Australian singer Thelma Plum invades Australia’s ‘discovery’ debate; Facebook post thrashes ‘racist c----’
Indigenous Australian singer Thelma Plum has challenged radio host Alan Jones to a duel and it has turned pretty nasty. Plum has blasted Jones and Channel Seven’s “Sunrise” after the program failed to include an indigenous person in its live discussion on whether James Cook's Australia arrival was an invasion or discovery.
“I think you're a bunch of racist c---- and you should 100% be ashamed of yourselves adding to the issue of thinking Aboriginal people don't have a voice. Let us decide if it's racist of not, not some Becky and Alan Jones,” Plum wrote on her Facebook account.
The TV segment was debating on University of NSW’s guidelines for talking about Australia’s history. Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi of Iranian descent and Jones were invited on the show for debating the “language toolkit.” It teaches the students that Captain James Cook “invaded” Australia and not “discovered” or “settled.”
“Yo Alan, I think you’re a count (sic) and I challenge you to a duel,” Plum wrote about a photo of Jones standing in front of a banner and his head blocking the letter “O” of the word “Count” written on it.
Plum was furious and questioned why the show did not have anyone of indigenous heritage. Plum firmly believes Cook invaded Australia. Jones and Panahi were of the view that Australia was actually “discovered” by Cook despite the fact that Edwina Bartholomew suggested that this notion might be offensive to Indigenous Australians.
“At the end of the day, when Cook discovered as he did Australia, what that means, in a strict sense of the word, is he discovered ways in which to turn this continent in a way which would be beneficial and profitable to everyone,” Jones said on the show.
He hoped that in an Australia of yesterday and tomorrow Australia’s discovery brought “significant wealth.” According to him, that opened up the country to everybody including Indigenous Australians.
One can view Plum’s Facebook post here.
