Transition Layer why wouldn't they, it is after all, about our indigenous brethren.
I have never experienced any
overt discrimination being fairly "safe"
at 1/16 indigenous blood and the product of a fairly determined effort by previous generations to "distance" our family from my great great grandmothers relationship with the son of the local "Protector of Aborigines".
His brother married Edith Cowan of the womans acitivist and first parliamentarian and University fame
A prominent Lake (Cowan) in WA was named by him when his father sent him off exploring with Giles to get him away from the scene of the "crime".
The subsequent human history of my great great and great grandmother is tragic but written in the context of the social mores of the time is not the least bit unique.
In hindsight the temptation denied by my parents to finance the considerable costs of my siblings private school, tertiary and vocational education including my pilot license and subsequent ratings to ATPL through the available schemes, was whilst perfectly understandable in the context of the aforesaid social mores, was maybe not such a good one.
It is only now after more than 100 years that we are able to talk about it "safely",
with sensitivity to my parents and grandparents feelings about it.
My children are totally fascinated by the fairly recently revealed history (25 years) and are a bit cross that I didn't avail myself of the financial assistance available for their education at some of the more expensive private schools and Universities.
There goes my yacht and penthouse in Monaco.
I used the word
overt because there was a much more subtle and powerful discrimination which is too complicated to reveal here and why there needs to be
overt and proactive programmes such as detailed here to strike a balance.
I am not an activist in the "active" sense, but it strikes me that if Qantas or any Australain icon wishes to trade on the indigenous
culture for their "marketing" then all other issues aside, they have an obligation to those same people to be inclusive as far as their workforce is concerned.
I am not personally outraged that
legislation is required to bring this outcome to pass or
insulted that
Erin Brokovich (speaking right out of that character BTW) should himself feel insulted
that Qantas should by doing so presumably knock him back a seniority number or two in his progress through life.
That was then this is now, let's get on with it eh!
Onya QF whatever the motivation.
