Hils As I See It

Stan Grant make note.

virtue signalling
[virtue signalling]
NOUN
DEROGATORY
the public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue:
"it's noticeable how often virtue signalling consists of saying you hate things" · "standing on the sidelines saying how awful the situation is does nothing except massage your ego by virtue signalling"

Stan Grant is his own worst enemy.

‘DISGUSTING’: Australia reacts to Stan Grant’s shock exit from Q+A.

Ever since Tony Jones left Q&A there has not been a quality Anchor. Stan Grant was given the gig after many months after Tony Jones's departure. Sadly, there has not been a similar following since Tony's departure.

I for one do not watch the programme at all. When Tony Jones was around I looked forward to the engagement and flow of the programme that Tony brought to it.

I have said this more than once that Stan overcomplicates things and one of his most annoying as least for me is that he tends to sometimes ask the question and answer it too.

I also ask the question, is Stan using the 'Race' card and bailing out because the programme has not got the same audience interest that Tony Jones was able to bring to the table.

In the last few years and more so in the last two odd years the Race card is being used at every turn to stifle debate as Stan has done in quitting. For example I was at the Coles Supermarket and the Manager of the store confronted some customers for stealing and immediately the reply was you are being Racist.

Stan has to realise that he is a senior Journalist and he has to push through some of these barriers. I am glad he was not part of the Armed forces because he is too sensitive. Stan has written articles that have got under the skin of others, so, what is his problem with a return serve-you have to be able to take it, you cannot be a wilting violet Stan.

Wow, this is a great moving piece of writing please digest it like good food. Please share this with friends and if you can send it to the Russian people. Send me some addresses and I will send it to them if you cannot. I was overcome with emotion when I read this.

My dearest one,

They stole the language from us. We spoke and corresponded with you in the language of great Russian literature. Now, for the whole world, Russian is the language of those who bomb Ukrainian cities and kill children, the language of war criminals, the language of murderers. They will be tried for crimes against humanity. I would like to believe that all those who prepared and participated in this war, who supported it in one way or another, will be put in the dock. But how can one go to trial for a crime against language?

My father went to the front when he was 17 to avenge his brother who was killed by the Germans. After the war, he hated Germans and everything German all his life. I tried to explain to him: “But Dad, there is great German literature! German is a beautiful language!” These words had no effect on him. What will we be able to say after the war to the Ukrainians whose homes were bombed and looted by the Russians, whose families were killed? That the great Russian literature is beautiful? And that the Russian language is so wonderful?

Do dictators and dictatorships breed slave populations or do slave populations breed dictators? Ukraine was able to escape from this hellish circle, to escape from our common, monstrous, bloody past. For this reason it is hated by Russian impostors. A free and democratic Ukraine can serve as an example for the Russian population, which is why it is so important for Putin to destroy you.

In Russia, we had neither de-Stalinisation, nor the Nuremberg trials of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. The result we see: a new dictatorship. A dictatorship, by its very nature, cannot exist without enemies, which means war.

The plans of the general staff included the refusal of Nato to defend you with its armed forces, and Nato fulfilled this plan of Putin in the first days of the war. You Ukrainians did not agree to Putin’s plans. You did not surrender, you did not greet his tanks with flowers. You are not only defending your freedom and human dignity; now you are defending the freedom and human dignity of all humanity. You cannot be defeated because the war is not decided by the number of tanks and missiles, but by the power of love for freedom. You are free men, and those who carry out the criminal orders of the Russian generals are slaves.

Silence is a Russian survival strategy. Those who protested a year ago were put in jail

A year ago, when Russian tanks were already marching toward Kyiv, the whole world wondered why there were no mass anti-war protests in Russia, why only loners took to the streets. I attributed it to fear. Silence is a Russian survival strategy. Those who protested back then were in jail. This is how Russians have survived by silence for generations. Pushkin formulated this Russian way of life in the last line of his historical drama Boris Godunov: “The people are silent.” And with the beginning of the aggression against Ukraine, the people were “keeping silent”. But then mass mobilisation began in the autumn, and it is no longer possible to explain away the fact that hundreds of thousands of Russians obediently went to kill Ukrainians and be killed. This is something else, something deeper, something scarier.

I see only one explanation: my country has fallen out of time. In the 21st century, the modern man himself is responsible for deciding what is good and what is evil. And if he sees that his country and his people are waging a despicable shameful war, he will be against his country and against his people. But most Russians mentally live in the past, when people associated themselves with their tribe. Our tribe is always right, and the other tribes are our enemies and want to destroy us. We are not responsible, we don’t decide anything, the chief/khan/king decides everything for us. This is how they think: if our enemies, the fascists from Ukraine and Nato, attack our homeland, we go to defend it, just as our grandfathers defended it from the German fascists. The feeling of love for the homeland, the beautiful sense of patriotism, was used by all dictators for their own purposes. My father thought he was defending his homeland from Hitler’s regime, but he was defending the same fascist regime of Stalin. Russians are now going to war, as Putin’s propaganda explained to them, to defend their homeland against “European and American nazism”, and they don’t realise that they are protecting the power of a criminal gang in the Kremlin, which has taken the entire country hostage.

The only way out is to inflict a military defeat on the Putin regime. Therefore, democratic countries must help the Ukrainians with everything they can, and above all with weapons. After the war, the whole world will come to your aid to reconstruct what has been destroyed, and the country will be able to rebuild itself. And Russia will lie in the ruins of economy and in the ruins of consciousness. A new birth of my country is possible only through the complete destruction of the Putin regime. The empire must be amputated from the Russian person, like a malignant cancer. This “hour zero” is vital for Russia. My country will have a future only if it passes through total defeat, as happened with Germany.

Russia-Ukraine war live: Biden backs Putin arrest warrant, saying Russian leader ‘clearly committed war crimes

Not just Biden but the whole of the FREE WORLD believes in PUTINS arrest and I would go further the rest of his power base should also be arrested. There should be a Mossad-like task force to enter Russia and capture these nasty criminals and ship them out to the Hague to face a trial ---much like the N**I GERMAN Leadership who were taken to Israel tried and hung.

While they hide in their bunkers in Russia they talk the talk with arrogance but if that is the case why don't they step out. Show the world what you are made of. I cannot believe the arrogance of these WAR CRIMINALS. Maybe Lavrov should be arrested as soon as he attends the next summit overseas.

PUTIN is too much of a coward to step out of his comfort zone

I love listening to Isabella Higgins speak and this is what I found to describe her voice. Her reporting with her voice are a brilliant combination. She is definitely an unusual reporter combining the two =BRILLIANT

Isabella Higgins Voice = What is an example of Dulcet?
Dulcet sounds are soft and pleasant to listen

A devilish sense of humour in the face of war. What I'll remember most from three assignments in Ukraine Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins was on the ground as Russia invaded Ukraine 12 months ago and gives an insight into the challenges of reporting in a war zone.

Isabella Higgins what a find for the ABC. Her reporting has been brilliant and to top it off her voice -I would call it 'sexy' has this great voice to cap off the great reporting. I listen intently whenever Isabella Higgins is reporting keep up the brilliant work ISABELLA.

A devilish sense of humour in the face of war. What I'll remember most from three assignments in Ukraine Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins was on the ground as Russia invaded Ukraine 12 months ago and gives an insight into the challenges of reporting in a war zone.

PENNY WONG suffers from an Insecurity.

I tend to agree with the British High Commissioner's take on the subject of colonialism. It also could be a political stance that Ms. Wong advocates added to her identity crisis. Broadly this is also very much Australia advocating its multicultural credentials. Australia has to understand that Britain with its Colonial past has been a multicultural country for many many long years. For us in Australia, it is a fairly new phenomenon promoting multiculturalism. When I talk about it being recent I need to qualify it with the number of people. There are far more numbers of people from many countries outside Britain who live in Britain compared to Australia and this has been in many ways tied to its Colonial past. Also, many of these people have been in the UK for decades all due to in most cases being a Colony of Britain. When I was in Britain in the nineteen eighties there were almost 2 million Australians living and in most cases working in Britain. Whatever spin Politicians like to place on a so-called 'Aussie culture' we are still largely influenced by the Mother country, Britain. As a comparatively young country (in this case, I am talking about the rest of us and not the Aboriginal population) it is an ongoing shift to have an identity that is purely Australian and this will take many decades to make that identity- we are still evolving as a culture.

I recommend the counter by the British High Commissioner and she makes some very valid points. Penny Wong in trying to be heard exposes her own insecurities.

British high commissioner fires back at Wong’s colonial past speech
Story by Latika Bourke • 11h ago
33 Comments

Britain’s top diplomat in Australia has issued a riposte to Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s urging that the UK should confront its colonial past and warned that while the two countries are “best of mates” that should not be taken for granted.

Britain’s high commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, who, like Wong, is Malaysian-born, will deliver the message at the National Press Club on Wednesday in response to the comments Wong made during a visit to London last month.

High commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, will highlight her own success in becoming one of the United Kingdom’s top diplomats as a Malaysian-born woman.
High commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, will highlight her own success in becoming one of the United Kingdom’s top diplomats as a Malaysian-born woman.
© Alex Ellinghausen
In her speech, titled Modern Britain: Our journey beyond colonialism, Treadell will highlight her own success in becoming one of the United Kingdom’s top diplomats as proof the UK had confronted its past.

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“I am proudly British and I say this as someone born in Malaysia without a drop of English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish blood coursing through my veins,” Treadell will say.

“In ethnic terms, I am Eurasian, the daughter of Chinese and Dutch Burgher parents who migrated to Britain with me in tow aged eight.”

Treadell said that when she joined the Foreign Office in 1979, her boss told her: “I don’t understand how you hope to be a member of Her Majesty’s diplomatic service.”

“I told him, ‘I am a legacy of Empire, and you reap what you sow’ … perhaps I could have referenced a popular film release: The Empire Strikes Back.”

Treadell said she was proud to become the Foreign Office’s first female high commissioner of colour when she was posted to New Zealand. She was also proud of the UK’s record in posting women to high-level diplomatic positions, including in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Washington and at the UN.

By contrast, Australia has recently appointed two men – former prime minister Kevin Rudd and former foreign minister Stephen Smith – to the most prized diplomatic posts, the US and the UK respectively.

Treadell’s use of her own personal story and achievements mirrors Wong’s comments in London when she invoked her family history to criticise British colonialism. In her address at King’s College, Wong said countries such as Britain would not find common ground in the Indo-Pacific region if they stayed “sheltered in narrower versions” of their histories.

Vicki Treadell was Britain’s first female high commissioner of colour when she was posted to New Zealand.
Vicki Treadell was Britain’s first female high commissioner of colour when she was posted to New Zealand.
© Alex Ellinghausen
“Such stories can sometimes feel uncomfortable – for those whose stories they are, and for those who hear them,” Wong said.

“But understanding the past enables us to better share the present and the future.”

Wong’s speech was badly received by sections of the UK press and her British counterpart, James Cleverly, rejected Wong’s assessment and pointed to his appointment as the country’s first black secretary by the first Hindu prime minister of Asian heritage.

However, Wong and Cleverly did agree at the end of her trip that the countries remained “best mates”.

But in her speech on Wednesday, Treadell says it is important that best mates did not take each other for granted.

“There’s a phrase we like to use a lot about the Australia and UK relationship, ‘the best of mates’,” Treadell will say.

“The thing about mates is that you should never take them for granted.

“Friendship can be built on old ties, but true partnership requires renewal and growth.”

Rishi Sunak is Britain’s first prime minister of Asian heritage.
Rishi Sunak is Britain’s first prime minister of Asian heritage.
© AP
Treadell said relationships as close as Australia’s and Britain’s only survived with change and adaptation.

“If not, we wake up one morning and realise we no longer know each other,” she said. “I don’t want that to happen between the UK and Australia.”

She compared Britain’s diversity success with Australia’s record, saying her country had already smashed through a key barrier, with the elevation of Rishi Sunak, a practising Hindu and the son of Indian migrants, to Number 10.

She will tell the National Press Club that, by contrast, this remains a dream in Australia.

“I recently met with a year 11 student, a high-achieving young woman of Asian ancestry,” Treadell will say. “I asked, as I often do of young people, where she hoped to be in 30 years. ‘Prime minister of Australia,’ she said.

“On this International Women’s Day, it’s heartening to recall her say this with a surety that belied not a dream, but a goal to be attained.

“It’s an attitude we’ve sought to foster in the UK.”

Treadell said Britain had much to do in further progressing diversity, but had a proud history that had contributed to its current success.

She said while she represents the “Britain of Bronte and Beckham”, her nation also had other success stories like that of Sunak, as well as actor Riz Ahmed and jazz musician Courtney Pine.

It may be time to have a world panel of groundsmen whose whole task is to prepare wickets around the world for an even contest in cricket. Much like what the ICC has done with the world Panel of Umpires. Maybe this will go towards minimising the doctoring of pitches by some countries especially those on the Subcontinent to a large extent but it could happen in other parts of the world too. This idea should be floated and taken seriously if better cricket is to be had and games are not completed within three days. The general public wants to see an even contest that will last the five days of a Test Match.

Live: Australia bowl out India for 109 on raging turner just after lunch on day one Matthew Kuhnemann takes a maiden Test five wicket haul as Australia bowls India out for just 109 runs after lunch on day one in Indore. Follow all the third Test action in our live blog.

“My focus now is to grow and amplify the black sovereign movement in this country. Something we have never had since this place was established. There is a black sovereign movement out there that no one wants to listen to, so I will be their Voice.”

A woman with the word 'PLATITUDE' on her brain.

Here are a few suggestions from me. For a start, if you want to be taken seriously you must accept both your White and Aboriginal cultures like Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who accepts both her Irish and Aboriginal cultures. Stop the Virtue Signalling and begin by giving up your Welsh Surname and take on an Aboriginal name. Learn your Aboriginal Language so that you could speak it fluently and then never speak English, instead, when you want to express yourself to the Public talk in your language and have someone interpret it for the rest of the general public. I am almost sure that the many mixed Race Aborigines think of you as an embarrassment but they are not going to confront you for the sake of decorum.

I give you the benefit of the doubt to express yourself but you need to follow the party line and come to a consensus. YOU have got more and more militant over time with your view and have finally abandoned your team.

Senator Lidia Thorpe quits Greens over divisions on Voice to Parliament Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Indigenous spokesperson for the Greens and a vocal opponent of the Voice to Parliament, will quit the party after failing to find common ground with her colleagues.

Yes, Rennie is a quality man. The Wallabies did improve with Rennie at the helm and he has bowed out graciously.

I agree with Jones and the targetting of some of the NRL players who have grown up with Rugby but have been bought by Rugby League. Rugby Australia should without a doubt aggressively market itself and be willing to fight the League with dollars. After all, Rugby is more of a world sport than Rugby League and this should be the thinking of Rugby Australia.

Tapping into the League market is of utmost importance, I am not sure why this has not been done earlier. The dollars from sponsors will help if Rugby becomes a consistent top two or three world team. Winning the World Cup and being up there with the likes of the Kiwis will help sponsors to open their wallets to Rugby Australia. Aggressively targeting would be League players is a must from now on and into the future. Rugby Australia open your wallet and Rugby will thrive in the future in Australia.

Dave Rennie breaks silence following shock Wallabies axing Dave Rennie believes the Wallabies made great strides in his three years in charge before he was sensationally dumped for Eddie Jones.

This piece does not explain why Cardinal Pell was charged for something he did not and could not have done as the High Court of Australia has ruled. Knowingly, you went out and wrote not one but two books so as to make money and get some free advertising from the Royal Commission instead of sticking to factual and honest reporting as is your brief as a Journalist. YOU will never be known as a good journalist ever because of your sly ways and money being your ultimate target in my mind.

This sums up what you in part instigated and continues to make waves now that the man is dead. I hope his death does not make more sales of your book another free form of advertising.

Cardinal George Pell was a victim of 'one of the most grotesque miscarriages of justice'
Story by Sky News Australia • Yesterday 7:22 pm
12 Comments

Sky News host Andrew Bolt says Cardinal George Pell was an innocent man who was the victim of “one of the most grotesque miscarriages of justice” in Australian legal history.

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Cardinal George Pell was a victim of 'one of the most grotesque miscarriages of justice'
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Australia’s most senior Catholic died aged 81 in Rome on Tuesday (local time) after suffering an unexpected heart attack.

Mr Bolt said it is “impossible to believe” Cardinal Pell was accused of child sexual abuse in 2019.

"Victoria Police advertised for so-called victims and eventually found nine people who lodged 26 charges," he said.

"All of those charges were so preposterous that they ultimately failed, some didn't even make it to court, they were so intrinsically stupid."

He added that Cardinal Pell was "crucified" and "died for the sins of others".

A survivor wrote to me after Pell's death. They won't be dancing on the Cardinal's grave Catholic child sexual abuse survivor Julie Stewart wrote to me just after hearing the news about the sudden death of Cardinal George Pell. For hundreds like her, today was a triggering day, writes Louise Milligan.

Yes, you will be dancing with glee since you as a LIAR made money out of the misery of Cardinal Pell who was subsequently acquitted by the Highest court of this land. This shows that you are a bad journalist and ABC had to help you out with the payment of over 200,000 dollars.

A survivor wrote to me after Pell's death. They won't be dancing on the Cardinal's grave Catholic child sexual abuse survivor Julie Stewart wrote to me just after hearing the news about the sudden death of Cardinal George Pell. For hundreds like her, today was a triggering day, writes Louise Milligan.

I do not agree with Tony Abbott much but he is right in this case- and the left-leaning secular press such as Louise Milligan and many others were the divisive ones, not the Cardinal.

Divisive and influential: Australia's highest-ranking Catholic Cardinal George Pell dies at 81 Cardinal George Pell has died in Rome after complications from a hip replacement.

This is a great article and should be critically looked at. Jacinta Nampijinp Price the Aboriginal Celt woman has talked a lot of sense so far on this subject and this article does show the way.

National
The myth about Indigenous Aussies that needs to change amid Voice to Parliament
It’s a prevailing belief that holds back Indigenous Australians and is the number one reason we are not closing the gap, argues Anthony Dillon.

Anthony Dillon
Anthony Dillon
3 min read
January 11, 2023 - 1:36PM


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Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says the Indigenous Voice to Parliament is turning into the ‘politicians’ voice’, rather than the ‘people’s voice’.
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OPINION

As we get closer to a promised referendum for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, we increasingly hear more from both sides of the debate. And this is good.

One side has rightly noted that actions from past decades have not resulted in closing the gap and so believe a radical change is needed. That change, they believe, is the Voice.

The other side has claimed there is a lack of transparency about how the Voice will facilitate closing the gap, and so it should be abandoned, or at least more information provided.

I honestly don’t know how the public will vote at the upcoming referendum, so in this article I’m not going to speculate about the outcome. Instead, I’ll give advice for what I believe should happen if the Voice does get up, and some advice for what I believe should happen if it does not get up.

Anthony Dillon debating the Voice to Parliament at News Corp’s Beyond 23 conference at The Horden Pavilion in Sydney. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
Anthony Dillon debating the Voice to Parliament at News Corp’s Beyond 23 conference at The Horden Pavilion in Sydney. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
If the Voice to Parliament is passed

First, if the Voice does get up, its highest priority should be to abandon the prevailing ideology that Indigenous Australians are fundamentally different from non-Indigenous Australians.

I believe the number one reason why are not seeing the gap close, despite considerable investment in programs that aim to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians, is because they have been cast as having vastly different needs from other Australians. But they essentially have the same fundamental needs as other Australians.

My default position when I first took an interest in Indigenous affairs was that the commonalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians far outweigh any differences. Nearly three decades later, and I have not seen any evidence to the contrary.

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Yes, there are minor differences, and they should be considered, but only after first recognising the commonalities. Over the years, I have listened to the many voices of Indigenous leaders, consultants and cultural experts, along with political leaders and academics, preach the myth of fundamental difference, while carving out nice careers for themselves.

Second, following from the previous idea that Indigenous people have the same fundamental needs as non-Indigenous people, then the Voice should advise government to develop policies and programs for Indigenous Australians that ensure they have the opportunity to live in safe and clean environments, have access to modern services and quality education, possess those skills that make them employable, and have ready access to jobs, in order to thrive. These are the same needs other Australians have, which, when met, enable them to thrive.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said he is ‘very confident’ a referendum to establish the Indigenous Voice to Parliament would be passed. Picture: Supplied
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said he is ‘very confident’ a referendum to establish the Indigenous Voice to Parliament would be passed. Picture: Supplied
Many Indigenous people have all this. Some of them are leaders, some of them are your friends, relatives and neighbours. But far too many, particularly those in less urbanised areas, do not. I applaud the final report on the Parliamentary Voice for recognising the high levels of need in remote areas, such as socio-economic disadvantage and lack of service infrastructure. However, intention must translate into action.

Third, the Voice must be active in changing the dominant narrative that Indigenous Australians are the endless victims of racism because they are not. This will require a major overhaul of the school curriculum and what is taught in universities. When Indigenous Australians are led to believe that racism is holding them back, they are sapped of motivation to work hard to succeed and view non-Indigenous Australians as the enemy.

Finally, once recognising that Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are far more alike than they are different, the Voice should abandon the preferred view that only Indigenous Australians are considered capable of understanding and helping Indigenous Australians.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher and Dale Agius Commissioner for First Nations Voice to Parliament. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher and Dale Agius Commissioner for First Nations Voice to Parliament. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt
I am not saying Indigenous business and service providers should not exist. I’m all for them, as many do a great job. But what I am saying, is that caring and competent non-Indigenous service providers are just as capable as helping Indigenous people as Indigenous service providers are. To question this is to question if Indigenous service providers are capable of helping non-Indigenous people. Of course, they are, and to suggest otherwise is racist!

If the Voice to Parliament is not passed

So, what if the Voice does not get up? Then I suggest that the current lot of Indigenous voices, of which there are many at all levels of government, start to enact the ideas in the preceding paragraphs. But wouldn’t this imply that the proposed Voice to Parliament is redundant? I think it does.

However, maybe the ideas I suggest here are not what is needed to close the gap? If so, now is the time for the architects of the Voice to tell us why these ideas are not helpful.

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Or maybe something extra is needed that only the Voice can supply if we are to close the gap. If so, now is the time for the architects of the Voice to speak up. Surely these details should be sorted before any constitutional amendment is considered.

Anthony Dillon identifies as a part-Aboriginal Australian, is an academic with Australian Catholic University, and is a commentator on Aboriginal affairs.