OPINION
The Bruce Lehrmann defamation action against Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson will wrap up, soon, but there’s still plenty of legal entertainment to come.
There’s Alex Greenwich v Mark Latham action, for instance. In that case, an openly homosexual MP is suing the famously pugilistic Latham for, essentially, describing gay sex in accurate, if vulgar terms. One of the spicier possible lines of questioning may be counsel asking Greenwich whether he’s a top or a bottom.
Now, an even funnier case has been launched, right here in Tasmania.
Jacqui Lambie has launched legal action against an Indigenous rights activist who questioned her Aboriginality.
The independent Senator has lodged a formal complaint about Michael Mansell over his repeated inferences she is not Indigenous to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
To be fair, Lambie is just as Aboriginal as the vast majority of “Aborigines” these days. Meaning that she has a remote ancestor who was part-Aboriginal (interestingly, Lambie appears to be descended, at least in part, from Dolly Dalrymple, the “D” in Lushington D. Brady). Also to be fair, Lambie doesn’t seem to have tried to leverage her ancestry much for professional advancement.
Unlike Mansell, whose entire career is founded on his claims to “Aboriginality”. Notwithstanding his pale skin and blue eyes, of course. Or the permed ’fro he used to sport in the ’80s.
Still, even a stopped, grifting clock can be right, now and again.
However, Mr Mansell – who claims that too many ‘poor whites’ are claiming to be Aboriginal – is not backing down.
So are rich folks. Has this lifelong career trougher ever looked in a mirror?
“I cannot wait for the matter to go before a tribunal or court,” Mr Mansell told the Australian.
“Or for Senator Lambie to publicly lay out her bona fides. That is all she has to do.”
Which she has, in fact, done: in 2014, she provided a family tree to the Australian Stories TV programme.
Senator Lambie, who has Tasmanian Palawa ancestry like Mr Mansell, says his preoccupation with her lineage is “misguided”.
“Mr Mansell has asked about my descendants, which shows that he has not done his homework,” Senator Lambie said.
But what this more-Aboriginal-than-thou dogfight really comes down to is a turf war between rival ‘Aboriginal’ activist groups.
Mr Mansell, and bodies he is associated with including the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, have also denied the Indigenous bona fides claimed by the 8000-strong Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation.
Corporation members claiming Indigenous ancestry make up about 20 per cent of the Tasmanian town of Smithton.
Or, ‘Methton’, as it’s known locally. The place you can get high just by drinking the wastewater.
And that’s where Paleface McStoppedclock is actually onto something. If dodgy claims of ‘Aboriginality’ are to be believed, Tasmania is the epicentre of black Australia. 30,000 Tasmanians claim to be ‘Aboriginal’ – nearly twice the rate of the rest of the country.
Mr Mansell said this figure was “rubbish”.
“Who in their right mind would believe such rubbish? Well, politicians anxious to get their votes maybe,” he said.
“In the last five years, a new group of 6500 Aborigines has appeared, mostly at Circular Head. Where on Earth did they come from?”
Daily Mail Australia
Well, I’d say the same place as you, mate. They just want in on the action you’ve been getting all your adult life.