‘Violent, black men’: Comedian slammed for CPAC speech mocking traditional owners

Indigenous leaders have denounced a comedian who mocked the Welcome to Country by labelling traditional owners “violent black men”.

Indigenous leaders have denounced a comedian who mocked the Welcome to Country by labelling traditional owners “violent black men” at a conservative conference over the weekend.

But the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has defended the 25-minute “comedy skit” by Rodney Marks, who was billed on Sunday’s agenda as “Dr Chaim Tsibos”, a United Nations diplomat.

“I’d like to acknowledge the traditional rent seekers, past, present and emerging,” he told the audience at Sydney’s Star casino to cheers and laughter.

“But seriously, I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners — violent black men. I hope there are some real feminists in the audience who appreciate the part truth of that joke. I don’t want to demean or harass anyone … and I don’t want to be divisive.”

Marks went on to make disparaging comments about the Indigenous namesakes of the suburbs of Bennelong and Barangaroo.

Comedian Rodney Marks speaking as ‘Dr Chaim Tsibos’. Picture: Twitter

Woollarawarre Bennelong was an Eora man from the Port Jackson area who served as an interlocutor with the British colonists in the late 1700s, while Barangaroo, a Cammeraygal woman, was his second wife.

“Interesting that woman-basher Bennelong is the name given to the land of the Sydney Opera House, whereas his victim and wife, Barangaroo, gets just a dubious casino, PwC offices, and sandstone cutaways built over the land named after her,” Marks said.

A clip of Marks’ comments was shared on Twitter by “anti-fascist researcher” account Alternate Media Watchers, which wrote, “This hate is disgusting but this is what lies at the heart of conservatism.”

Indigenous leader Marcus Stewart. Picture: Andrew Henshaw/NCA NewsWire

Prominent Yes campaigner Marcus Stewart, a Nira illim bulluk man of the Taungurung Nation, wrote on Twitter, “This is not the Australia we are today.”

In response to the backlash, the official CPAC Australia Twitter account wrote, “Cheer up buttercup,” with a thumbs-up emoji.

In another tweet, CPAC Australia wrote, “C’mon. it was a comedy skits [sic] guys,” and linked to Marks’ website, where he describes himself as a “comedian, hoax speaker, corporate impostor”.

“Rodney has a growing repertoire of over 350 characters, with numerous accents and dialects, from hundreds of professions. One character appears at each event,” his bio reads.

“His comedy is usually in the form of fake keynote speeches at conferences, conventions, seminars, awards nights, cocktail parties and other business events.”

In an email on Monday, Marks told news.com.au it was “worth watching my full speech, as there were many ‘scandalous’ ‘newsworthy’ jokes directed everywhere from a character, Dr Chaim Tsibos (‘I am the boss’), who thinks he is the ultimate overbearing United Nations authority figure”.

Woollarawarre Bennelong. Picture: Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia

“On pushback against calling Bennelong a woman-basher, I thought it was fairly standard accepted knowledge,” he wrote.

Marks included a link to the writings of First Fleet sailor Watkin Tench and shared several “horrific, unambiguous” excerpts.

In his A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, Tench claimed Aboriginal women were treated with “savage barbarity” and subjected to “blows, kicks and every other mark of brutality”.

“Baneelon [Bennelong] did the same to Barangaroo, but she was a scold and a vixen, and nobody pitied her,” Tench wrote.

Prior to Marks’ appearance on Sunday, controversial No campaigner Gary Johns, a former Labor minister, told the CPAC audience that Aboriginal people wanting a Voice to Parliament should “learn English”.

“If you want a Voice, learn English. That’s your Voice,” he said, later clarifying that Aboriginal people are entitled to maintain their language but it should not be a government responsibility.

No campaigner Dr Gary Johns. Picture: David Swift/NCA NewsWire

Mr Johns has previously argued Australia should not try to preserve Aboriginal languages, The Daily Telegraph reports.

“Only a linguist would worry about losing ancient languages,” he wrote in his 2022 book The Burden of Culture.

“Aborigines do not need to revive dead language, they do not need therapy to prove their worth, they need to learn English and skills so they can be truly self-determining.”

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young slammed Mr Johns’ “racist rant” and called on Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to condemn the comments.

“There can be no fence sitters in this vote,” she wrote on Twitter.

“Either you think this nasty rubbish is OK or you don’t. Each of us has a choice. You’re with the Nasties voting No, or you believe Australia can be better and vote Yes.”

Day one of CPAC Australia in Sydney on Saturday. Picture: Simon Bullard/NCA NewsWire

No campaign leader Warren Mundine is also the chairman of CPAC Australia.

He and fellow No campaigner Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the Coalition’s Indigenous Australians spokeswoman, both spoke at the conference on Saturday but were not present on Sunday, The Guardian reports.

Mr Mundine has not commented publicly on either Marks’ or Mr Johns’ comments.

Mr Johns last month sparked controversy for suggesting Indigenous Australians should undergo blood tests to access welfare benefits.

At the time, Mr Mundine said while he didn’t agree with all of his comments, Mr Johns was “entitled to his views”.

Speaking on Saturday at the opening of the conference, which saw a keynote address from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Mr Mundine claimed the Yes campaign was full of “myths and lies”.

“Migrants, Australians, everyone … we’re all Australians and now they want to drag us back to the bad old days,” he said. “We have to stand up and fight for liberties and freedoms.”

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