The perils of being an unsettled woman

By Celeste Liddle. If there was one political gaffe that grabbed my attention recently, it was the unfortunate announcement by Tony Abbott that Australia was ‘unsettled’ prior to 1788. Indeed, my immediate response on hearing this was to be dumbfounded. For some absurd reason I did expect slightly better from our Prime Minister and self-appointed ‘Minister for Indigenous Affairs’, particularly considering much has been made of this man’s ongoing connections with remote Aboriginal communities. Then again as Abbott, and other members of his government have proven, political gaffes are all the rage this season. More...