Virgin 'welcome to nation' PA

[Keg]

I just spotted this on the Andrew Bolt blog- he's a Melbourne journo for those that have never heard of him. Andrew is a bit right wing and he's no Matt Price but he's the best I've got since Matt died last year.

Anyway, he posts this report from a contributor to his blog:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/a...irgins_prayer/

I returned to Adelaide last night on a Virgin flight from Sydney.

Upon landing the “cabin leader” delivered the usual spiel about fruit fly in SA etc etc but I felt my skin crawl as she then gives a recognition speech to the Kaurna people, recognising them as first inhabitants and then thanking their elders both past, present and future.

It was obvious she was reading it, delivered it with a somewhat cheesy voice and barely got the Kaurna pronounciation right.

On this issue, is it common for DJ crew to do a 'welcome to nation' type PA whenever they land somewhere?

I only came across these types of welcomes recently when Mrs Keg had to do one as Acting Pres of Kegette's Girl Guide parents committee. Since then I'm hearing more and more of them.

The reader goes on to make this point and I tend to agree with it.

Of course there were the obligitory sighs of approval around me in the plane. All their guilt had been washed away!…

I would love to know exactly what other efforts Virginblue make to improve life for indigenous Australia? Maybe I missed it but I coundn’t find anything on their website.

It never ceases to amaze me how hollow gestures are so readliy accepted by the Australian public.

Unless there are actually representatives of the 'nation' there doing the welcomed then it all sounds a bit 'trite' to me.

PS: I thought about putting this in questions but it is an airline thing....feel free to move it across if it detracts from Reporting points.

[Capt.Grumpy]

Andrew is a bit right wing

Jeez, that's a bit of an understatement.................he's usually known as Melbourne's Village Idiot

[Sunfish]

While it may be overdone on VB, I happen to think that acknowledging indigenous ownership is the germ of a solution to a lot of problems.

For a start, I fail to see why ranger employment at all National Parks are not the province solely of Aboriginals.

[turbantime]

Geez Derek, ever thought that this could be a directive from management? It's usually those idiots that make decisions like these.

The story behind it is as such.....directive sent out to the CS' to make this PA, in fact the first one was so poorly worded that quite a few of the CS' were verbally abused as the passengers disembarked. It had wording to the effect of "we want to honour the rightful owners of this land"

Then the wording changed. What also changed was the requirement to make it, it is now an option.

Most cabin crew will not make this PA, but there are obviously some with stars in their eyes (or perhaps management ambitions) that will continue to make it. I for one hate hearing it when I'm paxing as everyone around you inevitably looks at the man in the monkey suit...i mean uniform.

[Lasiorhinus]

Originally Posted by Sunfish

For a start, I fail to see why ranger employment at all National Parks are not the province solely of Aboriginals.

Because Australia prohibits discrimination on the basis of race when considering someone for employment

[Mr.Buzzy]

It's about time this country started looking after my minority group:

Hetrosexual f*cken taxpayers!

bbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzbbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[hoss]

had a little laugh at the announcement for BNE which they didn't have an aboriginal word for.

so to all you maroon banana benders have a good weekend with 'the spirit ancestors'.

i'm down here in SYD with the 'eeurora of the gwunia', i think.

[wirgin blew]

I would have to say most aren't making the PA and if you do hear it then you have come across someone who believes in it or has management aspirations.
It was suggested to management that if they want to do this properly then either devote a page in Voyeur or put it on Live2Air as it may offend some if it is incorrectly pronounced and would offend others that it was even being said at all.
The initial CCON came out within a matter of days of the Governments Apology in parliament and the company told all that it was part of VB's Charity for the year which is Indigenous Peoples.
Cynics would say it was an attempt to cash in on the Governments speech.

[Taildragger67]

So upn arrival at YSSY, do they only defer to the Eora (by doing so being discriminatory towards the Kuringgai) or do they refer to all groups individually by name (considering the Eora and Kuringgai were as different as Thais and Lao across the Mekong)? Oh, and not forgetting the Dharawal as well...

I am a white straight anglo-saxon male Australian, I cannot (and will not) apologise for what I was born as and I am proud of all of it.

[Spaz Modic]

Jeeezusss! What a loada bullsh1t!

[tiptoeturkey]

Obviously no one is offended by this post.

[The Bunglerat]

Thankfully I've yet to fly with any CC who make the announcement, but then maybe it's just a matter of time.

With all due respect to both indiginous and "immigrant" folk, it seems to me that such an announcement only rubs salt in the wound of what is already a sensitive enough subject - for both sides. The sooner it is officially done away with, the better.

[Gnadenburg]

The clowns at Virgin Blue make a mockery of air safety. And now they are playing with the serious and personal issue of reconciliation?

How many indigenous girls fit the Virgin cabin crew flair mould? Any tech crew?

So if it is corporate direction perhaps Virgin management could cough up beyond what's politically fashionable....

[Ultralights]

on a bit of a tangent, there are plenty of signs in my part of the world. explaining the naming of suburbs, eg, Worrigee, aboriginal for peppermint tree.

i never knew peppermint trees were native aussie species,

or even better, i have seen, ***** aboriginal for Bullock train! hmmmm

[bushy]

Original???

1. Who says the aboriginals we know today are the first inhabitants of this land?
2. Most city dwellers have never seen a real aboriginal.
3. I thought we were ALL Australians and should seek to reconcile, and co-operate, not divide.

[Wiley]

With all due respect to both indiginous and "immigrant" folk, it seems to me that such an announcement only rubs salt in the wound of what is already a sensitive enough subject - for both sides

Agree 110% with those sentiments.

I've been out of Ozmate for many years now, but was there this year for the celebrations/commiserations for "Invasion Day" on Jan 26th and the apalling "sorry" x 2 written in the sky. (The first one was almost immediately obscured by clouds, which had me believing in karma for one moment there.)

I was also at the (this year, misnamed) Jazz in the Park where Clover or one of her acolytes droned on before the salsa-posing-as-jazz started with a speech asking the Eora, the true custodians of the land, permission for us, invading interlopers that we are, to sit in their park and enjoy the misnamed jazz.

What interested me on both occasions was the way the local (pink hued) people so utterly ignored the Politically Correct bull**** and pretended, with some success, that neither were happening.

I have to admit to damn near frothing at the mouth on the boat out in the Harbour when the "sorrys" appeared in the sky. I do not feel I have to apologise for the actions taken by some Georgian English Government over 200 years ago, particularly since, had that government's agent, one Arthur Phillip, arrived in Botany as little as 48 hours after he did, the descendents of the Eora would today be drinking cheap French rotgut out of brown paper bags - or far more likely, saki, since a French AustraliE would have fallen over itself to willingly collaborate with the Japanese in 1941 (as they did in Indochine) as quickly as you could say "cheese eating surrender monkey".

And how, can someone tell me, are the multi-squillion dollar compensation claims progressing since Our Kev said the magic "sorry" word?

[airtags]

despite the fact that there are more factions amongst the indigenous groups than the left wing of the ALP the PA is trite and the company document does not even correctly (phonetically) spell out some of the primary tribal group names.

If there is a great God, rainbow serpent or a bunch of wise ancestors perhaps we all should pray to them and request they impart their wisdom to Boeing and make all VB PA systems battery powered.

I reckon that halfway through the first sector of the day the batteries would be flat and the punters can some peace.

[jetblues]

It's a crock of poltical bull**** gone terribly wrong and they ain't doing it on my flghts. End of story.

[Dark Knight]

It is way past time this racist claptrap was well & truly ended.

We are either a group of peoples and/or nations divided

or

All Australinas working together to build a better & great nation for all.

This my country, your country, our country - Protect it or Lose it!

DK

[tinpis]

The "Insiders" this morning had a few wake up calls as well

Piers and David Marr AGREEING ?

I'd like to see Swanee try to slide a few million into the compensation fund "Sorry" trough at the moment