george w bush has nothing on the little bush man and his bush-men ambush
slightly off-centre of the city of sydney lies a bustling residential suburb named ‘camperdown’, which is also home to a large university and public park.
somewhat ironically, it is here that elders of australias indigenous population have established a “tent embassy” as the base of a “sovereign government " planned to 'take over the ruling of australia'.
sydney lord-mayor clover moore allowed the establishment of the "embassy", believing it's aim was to draw peaceful attention to a dispute between redfern (sydney) police and indigenous elders over the death of an indigenous youth in a high speed police chase.
access to firewood, toilets and water were provided by sydney city council with an understanding that the "tent embassy" would be dismantled after “naidoc” week (part of indigenous cultural heritage remembrance, which ended on july 11).
indigenous elder isabel coe denied having made an agreement with the council, and said that the embassy now went well beyond it’s initial description of a “protest movement”.
the elders have now decided to ‘stay put’ in the park until an “indigenous sovereign government” can be established to “take over the running of the country of australia”.
a red-faced sydney city council now wants the embassy packed up, but indigenous elder coe says the establishment of a sovereign government could take months, and a corroboree was required to begin the process.
when questioned on her (controversial) decision to allow the “embassy” approval at all, (former independant mp) clover moore said "we have actually taken all of their country, so perhaps it's not being over-generous”.
moore added that “i also think that it's the obligation of every australian to contribute to righting the wrongs of the last 200 years", prompting a sydney radio reporter to bemoan that "the divide between australias' people is not going to be helped by this latest act of discrimination against while australians".
isabel coe told reporters that “it’s a big shame on this country that the first people, the traditional owners, the people who've been here since the beginning of time, are treated like aliens and refugees”.
coe adds that “although i don't want to cause any more problems for clover moore, we've got every right in the world to be in this park and we're not going to be swept under the carpet".
as recently as yesterday, australian news showed footage of coe and her ‘forming’ sovereign government in-situ in the “tent embassy”, discussing the plans for the "sovereign government".
announcing that theirs would be “the richest government in australian history”, coe explained that they intended to "collect 200 years’ worth of back rent from the government”.
when questioned on the feasibility (read: impossibility) of this ‘plan’ to collect 2 centuries of back-rent on a country from a government, an undeterred coe had this to say: “you just wait and see”.
to the direct question (from a frankly astounded reporter) of “you don’t really think your indigenous sovereign government is going to take over the running of australia do you ?”, a still unfazed coe replied that “it’s already happening”.
at last report, sydney mayor clover moore was losing her battle to maintain control of the situation at a local council level, with the nsw state government issuing her an official public warning that if sydney city council doesn’t "sort this out" soon, it may well have to.
it remains to be seen whether or not an indigenous ‘sovereign government’ will be announced, and, if it is, how exactly it intends to go about its’ business of “taking over the running of the country of australia” is still not clear.
yet amidst this nightmare of “PC”, “PR”, (and probably other p-related things), one small positive effect on australias’ international reputation is occurring. almost nobody is looking at our cycling drug cheats now.
"