Shorten signs up to the history wars but Labor leader tries to play all sides of statues brawl

Readers will know all about the desecration of our great statues in Hyde Park. The Weekend Australian online, Saturday:

A number of monuments across Sydney’s CBD have been attacked by vandals, including a statue of Captain James Cook, following fierce public debate about whether it should be changed.

But we can’t be surprised after some public figures decided to light the flame. The Australian editorial, yesterday:

… unfortunately it was almost inevitable following the destruction of historic monuments in the US and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore stirring the issue by referring broadcaster Stan Grant’s complaint about the inscription on the Cook statue to her council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory board.

Unfortunately, federal Labor MP Linda Burney is among those who want to rewrite Australian history. The opposition frontbencher on Sky News, Sunday:

… the plaques are inaccurate. They are historically inaccurate and I would argue strongly that the plaques need updating to tell the truth.

The Australian editorial, yesterday:

As a major party … Labor has a duty to protect our cultural traditions and symbols. It should start speaking up …

For some clear speaking, let’s turn to Labor leader Bill Shorten in Melbourne, yesterday:

Let’s go to the heart of the matter; I’m not going to play these history wars. The fact is that we’ve had the oldest continuous people occupying anywhere in the world, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, 65,000 years, we’ve got to respect that history. I also respect the contribution that the British settlement of Australia made.

There’s a point in this somewhere, we’re sure of it. The Opposition Leader in Melbourne, continued:

I’m happy if there’s a statue of Captain Cook … But I also think we need to be honest about our history …

Shorten really is the master of taking every possible position simultaneously. Revelations 3:16:

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Bill, come on, do you support changing the Captain Cook plaque or not? Shorten in Melbourne, yesterday:

This country works best when we work together so an additional plaque on Captain Cook’s statue is fine by me.

Artist Ben Quilty really got to the heart of the matter on Facebook, Saturday:

John Batman is widely known as the Founder of Melbourne. He makes the American Confederates look friendly. … Batman’s sculpture stands proudly in a Melbourne carpark. My Dad offered to help me pull it down this coming Australia Day.

Which prompted a news story in The Sunday Age, Sunday:

Prominent Australian artist Ben Quilty has called for John Batman’s statue to be removed from Melbourne’s CBD, describing him as a mass murderer who “makes American Confederates look friendly”.

Shock twist — the Batman statue has disappeared. Later amendment on The Age website, yesterday:

It has been removed from the site as part of the Collins Arch development. It is not known whether the statue will be returned to the site once construction is complete.