Fitzy Visits the Dark Emu Disco

Peter FitzSimons and his fellow Voice advocates argued throughout 2023 that Aboriginal primacy demanded constitutional change and an additional parliamentary wing.

His bandana is on top and he’s ready to bop

But they lost that argument, and for Peter at least the issue of Aboriginal importance seems in 2024 to have dramatically faded.

Here he is defending Bruce Pascoe’s claims to Aboriginal lineage, which is now of so little significance that – as FitzSimons writes – the Dark Emu author may just as well be bragging about his dancing ability:

I'm happy to take him at his word – not that it is particularly relevant. Let's say he also claimed to be a great dancer – and he wasn't. Would it remotely affect what he wrote?

This is extraordinary.

Pascoe’s professed Aboriginality is central to his career as an author and academic, and also – if we are on Pascoe’s side – to his very being.

Sure, Pascoe has bugger-all evidence to support his genealogical beliefs, but he nevertheless insists on the authenticity of his Aboriginal identification. He’s been going on and on and on about it for decades.

And then along comes Fitzy to tell us Aboriginality is a trivial matter and his hero Bruce Pascoe is the mere equivalent of a disco poser.

What an odd relationship FitzSimons has with people of colour. He calls a black man a gorilla, gets into fights with principled Indigenous activists and his favourite Aboriginal is a white bloke.

Perhaps Peter should drop the whole subject.