UPDATED: Police investigating protestors over Old Parliament House fire

Futureproof9:24 am 31 Dec 21

Lidia Thorpe is quite happy to draw a $200k+ colonial salary though

inspmorse503:07 am 31 Dec 21

Arson is arson.

I suspect that like in the USA, where looters and arsonists did their illegal activities through multiple riots in mainly Democratic states in 2020, the perpetrators will not get prosecuted, because they will use their race or cause to escape detection and prosecution.

Capital Retro10:48 am 31 Dec 21

That’s how it works.

gooterz10:48 pm 30 Dec 21

Pretty poor coverage from the ABC, last week they blamed the police and today are basically accusing them of starting the fire.
The group they blame antivax are either stupid for letting the tent embassy join in their protest or they have some weird ulterior motive.
Clear proof that some factions of particular racial groups just want to see the rest of us burn and don’t care about moving on.

Spiral9:32 am 31 Dec 21

And yet again an example of the ideology of the ABC.

In recent years the ABC has trashed its own reputation.

While not yet a left wing counterpart to Skynews it seems to be heading in that direction.

As a publicly funded body, it doesn’t seem to serve the public.

nobody8:50 pm 30 Dec 21

Maya123, antivaxers, pull the other one, it still plays jingle bells.
“Commander Linda Champion from the Australian Federal Police said the fire likely began during a smoking ceremony performed by protesters, which police were aware of and had approved to occur.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/act-protesters-set-old-parliament-house-on-fire/100731444

Reply View 4 replies

Spiral9:35 am 31 Dec 21

If this is true, then surely it highlights the inherent dangers of smoking ceremonies.

Do they follow the same rules as other fires (i.e. are they not allowed on Total Fire Ban Days)?

If they don’t then they certainly should.

Capital Retro10:50 am 31 Dec 21

Mmm, was it a “smoking ceremony” that also started the Ororral Valley fire too?

Maya12311:48 am 31 Dec 21

Nobody, You will notice I was just reporting what was reported by Sky news and the Guardian. Several other news sources had similar comments at the time. No where did I say what my views were, because I wasn’t there. Were you?

Spiral11:49 am 31 Dec 21

It was reported that the fire at Old Parliament House last week was also a smoking ceremony.

Thankfully the conditions then and with this event were relatively mild.

If it had been a Total Fire Ban day it could have been catastrophic.

Smoking Ceremonies are demonstrably too dangerous to be unregulated.

Finagen_Freeman7:47 pm 30 Dec 21

It’s all relative.
That building represents colonial oppression. The invaders built it. It’s history – yes. But it’s not the full history.
The full history shows it’s no seat of democracy, when the original land owners had no rights, and were forcible moved on from their ancestral homes.

Less we forget.

Reply View 2 replies

Futureproof9:27 am 31 Dec 21

If it wasn’t the British who colonised Australia, it would have been someone else. That’s how it is

Capital Retro10:52 am 31 Dec 21

Which history book are you reading?

And it is “Lest we forget”, (or it used to be).

manonthewestoncreekomnibus7:41 pm 30 Dec 21

It has become almost formulaic now to refer to ‘stolen’ and ‘unceded’ lands in acknowledgements of country. This is the logical consequence of that wording: if this land is indeed stolen, then there is technically no reason why those who own it should be barred from entering and using it. No doubt there were the usual thugs and troublemakers who took advantage of the situation, but the fact remains, if you say you are on stolen land, then you must make reparations and acknowledge that those who set fire to OPH were well within their rights to do so.

Spiral1:12 pm 31 Dec 21

The frequent “Always was, Always will be Aboriginal land.” Is partially responsible for this.

As well as the obvious fact that it simply isn’t true, it raises a whole heap of issues that lead to actions like we saw.

For the people sprouting that slogan, please clarify what it means,

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/30/fire-at-old-parliament-house-damages-entrance-to-historic-canberra-building

franky227:34 pm 30 Dec 21

So is it Aboriginal activists, anti vaxxers or marxists from extinction rebellion??

Maya1236:23 pm 30 Dec 21

Antivaxers according to this article.

“A group of Covid-19 anti-vaccine campaigners broadcast their protest and parts of the fire on social media.

One protester told Sky News the group was there “for positive reasons” but added they “had to burn that door down just to get the message across”.

cdtreasure5:49 pm 30 Dec 21

Just saw the 5pm news on Ch10. Outrageous that this should happen here to an historic and iconic building. Reporters trying to capture images were told “no camera”. No wonder, the cowards didn’t want their faces to be seen. There was talk of this being done for “legal rights for indigenous people”. What a load of bulldust. I suspect political agitators behind this. Whatever the reason those responsible will face a backlash that may well hurt the people they are claiming to be obtaining legal rights for.

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