Mining chief lashes Mabo
'Aboriginal culture was so much less powerful than European,
there was never any possibility of its survival' Hugh Morgan
by Paul Chamberlin
Canberra: The leading industrialist Mr Hugh Morgan called on
Australians yesterday to fight the Mabo judgement and force
the Prime Minister into retreat on the issue.
The managing director of Western Mining Corporation told the
annual conference of the Victorian branch of the RSL (Returned
Servicemen's League -R) that Aboriginal culture had been
doomed from the start because it was not as strong as European
culture.
Mabo also threatened the unity of Australia, and the High
Court's decision of June last year must be overturned by
Commonwealth legislation, he said.
The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr Tickner, said that Mr
Morgan's remarks had added to the confusion, distortion,
inaccuracy and bitterness of recent statements by other
conservative politicians.
"We've had some outrageous, scaremongering, unmitigated
nonsense lately...but Mr Morgan simply takes the cake," he
said.
Mr Morgan compared the Prime Minister to Napoleon on the road
to Moscow. Mr Keating would take a plan to the Premier's
Conference on July 5 stating:"No Mabo - no money."
He said The Premiers could not give up the sovereignty of
their States in the face of such a demand.
"They will have to walk away, like the Russians of 1812,
leaving Moscow deserted.
"Let us hope at that point the Prime Minister will have to
recognise that retreat is essential. The longer he puts off
that decision the more agonising will be the retreat, the more
humiliating the final reckoning."
Mr Morgan argued that because Europeans had ships, navigation
skills, weapons, technology, wealth, more people, and
ambition, the future of Australia was always going to be
French or English, not Aboriginal.
"The English got here before the French, and the rest is
history," he said.
"Guilt industry people have great difficulty in accepting, or
recognising, that Aboriginal culture was so much less powerful
than the culture of the Europeans, that there was never any
possibility of its survival.
"They cannot understand that this statement has nothing to do
with individual morality. Human nature is the same regardless
of race.
"The necessity of choice forces us, in the end, to accept that
cultures are not equal, that some cultures will wither away,
and some cultures will expand and grow."
Mr Morgan said that Mabo was the most important issue facing
Australia since World War II.
"Mabo directly threatens the unity of Australia.
"It brings in a separate law for one group of Australians. It
encourages Aboriginal Australians to think of themselves as
separate and distinct from their fellow citizens. It promises
racial tension. It guarantees economic stagnation.
"I call on all of you to stand up for the ideals of Federation
- one nation, one continent, one law, one people, one
destiny."
Mr Morgan also expanded on property law issues that he raised
in a speech at the Australian National University in October
last year.
That speech effectively marked the beginning of the Mabo
debate that has raged for nine months.
It prompted Mr Keating to savagely attack Mr Morgan, calling
him a disgrace and "the bigoted voice of the 19th century".
But the speech also pushed the nation's politicians into But
the speech also pushed the nation's politicians into thinking
seriously about dealing with Mabo.
Yesterday, Mr Morgan said that the High Court had created a
legal, political and constitutional crisis", which demanded
action.
"If we fail in this, Australia will soon become a divided
nation, no longer in undisputed possession of this island
continent, and unable to face with any confidence the external
dangers which history teaches us will, inevitably, one day
threaten us."
"Because of the naive adventurism of the High Court, the
economic and political future of Australia has been put at
risk and our territorial integrity is under threat."
Mr Morgan was also critical of media commentators.
He said that Mike Willesee, host of A Current Affair, had
shown "conspicuous sanctity" in a recent interview with the
Federal Leader of the National Party, Mr Fischer.
"If Mr Willesee seeks to be taken seriously as a moralist, let
him donate his fortune - the fruits of dispossession, remember
- to, let us say, the ABoriginal Provisional Government. Then
we can begin to take his morality seriously."
He also attacked the Herald cartoon of June 22 which portrayed
the National Party executive as members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mr Morgan said that this was following a line prompted by Mr
keating "in order to bully into silence, with accusations of
19th century bigotry, those who dare to question the wisdom of
mabo, or raise doubts about the workability of his policies."
"The Sydney Morning Herald is an enthusiastic partner in this
campaign, and its role should not be forgotten."
(ends)