Comments on: Keep your nose out of our business, candidate tells Amnesty International

By: Mark Lockyer

Mark Lockyer — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 01:21:42 +0000

Applause. Thank you, Bass and Dave price for bringing it out in to the open. We need to start dealing with the problems.

By: Michael Liddle

Michael Liddle — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:06:49 +0000

Wow man! What an article Erwin. This paper just blows Alice Springs Advocate back to mini league.
After all is said and done we still have a problem in the NT. The people are calling it the “BLACK PROBLEM!” Add to the above rip, on a local scene the Congress dilemma, Mt Johns Lhere Artepe Enterprise catastrophe, the Yuendumu business, the intervention, the shires, alcohol / drugs, child protection, health, education, break away Land Councils, the list is endless. It seems to me that NT is the biggest employers of managers and they are all managing Aboriginal people and the lives of Aboriginal people! CLP say that they can turn the corner in Aboriginal Affairs and bring back services and hopefully that can create a good quality of life for all. Labor are saying that they are getting results in this field and can continue to make the NT grow and get it all rosy again. The sad and true fact is … a political party is a political party and neither of the major parties are going to fix the above problems that the NT have overnight, by not supporting the people who put them in there.

By: Steve Brown

Steve Brown — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:08:02 +0000

Great Article and comment, the Country Liberals are immensely richer because of your membership Bess and Dave. I wish you all the best in the upcoming election. It’s going to be a huge asset, especially to us in the southern regions, to have you in the Parliament Bess. It will also be another big step for all of us who believe in a community in which our Aboriginal citizens are accepted and treated as equals, allowed to determine their own individual pathway in life without any interference from patronising voices of paternalism, or from the parasitic industry that relies on continued Aboriginal misery and dependency to make their Living. Getting on Top of, in front, and eventually rid of, this lot is the fight we have to win before we can create a better life for all our children. Best of luck you two.

By: Phil Walcott

Phil Walcott — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 05:26:14 +0000

Always a problem for people who contest elections as part of a political machine. Party rhetoric takes precedence over the people that members are elected to represent. Just look at Peter Garrett – sold his soul to the ALP and his integrity went with it!!! Knife-wielders in the CLP machine are no better – Jodeen Carney ‘sacked’ as leader when she was the brightest tool in the shed? Go figure! Because she wasn’t Darwin-centric?
Independent members represent those in the electorate who elect them. Simple! It’s all about representing people … not establishing power!
Alice Springs deserves a strong, IndependeNT voice that represents people. Bring it on!

By: Dave Price

Dave Price — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 02:54:29 +0000

Bess is busy talking to her own mob right now about the issues they are actually concerned about in their communities so I am going to respond on her behalf.
Good on you Sharpy, yes there are a lot of old friends who are surprised that we have both joined the Country Liberals. The reason is simple, they listen to what Bess has to say and politely debate with her if they think she is wrong. The other lot yell abuse at her, deny her the right to speak and get their white mates pretending to be blackfellas to vilify her anonymously on the internet. It’s an easy choice actually. And thanks Bob.
To Elizabeth, answering the questions of those whom she is potentially going to represent, the residents of scattered remote Aboriginal communities, cattle stations and small remote towns, is exactly what Bess has been doing for months and will be doing frantically over the next three weeks. She is not a potential representative of the AI clique in town or down south who have tried to give the world the impression that they can represent Bess’ views to her own people better than she can. They represent political opponents who have orchestrated their campaign in Central Australia. They don’t trust Aboriginal people to be able to think for themselves. They know better apparently and Bess will not respond to their patronizing and offensive approach.
Ray, you’ve hit the nail on the head.
Leigh, what Mr Perkins (I remind you that he is deceased) did he did with the support of all of us nearly fifty years ago. Things have changed. His family are now very well educated, earn impressive incomes and speak English. Does this mean that they are assimilated? Old man Lingiari also fought his fight nearly forty years ago and won. Bess’ family have benefited hugely from that fight. His grandson is opposing Bess in the coming election. Let the people decide, that’s called democracy.
Those who now recruit to their cause the ones I called the dreadlocked Red Guards from the southern universities obviously don’t trust Aboriginal people in the bush to work out things for themselves. They use the tactics of intimidation and vilification to drown out the voices from the bush they disagree with. I’ve seen them in action. We trust the people of the bush and the town camps to speak for themselves if the gate keepers and corrupt ones living off their misery get out of the way and give them a decent chance. You probably couldn’t see the disrespect in the way AI questioned Bess because I gather you are not a Warlpiri grandmother who has lived a life of hardship, stress and pain and who loses, on average, 30 relatives a year, many of them children to totally avoidable causes, including homicide (perpetrators also Aboriginal and usually related to her) and suicide and whose grandkids don’t speak English let alone read and write it.
She gets what she regards as a grossly impolite demand for answers to questions by a couple of young whitefellas who think they can communicate her own views to her own people better than she can and who work for an organisation that has systematically ignored her views, deliberately excluded her from dialogue and who allow themselves to be manipulated by a clique of political opponents who do not represent the views of the majority of her people and ignore their continuing misery and cries for help.
And last, but not least, the pompous, patronizing and racist Glen. Where do I start? I will say that you epitomize all that is most despicable about your kind. I don’t get the dumb remark about the CV. It’s not asking the questions that’s the problem, it’s the patronizing and offensive way it was done and the assumption that they, like you, think they know the problems and needs of Bess’ people better than she does, a fifty one year old grandmother. If a bit of assimilation keeps our kids alive and healthy, giving then a decent education so that they can tell the world what they want and need, participate in the political process and have some hope of benefiting from our economy then bring it on.
If a bit of assimilation means that the women of the NPY lands are not 60 times more likely than the average to be murdered by their spouses, partners and boyfriends then bring it on. If assimilation means that Aboriginal women nationally are no longer 80 times more likely than the average to be hospitalised for assault then bring it on. We are rather bemused when white faced, English speaking Australians who think, behave and act like whitefellas tell us that they know they are Aboriginal in their hearts and that the worst that can happen to our kids is that they become assimilated makes us want to puke.
They don’t live by Aboriginal law like Bess’ people still try to. You see we trust the Aboriginal people of the NT to come up with their own unique way of solving their problems, like many, many families in towns already have. They’ll still be blackfellas but they will be healthy and prospering. If they took the advice of self loathing whitefellas like you they will always live in poverty, misery and ignorance and inflict intolerable levels of violence on each other. But thank you for your comment. You amply demonstrate the sort of white constructed idiocy that my wife and her people are up against.
Thanks Hal. Yes until recently we were Labor voters through and through. They’ve taken the Aboriginal vote for granted and long ago stopped listening to the people on the ground.

By: Hal Duell

Hal Duell — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:50:11 +0000

Can anyone doubt that the NT Legislative Assembly would be a better place with the inclusion of Bess Price? And with Alison Anderson sitting next to her? How did NT Labor manage to lose two such dynamic women when their first inclination must have been toward the ALP? Certainly Alison’s was, and I assume Beth’s was – apologies if I got that wrong.
Amnesty and the Greens have taken many admirable positions on both current and past issues, but on the Intervention they have placed themselves on the wrong side of history. It may not be perfect, but as a work in progress it’s already better than what was, and it will get better again.

By: Erwin Chlanda

Erwin Chlanda — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 21:29:58 +0000

Dear Readers,
These are the questions put to Bess Price by the Amnesty International group:

Does your party support Aboriginal people’s rights to live on their traditional country?
If elected, what plans do you have to support Aboriginal people’s rights to live on their traditional country in the next 4 years? And the longer term?
Does your party support School of the Air delivering education in people’s first language to homelands communities?
If elected, what plans do you have to support this in the next 4 years?
What is your party’s position on providing health services to homelands, outstations and smaller communities?
If elected, what housing outcomes will you support for families who have homelands as their main place of living?
To what level would these be funded by your party if in Government?
Do you agree that homelands, outstations and smaller communities need increased funding, as is in place for growth towns?
To what level would homelands and outstations, as well as smaller communities, be funded by your party if in Government?
Could you please provide concise written responses to these questions by no later than Thursday 9th August. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you wish to discuss any matters further.
James Milsom and Rachel Toovey
Members of the Alice Springs Action Group of Amnesty International

Erwin Chlanda, Editor, Alice Springs News Online

By: Glen

Glen — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:17:24 +0000

Cheers Bess. Well you don’t need a CV do you? Just repeat this diatribe every time somebody threatens to dare ask a question and you’ll probably snuff out the temerity. Look, your passion, compassion and deepest roots to your country are not in question. What is in question is your judgement. The intervention has been an unqualified failure. It has been a disaster for your people because you and your people had no input into its formation. But now you back the intervention unquestioningly even though it is a white man’s construct. Where is your justifiable attack on the intervention? Or are you poised to be the white man’s puppet who trumpets support for a white man’s folly in a bid to ultimately be a interchange player in further bad policy decisions? Your pluck is admirable but you could be leading a charge for genuine Aboriginal control, not shoring up the latest attempt at assimilation.

By: Leigh Hillman

Leigh Hillman — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:25:30 +0000

I don’t remember Charlie Perkins dismissing “young whitefellas from southern cities” from the Freedom Rides in the 1960s. And I don’t recall Vincent Lingiari refusing to talk to talk with “rich families in southern states” in his quest for land rights.
There’s nothing in this report to indicate any disrespect by the Amnesty members towards Bess Price yet her diatribe is offensive and belligerent. Hardly the qualities required for effective representation on behalf of the electorate.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 10:40:56 +0000

What a really well said, reasoned, informed and intelligent comment from somebody who knows. All the UN seem to do here is promote racism. Well said Bess. At last an articulate response to the propaganda we hear so often from those who oppose you. Your courage and drive is what is needed if we are ever going to “close the gap”. Keep going.