BY BILL MASON
BRISBANE — Queensland Liberal senator Brett Mason has been accused of being a "dummy-spitting bigot", after he criticised the acknowledgment of traditional land owners at citizenship ceremonies.
Mason used a citizenship day speech to federal parliament on September 17 to call on the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code to include a "more inclusive and positive formula" for recognising Australian achievement in place of acknowledging Indigenous people.
Mason said the recognition of Indigenous land owners segregates Australians into two categories and fails to take account of those who "built the nation". He said that the acknowledgement used in citizenship ceremonies implied that Aborigines were the "real and authentic" Australians, while the rest were "interlopers and uninvited guests".
"While I have no doubt about the sincerity and good intentions of many of those who at citizenship ceremonies acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, I equally have no doubt that often this sort of statement is delivered by cultural dieticians with the intention of force feeding us guilt and self-loathing", Mason said.
In response, Democrat senator Aden Ridgeway, the only Aboriginal member of federal parliament, on September 18 accused Mason of bigotry and said the prime minister should discipline him for the comments.
"This chamber was subject to a bitter display of dummy spitting bigotry from senator Brett Mason who slammed the acknowledgment of Indigenous peoples or country in Australian citizenship ceremonies. I'm proud to stand here in this chamber tonight and say that those Indigenous elements were incorporated into the citizenship code at my suggestion and I welcome their inclusion", Ridgeway said.
"It has become a hallmark of this government to allow the distribution of such vindictive attitudes to justify its retreat on social equality and rights advancement for Indigenous people... the prime minister must condemn senator Mason's inflammatory words immediately", Ridgeway said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission acting chairperson Lionel Quartermaine described Senator Mason's views as "bizarre and outlandish."
This was not the first bigoted outburst by Mason. On September 12, Mason spoke against a Senate resolution calling on the federal government to introduce laws giving legal recognition to same-sex couples. "The government believes that it is the overwhelming view of the Australian community that marriage under Australian law means the union of male and female", Mason said. "Furthermore, the government believes that it has the right to make sure that such public views are reflected in the laws that govern us all."
The resolution, which is not binding on the government, passed with a one-vote majority.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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