A Bouquet

The Press Council was recently faxed about "An outstanding example of positive journalism". High praise indeed! The source? ATSIC. The subject? A Goulburn Post editorial of 24 June.

Under the headline, Racists can't be choosy, the paper, in part, commented that:

During the past week we have received numerous telephone calls relating to rumours of low cost housing being established here to accommodate Aborigines from Sydney.

We are also aware of concerns locally about the number of welfare recipients coming to live in Goulburn.

The Goulburn Post must reflect the values of the wider community, rather than a minority who have called anonymously about rumours of Aborigines coming to Goulburn.

We can't think of anyone who has set themselves up as the community's gate-keeper. No one in this town judges who should be welcome in our community, and who should be kept out. That's certainly not the role of this paper.

We are aware that for a time Queanbeyan, and other rural centres, have been the subject of fanciful, distasteful suggestions of Aborigines being re-located out of Sydney before the Olympics in 2000. These suggestions do not hold up to scrutiny.

We believe Aborigines, poor people and wealthy people have an equal right to come to Goulburn, if they so desire. They are all equally obliged to uphold the values of the wider community.

Responding to the editorial, Stephen Gordon, ATSIC NSW Zone Commissioner, welcomed the positive statements as "a harbinger of better relations between Australians and the continent's indigenous peoples". He congratulated the Goulburn Post on "its balanced and courageous editorial. The only keeper of the gates of Goulburn is the city as a whole, not an unrepresentative minority", and in particular the Commissioner praised the paper "for combating false rumour that Aborigines are to be shipped out of Sydney for the Olympic Games".

"The Post", Commissioner Gordon added, "has performed a signal community service in exposing the root of racism behind the snide scaremongering of a disgruntled few. These people are not only petty minded, but have forgotten that a fundamental principle of our way of life is a fair go, especially for the disadvantaged".

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