Topic: The Australia Thread - inmates and visitors alike

[neesy111]

Is neighbours and home & away still on?

[Dave]

Yeah. The missus watches them both, the rotter.

[Yorkie]

Aye me mother watches Neighbours. Olympia Valance nearly saves it.

[SEMTEX]

TO THE GOOGLECOPTER

[SEMTEX]

[Stifleaay]

Australia had a 'white only' immigration policy until the 70's.

[leffe186]

My Uncle, sweet guy, eccentric, heavily involved with athletics in Australia...talks about "negroes". Just casually, not in a derogatory way as such, he's a nice racist. It's completely a factor of his generation, and lack of self-awareness .

[Thomson Mouse]

Yeah, hear the coon thing A LOT.

I still find it amazing this cheese is allowed to be sold and in supermarkets as well!! 



The explanation is a bit flimsy:

COON is the trademark of a Cheddar cheese produced by the Dairy Farmers company in Australia. It was first launched in 1931 by Fred Walker.

The cheese is said to be named after its American creator Edward Coon who patented a method, subsequently known as the Cooning process, for fast maturation of cheese via high temperature and humidity. Former manufacturer Kraft, and later Dairy Farmers, have vigorously defended the trademark.

The accuracy of Dairy Farmers' account of the origin of the brand has been challenged. Anti-racism campaigner Stephen Hagan has said that he has been unable to find evidence that Edward Coon was a famous cheese maker, contending that the name came instead from the black wraparound in which it was originally sold. Hagan says that Edward Coon was an obscure factory hand who was induced to subscribe his name to the patent for cheese manufacture some time after the brand had been in use.

From 1933 the cheese was marketed as Red Coon, as at the time the cheese was coated with red wax. The wax was later replaced with cellophane and the red stripe in the logo is a residual reference to the original packaging

[Raconteur]

It is indeed true that our beautiful land is also, unfortunately, a f***ing redneck wonderland. It's just shocking, sometimes.

I work in a secondary school, and in my more idealistic days I would try to engage with racist students (who you just know are parroting their parents). I would debate and argue and counter, but it's simply not feasible. It comes to a point where you're in a slinging match with an angry ignorant teenager which detracts from your professionalism, is terribly unedifying and isn't going to succeed anyway.

So now, when students tell me we should send them all home, or bomb them back to the stone age, or that our indigenous people are all bludgers and leeches, my "best" response is something like "I don't agree, but I'm not going to discuss it with you."

BTW That cumstain who used to be our PM was elected precisely because he pandered to the redneck element with his hardline anti-immigration policies. I mentioned it in the migrant crisis thread but you should consider researching the abhorrent offshore processing policies we employ - and then observe the masses who nod along or suggest that these draconian measures are too soft. And for a real good time, check out a Facebook group called "Things Right Wingers Say" - but have a barf bag handy when you do...

[Froggy]

I did my farming work in Bundaberg, QLD and that's where I experienced all the racism. They were fine towards the Irish, didn't like the English, and f***ing hated everyone else.

Sydney, Brisbane etc. are completely fine for the most part.

[MKSC]

I'm doing History of Australia for one of my modules this year. Gonna be fun.

[Raconteur]

Queensland was the state that voted in that neo-Nazi bitch Pauline Hanson back in the 90s. There was one election when her "One Nation" party won 33% of the primary vote in the Queensland election.

Yup, they're a breed apart.

MKSC - I teach Australian History to Year 9 students, and I don't think I've ever heard it described as "fun" Many people find it really boring, even many history lovers. What sorts of aspects are you looking at?

[MKSC]

We're pretty much taking the complete tour, stopping of at certain points in more detail. Last week we did some stuff on pre-contact societies which was great and we're gonna move through chronologically. I've read Stuart Macintyre's Concise History of Australia over the summer as that's our main text for the course. Also read Marcus Clarke's 'His natural life' which I thought was excellent. I'm not sure which part I'm more interested in but I'm doing a lot of stuff on British Colonial/Imperial history this year and I do find convicts/transportation really interesting.

The course is at Kings College London and is run in conjunction with the Menzies Center for Australian Studies so the teaching and resources are top level.

[Thomson Mouse]

Farage would be proud.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/07/nauru-mother-of-alleged-gang-rape-victim-attempts-suicide

Nauru: mother of alleged gang-rape victim attempts suicide

Victim’s brother says his mother ‘desperate’ after being told she cannot see her daughter, who has been in hospital in Brisbane since August

 Nazanin, an Iranian asylum seeker, who was allegedly gang-raped on Nauru in May 2015. She remains in a Brisbane hospital without her mother and brother.

The mother of an Iranian asylum seeker allegedly gang-raped on Nauru has tried to kill herself, having been told she cannot see her unwell daughter.

The mother, Farrah, has been placed in isolation under 24-hour watch since the suicide attempt on Saturday, her fourth. That also means she is separated from her son, who is held in another part of the detention centre.


'We suffer the same as them': the trauma and despair of Syrians detained on Nauru
 Read more
Farrah’s daughter, Nazanin, was allegedly gang-raped by up to three men on Nauru in May.

Nazanin, 23, was found at 9pm on 16 May having been missing on the tiny island for more than three hours. She was naked, disoriented, and badly beaten.

She had bruises and bite marks on her body, and told police she had been attacked and raped.

No one has been charged.

After the attack, Nazanin’s health deteriorated precipitously. She began to refuse to eat or drink, and attempted suicide.

Workers on the island have told Guardian Australia camp managers resisted moving Nazanin to Australia even as she went into organ failure, but came under sustained pressure from doctors who warned she would die if she was not moved.

Nazanin was moved to Brisbane in August, where she remains in hospital.

Her mother, Farrah, and her 20-year-old brother, Omid, were told they could join their daughter and sister in Australia, but have now been told they must stay on Nauru.

Omid told Guardian Australia on Wednesday that his family was not seeking exceptional consideration of their refugee claim, but just to be together.

“My mother is in desperation. She wants to be close to support her daughter, who is very sick. She just wants to help her get better.

“When they took her they said we would go the next day, but then they say no. Now it has been five weeks we are separated and my mother is mentally very unwell. My mother does not change her clothes, and she cries all the time. She tries to harm herself.

“My mother and sister can only talk on the phone for short time every second day, and now my sister she just screams and cries on the phone. She cannot speak any more. She just screams and cries and my mother cannot help her.”

Farrah’s suicide attempt has focused further scrutiny on the safety of asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru.

Two Somali women have reported being raped on the island in recent months.

One, aged 23, is nearly three months pregnant as a result of the alleged rape, and has pleaded with the Australian government to be allowed to come to Australia to terminate the pregnancy.

The request has, so far, been denied, despite entreaties to the government from lawyers, health professionals and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten.

Two 17-year-old refugee boys were allegedly beaten and robbed by local men last week.

The Nauruan justice minister, David Adeang, said refugees living in the Nauruan community were not in physical danger and that reports of locals attacking them were “largely fabricated”.

“There is no gun violence in Nauru. People are not dying from domestic violence and our police don’t even have to be armed, so let’s get some perspective into this discussion,” he said.

“In some ways Nauru is safer than Australia.”

Nauru has promised all refugee determinations will be finalised within a week.

Guardian Australia has approached the Nauru government and Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection for comment over Nazanin’s circumstances and the progress of investigations into her assault.

[DJ_NUFC]

Astonishing this is happening in western countries in the 21st century.

[Froggy]

Geographically, Australia is Eastern.

[Disco]

Geographically, Australia is Eastern.

Cheers Rand McNally.

[Froggy]

Was talking to DJ

[DJ_NUFC]

I'm pretty certain the term 'Western' has been interchangeable with 'developed' in casual discourse. I wasn't remapping the globe in that off-hand comment, there.

[cfcmagpies]

Our treatment of asylum seekers has been appalling. Amongst other things.

[taxfree]

Just saw an episode of the "Go back to where you came from" series. Basically one rather daft anti-immigration woman vs. the whole series. Such a scripted and one sided narrative

[Disco]

Just saw an episode of the "Go back to where you came from" series. Basically one rather daft anti-immigration woman vs. the whole series. Such a scripted and one sided narrative

You should see how many people born outside of Australia already live there, you'll be spitting - especially the numbers from Malaysia, India & Lebanon. All of which have Muslim heavy demographics as I'm sure you'll be aware.

[Raconteur]

Our treatment of asylum seekers has been appalling. Amongst other things.

Things are as bad on PNG, when the local police shock squad broke into the detention facility to quell a "riot" and killed an Iranian asylum seeker.

[Thomson Mouse]

and there's more....

It's disgraceful how these f***ers hide behind the 'there's nothing to see here, now move along' soundbites.

Same as when Morrison was in immigration, they built 'the boats' up to such a big issue during the election, then got elected and wouldn't issue any more info on 'the boats' and then claimed that had stopped arriving - even when one sailed past an oil rig in Western Australia and a privately contracted spotter plane was shown flying in circles over the ocean on that aeroplane tracker website.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/pregnant-rape-victim-pleads-for-abortion#.erllw7Amv

The Pregnant Refugee Pleading For An Abortion Won’t Get Out Of Bed And Is Losing Weight Fast

Calls grow louder to help Abyan.

The pregnant Somali woman who was allegedly raped on Nauru and is pleading with the Australian government for an abortion is sick, bed-bound and being fed milk and water by her roommate, according to her lawyer.

Abyan (not her real name) was one of two women allegedly raped in a night-time attack in August on the tiny pacific island, which houses asylum seekers who try to come to Australia.
Prominent human rights lawyer George Newhouse told BuzzFeed News the situation is urgent as the 23-year-old who became pregnant as a result of the alleged rape has suffered rapid weight loss and is refusing to eat.
“She’s sick, she cannot leave her room. She’s been fed water and milk by her roommate. She’s lost 10 kilos. She has not seen a psychologist or obstetrician in four weeks,” he said.
BuzzFeed News understands Newhouse and refugee lawyers are preparing for a legal challenge in the High Court unless the Australian government steps-in and provides abortion services to the alleged rape victim.
“We’ve put her in harm’s way and now we should care for her,” said the lawyer over the phone.
According to Newhouse, the legal team “has been working throughout the night” looking at options.
But some of the refugee lawyers are already tied-up with a pending high-profile challenge of Australia’s offshore detention network which is right now before the High Court.
There’s been growing calls for the new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to intervene in Abyan’s case, with Labor, the Greens and refugee advocates all lining up to demand mercy for the woman.
An online petition launched by her lawyer, pleading with Turnbull has hauled in more than 35,000 signatures in the last 24 hours.
But when BuzzFeed News asked Turnbull’s office whether the PM would intervene, a spokesperson directed all enquiries to immigration minister Peter Dutton’s office.

Over the phone, a spokesperson in Dutton’s office refused to answer repeated direct questions about the alleged rape victim’s abortion request.
The spokesperson refuted international headlines that the abortion request had been knocked back and instead issued a statement.
“For privacy reasons, information is not provided on individual cases.
All pregnant women receive professional and coordinated health care,” it said.
Newhouse told BuzzFeed News that it’s categorically false Abyan is receiving adequate care, claiming she has not seen an obstetrician in four weeks.

[taxfree]

Just saw an episode of the "Go back to where you came from" series. Basically one rather daft anti-immigration woman vs. the whole series. Such a scripted and one sided narrative

You should see how many people born outside of Australia already live there, you'll be spitting - especially the numbers from Malaysia, India & Lebanon. All of which have Muslim heavy demographics as I'm sure you'll be aware.

Pretty random, but yeah, I'm aware of that.