ABC Darwin - Tent Embassy protests
JULIA CHRISTENSEN:
Nigel Scullion, good morning.
NIGEL SCULLION:
Good morning Julia.
JULIA CHRISTENSEN:
Was this a national day of shame, Nigel Scullion? Maurie Ryan has told us this morning that the media are just sensationalising it.
NIGEL SCULLION:
Well I think today will be marked by those who are throwing petrol on the fire or water, you know, and I’m not going to be one of the petrol throwers. Look, I think we all need to take a pink pill about this. I’ve spoken to a number of people who were actually at the event, and there were a small number of people involved in the intimidation and violence. Nobody likes it – I mean it was deplorable, everybody knows that – but I don’t quite think the ridiculous comments form Maurie help at all. But look, if you go back to what Tony Abbott has actually said. He said the last words were, he said I think “the Indigenous people of Australia can be very proud of the respect in which they are held by every Australian. And yes, I think a lot of things changed over the last forty years and I think it’s probably time to move on from that.”
JULIA CHRISTENSEN:
This is when he’s talking about the Tent Embassy? He was asked a question about the Tent Embassy, on the 40th Anniversary, and he said “time for it go”. Do you think that’s what inflamed this?
NIGEL SCULLION:
No he didn’t say it was time to go. He said exactly what I’ve said. He said it’s probably time to move on from that. That’s exactly what he said. Nothing about thrown in about the Tent Embassy, that’s exactly what he said. But what I do know is that somebody stood up at the meeting and said, just reported that Tony Abbott has said that he is going to tear down our Tent Embassy and blah blah blah. So, look, it’s a very sad moment. I think it should just be a tiny page in a book that was a fantastic day across Australia, and I for one certainly don’t think it’s particularly worth dwelling on. I know it was news worthy, and I think the media have in fact reported it very accurately. But I think whilst it is a sad moment, it doesn’t involve a lot of Australians. The people who were there I think will be able to sense the views of the wider Australia about their behaviour, and I think we should all move on.
JULIA CHRISTENSEN:
What did he mean by the Tent Embassy should move on, if it wasn’t “shut it down”?
NIGEL SCULLION:
Well he was actually talking about the circumstances. I don’t think he was specifically talking about the Tent Embassy. I mean, I’ve got the quotes in front of me. I know exactly what he was saying. He was talking about the great respect under which Australians feel. And the answers was, look I understand why the Tent Embassy was established all those years ago, a lot of it has changed for the better, he went on to talk about The Apology, the genuine achievement of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister, we’ve now got to a proposal consider recognition of Indigenous people in the Constitution, and he went on to say, look, the people of Australia can be very proud of the respect they’re held. A lot has changed since then, it’s probably time to move on. Now, that is a view he’s had, and the view he’s expressed, but I don’t think the view was “let’s tear the Embassy down”. We’ve moved an awful long way in forty years, and it was a good time on Australia Day to reflect that.
JULIA CHRISTENSEN:
The scenes were undoubtedly shocking, the subsequent scenes, how do you feel as a Territorian about the role Territorians allegedly had in setting this off?
NIGEL SCULLION:
Well, to be brutally honest, I got quite angry that Territorians were, and it will come out those particular individuals … it was irresponsible to take the words of someone like Tony Abbott and to, in those circumstances, to incite people by not quoting them back, just simply making up what he said when he did. And that was inciting and it’s led sadly to a lot of people very angry about all the people who were there, and yet there’s only a few involved. And you know, sadly that involved two Territorians, I understand, and I think a lot of Aboriginal people will look at them in a different light.
JULIA CHRISTENSEN:
Nigel Scullion, thanks for your time.
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