Just change the date
THERE has been lots of debate about whether January 26 is the most appropriate date to celebrate our nation.
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For European Australians, January 26 is significant for it marks the arrival of the First Fleet, without which many of us would not be here today.
For Indigenous Australians, it marked the beginning of the end of their culture as it had been for thousands of years.
The debate over this particular date will always be with us.
Perhaps one date that united all Australians and gave hope to Indigenous Australians in particular was August 10, 1967.
On this day, laws were passed by the Australian parliament granting Indigenous Australians citizenship.
August 10 is a date which should be seen as a sign of hope which unites all Australians to live together in peace, reconciliation and justice.
Glenn Elliott-Rudder
Wagga
Reconciling our dark past
GREAT editorial “Reconciliation must be driven by all” (DA, January 27). Well said!
As for the comments by “John” in Web Words on the same page, can he not see the difference?
We were not taken over and do not live under different law or ways because of it.
A Wooden
Wagga
Blind leading the blind
HOW sad that your regular correspondent Geoff Field is sick and tired of “name calling know-alls” responding to his letters.
Does he not realise that his frequent use of the term “Blind Freddie” is a form of name calling, although it could be that people with impaired vision may feel grateful that they cannot read his boring and prejudiced diatribes.
Mary Kidson
Wagga
Our lifestyle under threat
REALLY Graeme Burmeister (DA, Letters, January 23), you are deluded as always.
Your assumption that Mr Field and Mr Day are stabbing ordinary Australians in the back with their alleged intolerance is ludicrous.
Islamic State wants to spread its violence and their religion across the globe and they are achieving this by using the refugee system and poor immigration policy to infiltrate the west.
The recent events in Paris, where six coordinated attacks resulted in the deaths of 130 people, required a support base of safe houses and supplies that could only be achieved by Muslims who were given a permanent safe home in France.
They are the ungrateful souls who stab us in the back (literally) and so too are the excuse-makers such as yourself who allow and promote the importation of this violence with your liberalist attitude.
The only difference between a moderate and a radical Muslim is the former is more patient than the latter.
Their goal is the same whether they achieve it through violence, deceit, intimidation or using our democratic system against us as their numbers increase.
The moderates know this and are content to bide their time. Turnbull's comment will be a source of encouragement for them.
As for your comment; “I take great comfort in the fact that when our Muslim friends among us go to work as drivers, doctors etc ...”
They are paid for this you know, many of them visa workers doing work that should be given to ordinary Australians.
They are here for the reward and the promise of a better life, which Australia has provided at the expense of our local unemployed, yet you would have us believe they are doing us a favour?