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Senior correspondent Barry Everingham says the need for a trusted and reliable news source like Independent Australia has never been greater.
by Barry Everingham
When the editor and founder of this site decided two years ago there was a need for a truly independent look at what is and was making Australia tick, he was surely looking into a crystal ball.
The chilling media events of the past week have underscored the absolute need for an independent voice – the Fairfax model, until now a truly independent voice – will soon be trashed by the Girl of the Golden West; she comes to us with all guns blazing and with a reputation.
What she has done to her children will fade into insignificance when she achieves what is surely her aim — a vehicle to carry forth her objections to a mining tax. Who will ever forget the sight of that woman standing on the back of a truck crying poor?
And her right wing baying at the moon mates will surely have convinced her that Climate Change is a Communist ploy for world domination. After all, she is mate of that craziest of loons, “Lord” Christopher Monckton.
Then there’s the empire of Citizen Murdoch – after his and his empire’s reputation has been trashed in a London court.
Have these people no shame?
In my case, I was proud of the opportunity to join David’s team.
Here, I was able to illustrate the daily idiocy of the drivel Professor David Flint wrote on his blog in support of a foreign monarchy.
I think my efforts may have borne some fruit.
The drivel is still there and, in this royal anniversary year, it’s as sickening as ever but no longer under Flint’s by line; it’s still written by him, of course, but is now published under the by-line of “ACM”.
I am proud my editor has given me space to underscore the disgraceful behavior of most of Tony Abbott’s front bench acolytes and Abbott’s thrall to the likes of John Howard and George Pell.
David Donovan is a giant of a man. Long may it be so.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
17 Comments
Dear READERS,
It was BARRY who was responsible for introducing me to DAVID DONOVAN.
Whilst these past 12 months have been a triumph for INDEPENDENT AUSTRALIA, for Barry and his immediate family, his IA family and friends it was the year he lost his BELOVED AVRIL to cancer.
And yet, he still found time to check in with Cobbers to see how
they were going, and to offer support, and to let us know, he was
always at the other end of the phone if we needed help.
The story of Avril and Barry demands a book, and I hope that one day, when the sting of her death lessens its grip, that he will
write their story that in so many ways reflect the diverse and the unpredictable habits and moods of Life, so often reflected in INDEPENDENT AUSTRALIA.
The royal family now has an updated ragbag arrangement of rules which dictate who curtsies to whom in their toffee-nosed little world.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/windsor-pecking-order-updated-royal-rules-keeps-curtsy-alive-20120624-20w9x.html
To have a leader of this priggish lot as our head of state is an affront to Australia’s egalitarian society.
Indeed we do need IE and now have it, thankfully. Those who despair at the MSM must know there are others who think likewise and that we are not all going slowly insane.
higgs boson : you must treat the royals like a mad,amusing and colorful never ending soap opera.
However their days might be coming to an end if that mind numbingly boring river pageant is anything to go by. My partner pondered why the main 2 characters stood behind their seats for all that time..thought they may have been bullet proof.
I think ti was to try and stay awake.
Oscar, I believe every country has its bread and circus to divert the attention of the masses. Britain has the added bonus of the royals. We have “asylum seekers queue jumping”, or Tony Abbott’s “this is a bad government”, and many other fatuous claims from mindless people.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/05/queen-jubilee-pageant
Look, I did a full curtsy to Her Majesty. She is the Queen of Australia. Like it or no.
I get a bit peeved at times when the Royals are used as propaganda roadkill by Republicans.
It is not THEIR fault that Australia is not a Republic. It is OURS.
Either we don’t want it to happen. Or we lack the will to make it happen.
This granny bashing of The Queen is symptomatic of lazy intellects.
For example, does anyone care about the fact that our Military Oath swears allegiance to the Queen and to her Heirs and doesn’t say boo
about Orstralia ?
That is surely something we can change overnight. If Parliament wasn’t currently occupied by a bunch of self-serving Drongos.
Tess, if you are at ease courtsying (full or less) to another person on this planet, the choice is yours. I just consider the act of courtsying to border on servility. It’s not my cup of tea.
Also, I am far from enthusiastic she is the Queen of Australia. I also disagree with your claim that it is OUR fault that Australia is not a republic, especially when the referendum was hijacked by one politician who goes by the name of John Winston Howard – that second-rate drooling monarchist fawn.
Dear HIGGS BOSON, I also bow to the Judge in Court as well. And I take my shoes off in the homes of Japanese and Muslim friends. I open doors for men and women and older people and pregnant women. I hug and kiss people and ask permission to cuddle babies or pat pets.
I consider none of this has anything to do with servility.
I rather consider servility to be more a state of mind in this case.
And frankly, why am I not surprised that you would seek to widen and support your feeble argument by blaming yet another Republican roadkill victim; John Howard. That was then. What about now ?
I make no secret of the fact that I think Australia should be a Republic. And I see no reason to alter what I’ve already written.
It’s not the Queen’s problem. It’s ours. John Howard is but one Australian. Australia has another 21 million plus other citizens.
I think you’re quite wrong, Tess, the Queen could end the need to curtsey with a simple decree; it is entirely within her power. I agree with Higgs Boson, this order of “merit” based on birth is abhorrent and the Queen should not perpetuate it – she had no need whatsoever to issue that insulting and derogatory decree. Who forced her to do it? No-one – she’s the Queen, after all.
Furthermore, the Queen could abdicate, declare the institution void and end this unfair, inegalitarian, class-driven system of privilege and preference, thereby making Australia a Republic, along with Britain. And that is exactly what she should do.
You don’t get it David. I am unconcerned about the need to curtsey or otherwise, to the Queen or to Dame Edna.
I am concerned as to whether Australia wants to be a Republic. At this hour, it would appear it does not.
Stop making the Queen or John Howard, me, or anyone else the scapegoat for the Republican Movement’s failure to win over Australians.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with the Republican Movement – it is about a principle of equity, equality and social justice. Forcing people to show subservience to others based on bloodline and birth is abhorrent and should not be accepted by anyone – or perpetuated by those with the power to bring it to an end – and this includes the Queen. You either believe in equality and fairness – or you don’t.
Bollocks. I have already said I bow to the Judge. The bow to a male is the equivalent of a curtsey to a female.
I will decide if I am subservient. Not you. And I am not subservient to Her Majesty. Not in the slightest. Just the opposite in fact and I’m rather sure she would agree.
I am simply acknowledging that on this day, she is The Queen of Australia. And so she is.
I am beginning to get an inkling as why we are not a Republic.
You lot need to get your act together. And stop blaming other people for your failure to do so.
Exactly – bollocks. You bow to a judge because, presumably, he got there through merit – not through birth. That’s the point. The Queen did not need to issue this insulting and derogatory decree – but she did. Everybody, not just Australians, should be offended.
Wrong. I bow to the Judge because she or he represents Justice.
That’s the point. So get it right.
The Queen represents Australia.
Be a Gamechanger. Not a bleeding whinger. Not an apologist.
I haven’t even read her decree and assumed it related to her family.
No one. Repeat no one, is obliged to curtsey to her or to anyone else.
And where’s HIGGS BOSUN, hiding in the Republican’s Closet?
Fair enough Tess, so to you I am a whinger, a whiner, an apologist and a Republican failure. Noted.
Two of those phrases are yours. Not mine. So please don’t attribute them to me.
I have written and spoken extensively about my feelings on the Royal Family in Independent Australia and elsewhere.
I think it is time to stop Royal bashing offshore and to get cracking on Terra Australis to revive the Republican Movement.
The first port of call should be with our Government and lawmakers and citizens and not asking Madge for her permission to leave home.
I cannot imagine Her Majesty fretting as an empty nester, can you?
I am not one to hide, Tess, as you ask in a provoking manner but I will make this my final comment on the matter.
I see eye to eye, with the sentiments expressed by DD on this subject of curtseying to royalty – and I also loathe the word “royalty” for it signifies a status and authority that is anathema to my way of thinking.
I also loathe all the pomp and ceremony of monarchs and their families especially when the males dress in absurd uniforms with untold pointless medals. For me, it is a repulsive charade of their assumed domination over people simply because of their birth.
I despise the curtsey for it is so persnickety, and I also believe its continuing purpose is to preserve the snootiness and supremacy of one and the obsequiousness of the other.
Tess, in my years I have attended court on several occasions as a plaintiff and I did not bow to the judge. Nor was I advised by a court official that there is a rule of bowing to the judge and it cannot be violated without dire consequences. I won all my court cases.
You state: “I have already said I bow to the Judge. The bow to a male is the equivalent of a curtsey to a female.” Here is the essence to our differences regarding the curtsey. I will never bow to a male nor curtsey to a female.
Vive la difference, Tess.