples who have contributed to the rich diversity of this Country.” I feel this acknowledgement could be improved. I find it vague and confusing. Just what are we saying here? Are we acknowledging the Aboriginal traditional owners of the land? Are we acknowledging that we exist on Aboriginal land? The first sentence refers partially to Aboriginal people but then refers to other communities. Are these communities other aboriginal communities? Are we likely to have other aboriginal communities present? Just what does this phrase mean? Who are these other peoples? Are they meant to be aboriginal? Is it not odd that this sentence does not even mention the word Aboriginal? The second sentence does not refer to aboriginals but other peoples. Who are these other peoples? Is this referring to white pioneers of this region? It seems to me that this sentence can only refer to non-aboriginal people. Should not the acknowledgement statement simply refer to Aboriginal Elders and their traditional ownership of the land? The current acknowledgement is a grudging statement. It is read as if the reader does not really want to read it out but is being forced to. It is as if the reader is saying I don’t want to read this but if I do I want to mention white people also. The reconciliation process needs to have meaningful symbolic gestures that in time will affect the way people feel. We should have rituals that have meaning. Yours Faithfully Neville Gibb
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Dear Mr Swindoll
You are on the radio 5 days a week at 6 O’clock every morning in rural Victoria. I like to keep regular hours and have my alarm set at 6AM every morning. Consequently I am awake when you are on the radio. I have to admit that I do not always listen to you every morning but I occasionally enjoy listening to your explanations of the letters of St Paul. I recently heard you say something that has disturbed me and I feel I have to bring this to your attention and ask what your true feelings are. You recently praised Billy Graham in glowing terms and described him as one of the great men of American Christianity. This disturbs me. I wonder if you have listened to the recordings of him and Richard Nixon that were recorded in the Whitehouse. In these recordings Billy Graham proved that he was a racist and a bigot and anyone who heard his statements has to realise this. His statements should remove any credibility he had as a Christian Minister with all decent men. I presume that you would have listened to these recordings and cannot understand why you would still refer to him in such glowing terms. This has prompted me to ask some questions of you on important issues that you never mention in your broadcasts.
Segregation. I wonder what your true feelings on so called racial issues are. Do you consider light skinned people to be different to dark skinned people? Looking at the utube films of your sermons it is obvious that you only preach to light skinned people. There are only light skinned people in your congregation and there are certainly only light skinned people in your organization. Why is this? Do you consider dark skinned people to be intrinsically different to light skinned people? It is true that until recently America had official policies to segregate people according to the colour of their skin. Probably still do on an unofficial basis. I would like to know if you agreed with this policy. If you did not agree why do you still have segregated services? If you do not agree with segregation why don’t you speak out against it? Why don’t you preach to dark skinned people? Why are you not preaching in favour of the black lives matter movement? Surely this is one of the most important issues in American society. Gun Control. America claims to lead the world in many areas. Unfortunately gun control is not one of them. The 2nd amendment says - A well regulated militia being necessary to the well being of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. I wonder how many people who bear arms belong to a well regulated militia? Until people like you speak out against the indiscriminate use of firearms no gun control will occur. Innocent people will continue to be shot. Why are you not preaching in favour of gun control? Surely this is one of the most important issues in American society. Dear Councilor
I attended the Council Meeting held in the old Town Hall and I write to you because of your speech which you gave speaking in support of the motion you put regarding the Piano returning to the Art Gallery. In your speech you appealed to people to lessen the emotion involved in the issue yet it was obvious to me that your voice contained a certain amount of suppressed rage. You appealed for reason yet you did not let 2 fellow councilors to vote claiming they had a conflict of interest. The underlying rage in your voice indicated you had an interest which could have also been argued to be conflicted. The question is self evident – why did you not also remove yourself from voting? As a Councilor I believe you have to grapple with many issues where the issues are not clear cut – the issues will seldom be black and white and you will always have to make a judgement or compromise. In this case however the issues are clear cut. Pushing the reset button will not solve the problem and your comment “the piano is not going anywhere” could turn out to be political double speak. I do not understand why all the issues could not be ventilated in this matter and I ask if you could answer the following questions.
I believe the real conflict of interest is between those elected and those appointed. - Who has the power? I ask if you could reply. Thanking You Neville Gibb |
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