JohnDe
La dolce vita
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When your threat backfires, deny & blame someone else
Voice architect Professor Marcia Langton’s views on welcome to country
When Yes campaigner and Indigenous academic professor Marcia Langton took to the stage at the National Press Club on Wednesday, she had a good dig at the media, telling them to ‘lift their game”.
Referring to the treatment of former Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes and ex-ABC Q+A host Stan Grant – both Indigenous men – Langton told the audience they were unfair targets of the media and the Yes camp had been on the receiving end of death threats and insults and it needed to stop.
The event’s moderator, Sydney Morning Herald’s chief political correspondent David Crowe, concurred about the media’s behaviour: “Thank you for the applause there and thank you for that remark, I think there’s almost another whole run of questions we could ask about what you just said but I want to continue”.
But when Prof Langton was questioned by ABC 7.30 reporter James Elton about what the future would be for truth telling if the Yes vote failed on October 14 – polls are repeatedly showing Yes support on a downward trajectory – she used the opportunity to make another point.
In April, The Weekend Australian Magazine ran a lengthy interview with Prof Langton with the headline, “Vote ‘no’ and you won’t get a welcome to country again” – which referred to her comments in the piece – and resonated with a section of the community.
“What I said to a journalist at The Australian was that I would not give another welcome to country and then social media lit up with cuckoos saying, ‘oh good, we won’t have any more welcomes to country’,” the University of Melbourne professor told the NPC.
“Well that’s not what I said, other Aboriginal people are entitled to do whatever they like, and if they want to continue to welcome people to their country, their specific country like this Ngunnawal country or Ngambri country, fine by me.
“I said my country, that’s the point that they don’t understand, isn’t it.”
It’s worth rewinding to see exactly what Langton did say when she spoke to The Australian five months ago.
“I imagine that most Australians who are non-Indigenous, if we lose the referendum, will not be able to look me in the eye,” she said.
“How are they going to ever ask an Indigenous person, a traditional owner, for a welcome to country?
“How are they ever going to be able to ask me to come and speak at their conference? If they have the temerity to do it, of course the answer is going to be no.”
To avoid any confusion, Diary thought it would be best to contact Prof Langton to see if welcome to country addresses are off the table if the No vote does get up.
But she certainly wasn’t thrilled to hear from Diary.
“I think I was very clear and I’m sick of your filthy games,” Prof Langton said before promptly hanging up.
Perhaps she missed Indigenous leader Noel Pearson’s recent memo where he said the Yes camp will “maintain the love, there’s no rage for us”.
SOPHIE ELSWORTH MEDIA WRITER