Indigenous Actor Mark Coles Smith’s Reply To Tony Abbott’s “Lifestyle Choices” Comment Is Going Viral
"Like most political parties, the Liberals act like a self-sustaining organism, the gut bacteria of which is a common strain of 'greedy dickheadyphilis'".
Last week Tony Abbott’s description of remote Indigenous communities as a “lifestyle choice” became Exhibit #11,705 in the planned National Terrible Things Tony Abbott Has Said Museum (opening date est. 2016), and generated a stack of online insta-outrage, including on this website. But Abbott’s mouth-fart inadvertently had bigger consequences by briefly drawing people’s attention to a series of terrible decisions by both state and federal Liberal governments that will see up to 210 of those communities in Western and South Australia being shut down and their inhabitants forcibly moved away.
Most media attention has since been drawn away by the ongoing spectacle of a Prime Minister visibly imploding like a dwarf star, but opposition to the closures of these communities has rapidly grown into a pretty formidable social movement. The last week alone has seen the campaign gather immense momentum; yesterday saw Close The Gap Day rallies in up to a dozen cities around the country, a petition calling on WA Premier Colin Barnett to abandon the closures has gathered over 30,000 signatures, and on Twitter #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA has seen thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, including actors, politicians and sportspeople, lend their support to remote communities.
AFL STARS Neville Jetta, Heritier Lumumba, Jay Kennedy-Harris: “NO CLOSURES” #sosblakaustralia #Melbourne @Utopiana pic.twitter.com/yqYy7wc0Ej
— Les Thomas (@les_thomas) March 19, 2015
“Today is supposed to be #ClosetheGap Day, it feels like the Grand Canyon” @NovaPeris #sosBlackAustralia pic.twitter.com/pDAvjYItnP — © Indigenist™ (@DameyonBonson) March 19, 2015
This always was, always will be Aboriginal land #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA pic.twitter.com/rMIHpsR8DN — Christine Milne (@senatormilne) March 19, 2015
One of the most eloquent rationales for supporting the campaign came from Indigenous actor Mark Coles Smith, who released a video on Facebook yesterday pointing out the immense flaws in the plan to close communities, savaging the political mindset behind it, and noting that the cost of keeping communities open is a fraction of what Australia gives the mining industry in tax concessions each year. It’s since been viewed almost 60,000 times.
As phrases go, “greedy dickheadyphilis” isn’t a bad one to coin.
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