[part of his comment, from abt 49min]
I wonder now, in the three years that have passed, whether those same arguments are going to resonate. You know, I think our politics has shifted and I think everything we’ve talked about on the program tonight – be it climate change, industrial relations, Uluru – are all of these things – now need to sit within a new political paradigm and that it is the nation state and sovereignty exist and they are going to be increasingly prevalent in our lives. The borders are going back up.
Scott Morrison talks about a post ideological world so how do you locate the aspirations of Uluru within the Australian public, Australian liberalism, Australian identity? (Just be quick.) Australian liberalism basically is founded on an idea of egalitarianism and tolerance. It is suspicious of identity, it is suspicious of difference, and I suspect Australians are not ones for historical introspection – it starts to look a little bit self-indulgent. Australia for many people is where you come to leave the war-torn and conflict-laden histories of other lands behind. So, if you are going to make an ethical claim for justice and rights for indigenous peoples then how do you locate that within Australian liberalism that is suspicious of difference, suspicious of separate rights or anything that appears to look like separate rights and make a moral claim on a nation that maybe doesn’t believe it is immoral and is not up for that historical introspection? I think the way politics has changed means we need to revisit how this is prosecuted and to take the ideals and aspirations of Uluru and locate them with a dose of realpolitik and what we are facing in our globe and in our nation.
[Q: re covid19, strength of autonomy & self-determination]
I think it has also reinforced the virtues of what people believe is the Australian character and identity and Australian liberalism. We got through this because our governance works. We got through this because our political systems work. We got through this because despite the fractures in our federalism we were able to come together for an emergency.
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