Federal parliamentarian Dennis Jensen has not heeded Tony Abbott’s chiding of him and has gone on show once again with his outdated stereotypes of Aboriginal peoples.
Only days ago Dr Jensen was pulled into line by Mr Abbott for making what many have said were racial slurs, but to many it appears he has done it again.
Dr Jensen has been blasted by WA’s shadow Aboriginal Affairs and Native Title portfolio holder Ben Wyatt.
Mr Wyatt said Dr Jensen’s attitudes are that of a relic, twenty years behind the times. The 51 year old Dr Jensen took on an Aboriginal woman known as @TheKooriWoman while on Twitter. He tweeted “get over colonialism”. He then asked her what does she know of colonialism – had she lived all 213 years since colonialism asserted itself in Australia.
He slammed Abstudy payments to Aboriginal students where the payments were more than those for non-Aboriginal students. He slammed policies of affirmative actions.
“The days of paying $3.60 per Indigenous person for $1.00 for non-Indigenous person in community support welfare payments have got to end.”
“What does affirmative action really say about Indigenous brothers and sisters? That they are not able to compete with the rest of society without an artificial leg up?”
Dr Jensen was heavily criticised for his tweets and he was pulled into line by Mr Abbott. Dr Jensen deleted the tweets and issued a public apology. But in an opinion piece emailed to AAP he labelled the media coverage of his tweet exchange with @TheKooriWoman as reflecting “left wing sensitivities.”
Dr Jensen tried to hide behind Cape York’s Noel Pearson and Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine in that they have according to Dr Jensen made similar comments in reference to being against the “paying of sit down money.”
“Indigenous people are better than this,” wrote Mr Jensen.
Mr Wyatt described Dr Jensen as stale and facile.
“He might want to do some research and reading to catch up,” said Mr Wyatt.
“It is something you would have expected MPs to say some 20 years ago.”
“He is embarrassing himself.”
Dr Jensen has languished his political tenure in one controversy after another. He has made a point of attacking what he perceives as ‘political correctness’, he has pushed to the hilt investment in military firepower, he is pro-uranium and was bent on supporting uranium export to India, he is a climate change denier and refuses to accept that human activity has contributed to any serious climate change.
The Stringer understands that Mr Abbott has said to his confidantes that he does not need another Senator Cory Bernardi mess and that he just wants Dr Jensen “to shut up.”
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