Page 4998 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
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MS CODY: Be it the right-wing nationalist reactionary variety or its left-wing reflection, I take the approach that—
Members interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! We need to be able to hear Ms Cody. A certain amount of interjection is okay, but that is beyond the pale.
MS CODY: I take the approach that, whatever and whoever you want to call yourself, as long as you are not hurting anyone else, go for it. That is my attitude, and I reckon an attitude most people share, right up to the moment when your balderdash starts hurting people, right up to the point where you start having real-world consequences.
You can cause real-world consequences by lying about the past. By consequences, I am not talking about the sorts of tantrums I have seen in the press because I have pointed out that some of our national heroes are more fiction than fact. I am not in the business of changing history. The facts of history do not change. But the lies about history can be fixed.
In a city where the place names are designed to tell our history, those names can contribute to either lies or to the truth. If we do not tell the truth about history, we risk repeating its mistakes. The settlement of Australia by white people includes many extraordinary stories of courage and ingenuity, and many others of massacre and dispossession. Both are facts. Both are our heritage today and neither should be forgotten.
The First World War gives us many great stories of Australians who bravely travelled to the other side of the world to fight for their values and their country. History tells of their leaders ordering them into desperate attacks at Gallipoli and on the Western Front with no hope of success and great risk of death.
The incompetence of politicians and generals who put people in harm’s way for ego or advancement should be condemned, not celebrated. It is the sort of wrong we can and should fix, even if the identity politics crowd throws tantrums. When you say your identity requires that 250 years of white people in this land demands that a culture that has been here for millennia be erased, that is political correctness gone mad. When you say that we should continue to cover up a paedophile becoming Governor-General, because we might have a to pay for a few street signs, that is political correctness gone mad.
Members will note that this motion that I am moving today has been expanded significantly since the version I placed on the notice paper last month. As I stated in the media, I placed it on the notice paper to start a conversation. Because of that conversation, I would like to thank my caucus colleagues and all those members of the community who helped guide the changes to the motion.
The reactions to my proposal that we review some of Canberra’s worst place names have included congratulations, condemnations and comedy.
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