opinion piece

3 Commentswriting,

I’ve written an opinion piece for today’s Age. It’s on the Lord’s Prayer being said at the beginning of the day in Federal Parliament.

I don’t choose topics for opinion pieces – the editor rings with an idea and we throw it around for a bit. if i can get vaguely interested in it after a couple of minute’s conversation then i figure i’ll be able to get enough energy up over the following 36 hours until the deadline, to cope with going to bed at 1 am and getting up at 5 to get the thing done [they always seem to want something in those weeks when every moment of every day is already scheduled]… i love it though; i love being forced to think about an issue that i’d otherwise not care about, to watch my own opinions change as i’m writing it…

3 Comments

  1. Claudine

    Beautiful, thanks. What a subversive tradition to have in Parliament!

  2. Lisa Hall

    I was with a group of impressive Warlpiri women this week who have recently been told by Politicians that they are not allowed to teach their own children in their own language. They were angry and frustrated. Their culture and rituals are fundamental to them and their language is the vehicle for that. They said to each other and to the rest of us who were there “We ask the kardiya (non-indigneous people) Where is your culture? You got no culture!” It was hard to argue with them. When the only rituals I feel these days are singing Happy Birthday to someone, or reciting the Lord’s Prayer at funerals I attend. I wonder what meaning these really have for me.
    If politicians are going to say the Lord’s prayer then can someone please remind them what it means to say it (make them read Cheryl’s article at least!!). And if they are not willing to do that, then maybe 30 seconds of silence would be a better representation of the emptiness of our collective ‘kardiya’ culture.

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