FAREWELL MY INSPIRING FRIEND - MY MENTOR

Passionate advocate for Aboriginal rights

• The West Australian
• 8 Jul 2020
• May Lorna O’Brien Educator Born: Patricia, 1933 Died: Perth, aged 87 Billy Kerr

Sometimes some of the humblest of characters assume greatness in their own lifetime and by any measure May Lorna O’Brien was one of those people.

This lady was known simply as Aunty May but her life and her achievements will long be indelibly marked in the history of Western Australia.

She was a remarkable Aboriginal woman and her fierce determination (sometimes misconstrued as just being obstinate and stubborn) was the hallmark of her determination to succeed.

Her life began in the tiny all-but-forgotten settlement of Patricia in 1933, when she was given the name, “Loona”, which may well have been her Aboriginal name. When as a very young child she went to live with a family that she thought may adopt her, she was given the name May.

These multiple names were used to good effect and on one occasion the much-feared chief protector of Aborigines, Mr A.O. Neville, came to Mt Margaret Mission looking for a young light-skinned Aboriginal girl called Lorna. This was a time when light-skinned Aboriginal girls were removed from their parents.

 Aunty May fitted the description of this young girl perfectly and the suspicious Mr Neville asked her several times for her name and, not wanting to tell a lie to such an important man, she said “My name is May”.

Mr R. Schenk, the missionary in charge of Mt Margaret, confirmed to Neville that her name was indeed May and even at that very young age, it was obvious that this girl had the “smarts”. There was no way that Neville and his co-protectors of Aborigines were going to get her into their custody on that particular day and soon thereafter, they left empty-handed.

Aunty May remained at the mission from 1938 until 1950, when she was given the opportunity to go to Perth with three other girls to further her education. While she was excited about going to a big school in a big city, she was not too excited about having to wear a uniform with its box pleats and belt in the middle.

At 17 years old, she was just a little bit “sassy” and the school principal said because she was the oldest kid enrolled at a WA high school, and because her IQ test results were quite poor, she was being sent back to the mission to become a domestic.

That was like waving a red rag at a bull and the impetuous May

Lorna Miller borrowed some money, went to an off-limits telephone box and promptly rang Dr Robertson, the director-general of education. Her timely call had the desired effect and Aunty May remained at Perth Girls School for the next two years before starting teacher training at Claremont Teachers College.

Aunty May was a passionate fighter for the rights of her people and from a very young age, she fought to become a “citizen” of this country.

It made her angry that under the laws of the country at the time, that she and other Aboriginal people were denied this right.

As an educator, her passion for equality and acceptance for her people in schools across WA and the country knew no bounds. She argued the case for IQ tests to be changed because she believed that these tests were culturally biased and she was right. She was a fearsome player in the battle for equity within education and there were many bureaucrats and politicians who regretted the day they took on Aunty May in any debate relating to the rights of Aboriginal people.

She rose to become the boss of Aboriginal education in WA and a leading advocate on powerful committees and “think tanks” that debated and formulated strategies to give Aboriginal people equity and opportunity in education precincts right across the country.

For her unwavering commitment and passion for her people and her work, she was recognised and applauded on many occasions. She received a British Empire Medal for her work in education in 1977, was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1983, in 1991 she was made a fellow of Edith Cowan University and in 1998 Aunty May was inducted into the Department of Education’s Hall of Fame.

 A legend was born and none of this escaped the love of her life, Jack O’Brien, who she had married in 1972 and whom she fondly regarded as “her Charles Bronson”.

Her Christian faith kept her strong throughout her remarkable life and Aunty May and Jack were reunited in heaven on March 1, 2020 — a place where she is no doubt rearranging the furniture as we speak.

IS WIDODO GETTING TOUGH AT LAST?

                                     Half time, and the team is flagging

Mid last century Indonesia’s founding president Soekarno was a dazzling demagogue, feared and loathed by the West and admired by the East.  Apart from Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), his successors’ performances at the podium have been pedestrian – till now.  Suddenly Joko Widodo, the epitome of a mild-mannered Javanese, has let loose.  

In a dressing down of his ministers the President was blunt: Covid-19 is real and they have responsibilities.  But will anything change?  

Widodo’s reading of the riot act would have suited a coach’s locker-room broadside with his team floundering, ready to kick off their boots rather than kick on the game.

The tirade was delivered on 18 June, but such is the laziness of Jakarta journalists that it didn’t leak.   After ten days of silence, frustrated palace officials released a video of an almost ten-minute spray.

Almost two million have watched so far, not a bad tune-in to a political lecture delivered by a poli best known for his shuffling style.   Instead, he took a splash of the Soekarno spirit and the effect was intoxicating – a mix of anger, frustration and emotion stirred with verve.

How powerful?  Here’s proof: No one could be seen checking smartphones.  Briefly breaking into English an animated Widodo told his colleagues they were ignoring the “sense of crisis” gripping the Republic.

In Indonesian, he said he’d risk his political reputation to handle the fallout from voters upset by his policies: “I will take any extraordinary steps for our 267 million citizens. These could be disbanding institutions, or it could be a reshuffle, I have thought of many options.

“We have budgeted Rp 75 trillion (AUD 7.5 billion) but only 1.5 per cent has been disbursed. All the money that’s supposed to be for the people is stuck there. The much-anticipated social aid program should be disbursed quickly.”

His COS Moeldoko later explained to the media the President had been telling ministers for some time they weren’t coping with the health and economic disasters thrashing the archipelago, damaging the lives of millions. 

 “The President is concerned his aides think this is a normal situation,” he said. “They need to be reminded, and the last warning was the latest among many.”  Parents of teens know this repetitious scene well: ‘I’m telling you to clean your room again – this is final.’

Back in February before a group of alleged celebrities, Widodo revealed he was considering firing slackers.   Last month in the East Java capital Surabaya the President gave officials a fortnight to get their act together. Nothing happened. 

The seat-polishers have yawned away the threats reckoning they’re untouchable.  Many hold their jobs not through merit but inter-faction deals which keep the six-party governing coalition intact.

There have been critics aplenty alleging inaction during the past three months, but Widodo kept calm. 

His temper was well tested. Transportation Minister Budi Sumadi stuffed up a ban on travel during the Islamic fasting month by handing out dispensations for Mudik the traditional Islamic fasting-month exodus from big cities to villages.  Multiple thousands packed trains and busses.

The AUD 7.5 billion highlighted by Widodo has been allocated for healthcare, social protection and economic stimulus programmes to try and keep the country breathing.

Tiny when put against Australia’s AUD 259 billion rescue package, but that’s not all. The Internet seethes with allegations of funds evaporating before reaching the needy. So far no impartial investigation.

Last month Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa told a parliamentary hearing an extra 5.5 million could soon be jobless.  If he’s right, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is heading downstream fast, drowning workers in its wake.

Monoarfa estimated those under the poverty line could exceed 27 million, ten per cent of the total population.  Before the Covid-19 outbreak, the line was Rp 440,538 (AUD 45) a month. 

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is a non-party economist, formerly with the World Bank Group. She told the same hearing the GDP will shrink further in the second quarter.

 

Confused citizens have put up with more than two months of Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (large scale social restrictions).  These are supposed to end on 16 July. They’ve been poorly policed, often ignored and largely ineffective as the official death toll rises.  

The Republic’s testing rates are abysmal - 3,185 per million, one of the lowest in the world, so who knows how bad things are?   To date 60,695 cases have been confirmed and 3,036 deaths. As reported earlier NGOs and scientists have been shouting the real figures are probably three to four times higher.

Voters are mightily fed up with the administration, so at one level Widodo’s rant appears to be a political tactic to shift blame.  However, there’s no doubt his emotion was genuine.  Australian traders who’ve wallowed through the blancmange of Indonesian bureaucracy (World Bank ease of doing business ranking: 73) will relate to his exasperation.

 

Here’s the dilemma.  By abandoning Javanese reserve and showing the wong cilik (ordinary people) he needs their support, Widodo is admitting his impotence at the top end of town.  He’s also made enemies by shaming ministers in public.  Maintaining status is critical in Indonesian culture, particularly for the majority Javanese.

It’s said the authoritarian second president General Soeharto never had to raise his voice to get things done.  Wags claimed his ministers followed a 4D code – datang, duduk, diam, dapat duit (come, sit down, be quiet, get paid)

The current mess is partly Widodo’s fault as he held off telling the situation was serious for fear of causing fright.  Then he urged the sick to drink jamu, the traditional herb medicine while Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto prescribed prayer.

Overall the commentariat has been unsympathetic, saying Widodo’s speech is two months too late.  Some have dismissed it as a publicity stunt because the video was offered to the media on a Sunday ready for Monday’s papers.

The Jakarta Post’s editorial writers, maybe miffed because they missed a scoop, turned up the cynicism: ‘Perhaps all he (Widodo) wants is just a change of perspective. We hope that, whether he does reshuffle his Cabinet or not, people will feel the heat and work harder.’

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 6 July 2020: https://johnmenadue.com/duncan-graham-half-time-and-the-team-is-flagging/

THE ABC OF STUFFING UP OVERSEAS TV

             SENDING A STRANGE MESSAGE TO THE REGION   

              

The slashing and burning of ABC workers, their goodies and services seems to have missed the overseas TV service ABC Australia.  That’s no reason to whoop.  Further cuts will kill.

It has to be seen to be disbelieved.  

ABC Australia is our TV showcase to 37 Asia Pacific nations we want to impress, particularly the biggest on the block - Indonesia.  Tune in! We belong here, have aid projects, can give a hand with a few jolly education slots, warn you about druggies.

More importantly we can sell tucker you want. Might share a nod and a wave.  Mateship’s too strong.  That needs closeness and trust.

Definitions can be a turn-off, but this one’s necessary. Patience, please. ‘Asia Pacific’ is a pendulum term and this story is more about the western arc. For Canberra right now it’s swung east with the ‘PacificAus TV initiative’.

For $17.1 million across three years, seven Pacific states including PNG will get 1,000 hours a year of free-to-air Aussie TV. So far islanders’ reactions have been muted, noting the info-flow is one-way colonisation by media – big countries produce, small ones consume.  MasterChef should go down well in dirt-floor kitchens with no running water.

Officially PacificAus TV ‘complements a range of initiatives to enhance Australia’s engagement in the Pacific’ which is a load of guff, though Shadow Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland sees Reds under the hammocks:

‘While the Morrison Government has been cutting the ABC and diminishing Australia’s soft power, China has been making significant investments in its global media footprint and growing its reach and influence in the region.’

‘Soft power’ also oscillates. Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer defined it as ‘a credible and independent voice through programmes that present a window on Australia and Australian perspectives of the world.’

Logically we’d be putting money and imagination into revealing who we are and what we do.  That’s been our overseas media policy for more than a quarter-century but needs reglazing. Now’s the time, using the new free trade agreement with Indonesia.

Instead the panes on Downer’s homely metaphor are cracked and smeared, the frames rotten. The place is going downhill.  The residents don’t care a damn about separating plastics, tins and food; they bung the lot into one wheelie bin and put it out on the wrong days.  The homeowner is the ABC, the rubbish ABC Australia and its transmitters the trash truck.  Bundled together the result is an embarrassment.

But who’d know? The service can’t be easily seen in Australia so little interest.  Even ABC Friends, the ‘promoter and defender’ of the Corporation and chaired by former Labor Senator Margaret Reynolds didn’t respond to questions about ABC Australia. 

 So here’s an appraisal of the menu:

Our overseas viewers are being served with so much ill-prepared, repetitious, boring and inappropriate fare customers shop elsewhere.  They have choice aplenty -  the BBC, Al Jazeera, DW (Germany) France 24, Arirang (South Korea), Voice of America, NHK (Japan) RT (Russia) and other channels offering quality programmes screened to suit the  locals.

Now that sport is back from quarantine Okkers abroad can watch the big men fly three hours every evening from Thursday to Sunday on ABC Australia.  No matter that the AFL isn’t played in the target countries; this service is for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t get home before borders closed.

Head of ABC International David Hua offered this justification: ‘The code is uniquely Australian and being able to showcase it to audiences overseas is important.’  So viewers get 12 hours a week of physical clashes, about the same for the occasionally cerebral 7.30 Report, Insiders, The Drum, and the daily news The World combined. This last programme is produced for the service and does have merit.

Before the lockdown when about 1.3 million Australians went to Bali every year, Kuta bars billboarded Rules and Rugby to suck in thirsty fans. No point now.

Our Embassy in Jakarta reckons about 3,000 Aussies remain in the Republic.  Most are in business or retirees on the Hindu-majority island.  Some footy fanatics may need to hear sirens; it’d be good to think others moved to the archipelago to experience different cultures and live without a nostalgia kick.

Getting through to the masses is easy in Indonesia; TVs are as common as street eateries where sets are as essential as woks.  Likewise in shops, restaurants and government departments where the idle watch plot-thin sinetron (soapies) while waiting for work.

An estimated 64 million households in Indonesia (pop 270 million) have receivers, the highest saturation rate in Southeast Asia.  This is a legacy of last century’s Soeharto era when huge sums were spent using satellites to beam government propaganda into every nook of the 6,000 occupied islands.

During much of the dictator’s 32-years, the national broadcaster TVRI had a monopoly.  Now there’s democracy the cables and free-to-airwaves jostle for frequencies.  Many channels owned by tycoons are so partisan they make Fox News look balanced.

Our overseas TV ventures started in 1993 with Australia Television International.  Nine years later it became ABC Asia Pacific, and in 2006 Australia Network with funding from Foreign Affairs and Trade plus advertising.  Downer claimed it would reach ten million homes and 200,000 hotel rooms in 41 countries; maybe one million viewers a month.  The budget was $200 million for a decade.

He said the ABC would run the network offering ‘high-quality programmes about Australia and its engagement with the region.’ Also promised were ‘extensive news and current affairs programmes, Australian-produced education, drama, entertainment and lifestyle programmes.’ 

Australia Network CEO, the late Ian Carroll, added: ‘Our news and current affairs programmes provide more than the headlines – it is quality world-class journalism offering a different view from the London and US-centric networks’.

In 2011 the Australian Labor Government called tenders to run Australia Network. The two main hopefuls were the ABC and Sky TV which had long campaigned to get the job. 

When it seemed Rupert Murdoch’s company had the nod the process was scrapped and the task given to the ABC.

Revenge was rapid. After the Coalition won office in 2013 Australia Network was switched off. FM Julie Bishop said it ‘had failed to deliver a cost-effective vehicle’ though gave no facts to back the claim. The then ABC managing director Mark Scott said the decision:

‘…runs counter to the approach adopted by the vast majority of G20 countries. Countries around the world are expanding their international broadcasting services as key instruments of public diplomacy.

‘It sends a strange message to the region that the government does not want to use the most powerful communication tools available to talk to our regional neighbours about Australia.’

Turning off life support for Australia’s overseas TV service in 2013 may have satisfied the Coalition’s political ideology but a legal reality prevented burial: The ABC Charter says it must run an international service.

The result was Australia Plus with a $20 million budget for three years propped up by sponsors. The public service – commercial telecaster marriage was a disaster.

The ads from Monash University, the Victorian Government and food supplement manufacturer Swisse Wellness were repetitious, discursive and often plain weird.  Indonesian commercials tend to be as unsubtle as a runaway road train.

With 2018 came another change to the present tautology: ABC Australia and its banal slogan Yours.  At the time the Head of ABC International David Hua said ‘rebranding makes sense to our audiences overseas, who want distinctive Australian content from a highly-respected media organisation.’

The official blurb reads: ‘Our mission is to provide a television and digital service that informs, entertains and inspires our audience with a uniquely Australian perspective.’

Since then a new reason has wriggled in: ‘The ABC provides content for Australians living abroad and local audiences living outside of Australia.’ Hello, hello, what’s this?  A shift from ‘soft power’ to satisfying a few ex-pats?  

Hua responded: “I disagree with the premise that the ABC has made the shift you describe. Perhaps ‘local audiences living outside of Australia’ is an awkward description of Indonesians in Indonesia, Vietnamese in Vietnam etc.”

So ex-pats can feel at home with Lah-Lah’s Stripy Sock Club, Home and Away and Planet America.  Some may query that programme’s relevance on an Australian overseas service, but its presence shows our priorities.

In 2018 the Department of Communications and the Arts published a 193-page review of Australian Broadcasting Services in the Asia Pacific, mainly concentrating on short-wave closed the previous year.

The Lowy Institute submission claimed our international broadcasting was ‘under-resourced’. ‘...   Australia must overcome its poor record in this area, and make a renewed investment in international broadcasting platforms and content to restore its relevance as a constructive and independent soft power partner in the region.’

What’s happened to the review? The Department’s response was terse and useless: ‘The review is being used to inform policy development.’

Governments and Oppositions endlessly proclaim the importance of Indonesia, stressing the social, economic, defence, security and community benefits of developing a strong and enduring relationship. 

The politicians aren’t singing solo. Academics, business leaders, journalists, NGOs and politicians consistently chant the need for better education – particularly language and cultural studies - improved communications and closer contact with the neighbours.

Last year ABC Chair Ita Buttrose, a great fan of ‘soft power’ told the Lowy Institute: ‘The importance of journalism to our country’s Asia-Pacific interests cannot be underestimated and I believe a renewed ABC focus on international broadcasting would greatly benefit Australia.’

So it’s logical we’d be despatching our best and brightest programmes selected specifically for the Republic to back the chorus.

If only. Most offerings on ABC Australia were originally made for domestic audiences.  Programmes are moved around without notice. The presenter tells what’s coming next - then something different appears. The channel’s Internet TV Guide is a misnomer; TV Guesser would be better.

On 5 July the long-awaited Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement clicks into place.  The free trade deal includes education services, offering an opportunity to couple the ABC and other programme-makers with stations in the region.

ABC Australia is distributed by Intelsat and downlinked by 126 re-broadcasters across the region. They get it free, but the viewers don’t. In Indonesia, three pay-to-use cable services carry ABC Australia. A few take blocks of content – mainly educational - and insert into local channels.  

The ABC spends $11 million a year on its combined international services.  Hua estimated ABC Australia costs from $2.5 to $4 million a year.  That’s significantly less than the $200 million for a decade of Australia Network and the three- year $20 million budget for the old Australia Plus.

Another relevant figure is the $17.1 million suddenly found this year for the ‘PacificAus TV initiative’ which at its best will reach only 11 million.  That’s 0.4 per cent of the Indonesian population.

Commented Labor’s Rowland: “$11 million per annum is a drop in the ocean and insufficient to realise the potential of the ABC as a soft power asset.

“ABC funding has gone backwards as other nations seeking to exercise greater soft power increase their presence in the region.”

A report last month (May) by the ‘progressive think tank’ Per Capita for the activist group GetUp! claimed the ABC’s real funding had slipped almost 30 per cent since 1986.

After ABC MD David Anderson announced a new strategy and massive cuts Hua was asked if ABC Australia had ducked the knife:   “The proposed changes at this stage do not directly impact on the international services. Of course any cuts to the ABC effects (sic) the wider teams.”

The TV programmes we export are almost all in English. Those from Nat Geo are subtitled in Indonesian.  Likewise the History Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery, BBC Earth and many others, including crime and food channels.

Said Hua: ‘While it would be desirable to offer localised dubbing and or subtitles, the cost of this across all of our markets is prohibitive.”  So Home and Away along with other fare is only accessible to those with a good grasp of English, and that’s few Indonesians outside the well-educated elite.

A survey by the English First international chain of language schools ranks Indonesia behind Vietnam in proficiency.  Although English is taught in state schools it’s usually rote learning. Few graduates can handle the spoken word.  Subtitling programmes might make them useful in classrooms while helping the kids better understand their neighbour.

Hua said that before the 2014 funding cuts three satellites were used to break up timezones.  Now there’s only one, so News Breakfast is screened at 3 am in Jakarta and the 7.30 Report at 4.30 pm.  Come daylight saving and the times jump back an hour.

Hua: “With programming like News Breakfast, we do have a preference to run it live ... Our audiences have grown to be 1.6 million affluent Asians in 10 markets. In Indonesia it’s 304,745 viewers in the past 30 days.”  (It’s not known how many of these are in hotels.)

“We do seek to first reach audiences who have an interest in Australia and who wish to build on that through content across our platforms.”

Question:  The impression is that ABC Australia is an unwelcome chore maintained only because required by law yet given insufficient resources.  Is that a fair conclusion?

Hua: “No. The ABC marked 80 years of international broadcasting in December 2019. The reputation, audience reach, and the multitude of services is something that Australians should see as a national asset and be proud of.

“The ABC is keen to build more awareness of our services and to explore opportunities to expand Australia’s voice in the region and around the world.

“It’s important for Australians to share stories with people across the region and around the world to build mutual understanding and trust.”

Fine sentiments indeed.  Who’d disagree?  But this isn’t what ABC Australia is delivering.

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 30 June and 1 July 2020:

https://johnmenadue.com/duncan-graham-sending-a-strange-message-to-the-region/

and

https://johnmenadue.com/duncan-graham-the-abc-out-of-sight-out-of-care/