On the importance of a name and more
Today, readers comment on an electorate renaming bid, free speech and remarkable South Australian women.
Commenting on the story: Name change bid for SA electorate over chequered colonial past
Is the Reggie Martin now warming a Legislative Council seat for Labor since the March 2022 election the same Reggie Martin who was the State Secretary and Campaign Director for the ALP SA Branch at the time of the 2014 election?
I have a vivid recollection of a 2014 Labor election flyer targeting the last name of the Liberal candidate Carolyn Habib.
The widely distributed 2014 election flyer posed the question: “CAN YOU TRUST HABIB?” superimposed in large type on a wall with obvious images of bullet holes.
Seven years on from the 2014 election, an ABC news story reported:
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“SA Labor secretary apologises for ‘racist’ Habib flyer after former MP speaks out.
“SA Labor branch secretary Reggie Martin said he did not design the flyer, but he did approve it.
“‘I am sorry that the flyer that [was] put out did cause distress — that was never my intention,’ he said. ‘I looked at it, studied it, checked it and proofed it and in that time … It didn’t come across my mind that it had any racist intention, so I did authorise and sign off that piece.
‘I actually fact-checked and proofed it, so I checked the spelling and I think I made a correction to one of the claims around council policy, or something like that, but it just did not click that there was a racist intention to that flyer.’”
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In the InDaily story about his letter to the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission calling for the state electorate of Frome to be renamed due to the activities of the man the seat is named after, Martin was reported as saying “The importance of a name should not be underestimated.”
Quite so Reggie. You have a mountain of fact-checking to do to while away the hours in your Legislative Council sinecure. – Philip Groves
Commenting on the story: X marks the spot for censorship debate
I broadly agree with Mr Bailes’ views here, however, his opinion pieces continually feel selective in the examples they use. This is perhaps unsurprising considering his Liberal Party affiliation, but it nonetheless dilutes his message and credibility as a serious commentator on such matters.
Over the weekend his Federal Liberal counterparts, Sarah Henderson and Michael Sukkar, called for the ongoing tent protests at Australian universities to be “forcibly broken up by police.” Politicians demanding peaceful protests be forcibly broken up by police because they don’t agree with their message sets a dire precedent for Australian democracy.
Advocating for free speech and people’s right to protest will often mean defending views you don’t agree with because you understand in doing so you make our democracy more robust.
The inverse – selectively choosing issues to advocate for because they fit your political ideology, is disingenuous and makes free speech and protest a partisan political issue, a dangerous path for our democracy to head down. – Louis Rankin
Commenting on the story: Madge & Bibs and the remarkable story of Adelaide’s first high school for girls
What a wonderful lot of information about the early women of South Australia who worked hard in their small circle to advance women’s suffrage in SA.
I used to take “Womens Tours “ in West Tce cemetery and enjoyed talking about Madeleine Rees George, Helen Mayo, and other women who have sadly been forgotten about today.
After suffering a severe stroke several years ago I am in a nursing home and no longer able to do tours. Anyone can take a self-guided tour about these women at West Tce cemetery and not let these stories be lost forever. – Philippa King
