Major road to be renamed

[Giz]

The ABC, unlike any journalistic organisation in America, was formed via an act of parliament. They are not a commercial for-profit company. They are a publicly-funded broadcaster. They do occasionally slip from the legally mandated high standard, but they've been accused of bias by both sides of government, so they've got to be pretty balanced.
.

Yeah, I’m from the UK. The ABC is modeled on the BBC, so I am quite familiar. And guess what, organizations can make mistakes. Even when their charter says “we pinky swear to try real hard not to make mistakes”

.

Like I said, I get that this is hard for Americans to understand.

Yeah, we know you are bigoted against Americans.

 

[arthwollipot]

Yeah, I’m from the UK. The ABC is modeled on the BBC, so I am quite familiar. And guess what, organizations can make mistakes. Even when their charter says “we pinky swear to try real hard not to make mistakes”

This is true. Did you watch/read the report?

Yeah, we know you are bigoted against Americans.

I swear, I'm not. I actually quite like every American I've met. I like jazz and root beer and Dungeons and Dragons, and they're all American inventions. But America doesn't have a publicly funded national broadcaster like we do, so it really is difficult for them to understand how it is possible for a news organisation to be unbiased. It's outside their experience.

 

[Information Analyst]

If you want to treat all news as hearsay, sure. You do that.

News generally covers events for which there is clear evidence they happened. Accusations of things that happened decades ago without any corroboratory evidence are simply accusations.

 

[quadraginta]

News generally covers events for which there is clear evidence they happened. Accusations of things that happened decades ago without any corroboratory evidence are simply accusations.

Aside from eye witness or photographic evidence, most convictions for this sort of crime tend to rely on accusations.

Corroboratory evidence is frequently no more than similar accusations from multiple, different sources.

At some stage accusations are not simple anymore.

 

[Elagabalus]

Who gives a ****** Change the name already. Thread closed.

 

[luchog]

In addition, and I acknowledge that this particular fact is extremely difficult for an American to grasp, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is one of the most reliable and impartial news organisations in the world. To an American, the phrase "impartial news" is an oxymoron - a logical absurdity. But the ABC has a legislative requirement to be "accurate and impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism" (Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983, Section 8.1.c). This is absolutely unheard-of in American journalism, so it's not surprising that an American can't understand the respect Australians have for our ABC.

Be fair, we do have an equivalent which is well-known for being impartial and balanced, if not exactly hard-hitting -- National Public Radio aka NPR. While they don't have quite the same presence and impact as the BBC or ABC, they are partially publicly-funded and do have a similar reach and mandate.

 

[theprestige]

In addition, and I acknowledge that this particular fact is extremely difficult for an American to grasp, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is one of the most reliable and impartial news organisations in the world. To an American, the phrase "impartial news" is an oxymoron - a logical absurdity. But the ABC has a legislative requirement to be "accurate and impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism" (Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983, Section 8.1.c). This is absolutely unheard-of in American journalism, so it's not surprising that an American can't understand the respect Australians have for our ABC.

Well, there's the national chauvinism, at least.

And ABC has a legislative requirement? So what? Government agencies and private industry violate the laws that supposedly regulate them all the time.

Hell, here's a list of Australians who have a legislative requirement to not do various things. Spoiler alert: They did those things anyway.

 

[arthwollipot]

Well, there's the national chauvinism, at least.

And ABC has a legislative requirement? So what? Government agencies and private industry violate the laws that supposedly regulate them all the time.

Hell, here's a list of Australians who have a legislative requirement to not do various things. Spoiler alert: They did those things anyway.

If you would like to level a specific accusation against the ABC, you are welcome to do that. But again, we're not here to talk about the ABC, we're here to talk about whether it is appropriate to change the name of a road.

I've examined the available evidence and I find it credible. I actually live in this city and drive this road on a regular basis. I'm in favour of changing the name.

 

[arthwollipot]

Necroing this thread after three years to note that as of yet, the name of the road has still not been changed.

 

[lionking]

Necroing this thread after three years to note that as of yet, the name of the road has still not been changed.

I’m not unhappy.

 

[arthwollipot]

According to this article from 2021, the name change is still happening.

The wheels of local government turn slowly, apparently.

 

[Planigale]

For the third time, No-one really doubts it.

Since it's clear that I'm going to have to spell it out because no-one's looking at the link I provided, Slim was the patron of Fairbridge Farm, which at the time was assisting with several child migration programs. In 2007, several people came forward to say that they had been sexually abused by Slim at the farm, and by 2014 it had been referred to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

According to one report, up to 60% of children who went through Fairbridge Farm were sexually abused.

Facts
1) Whilst governor-general of australia Slim was a patron. This does not mean he ran it, or lived there, or would have had day to day involvement.
2) I think we can accept it as a fact that sexual abuse of children occurred in this institution as it did in many other institutions. (As an aside I think it interesting that one could say that very similar well meaning motives that led to the bording schools in Canada for indigenous children also led to the boarding schools and 'export' of white working class children from the UK to Australia. Indicating this practice was perhaps less racist and more a class driven prejudice.)
3) What I think is not a fact is that because forty years later the victims identified someone with a well known name as the person who abused them. Human memories are hugely fallible. I think whilst there are clearly well known people who abused children, there are equally well known people who have had claims of historic sexual abuse made against them who are almost certainly innocent. We know as a fact that victim identification of their aabusers / attackers can result in false identifications.

I think it is reasonable to say that there are allegations that slim was a child sexual abuser. This does not deny the reality of the victim's sufferring, but does recognise that forty years later the identification is in reality an unsafe piece of evidence.

 

[lobosrul5]

This is true. Did you watch/read the report?

I swear, I'm not. I actually quite like every American I've met. I like jazz and root beer and Dungeons and Dragons, and they're all American inventions. But America doesn't have a publicly funded national broadcaster like we do, so it really is difficult for them to understand how it is possible for a news organisation to be unbiased. It's outside their experience.

PBS... NPR?? Not fully publicly funded, but they have no profit motivation to lie.

 

[dudalb]

Being Governor General is sufficient reason to have a road in Canberra named after you. Most of our original suburbs are named after Prime Ministers, though we ran out of those some time ago and one famously declined the honour.

Without commenting on the Child Molestation charge, Slim is considered by many to be the best British General of World War 2.

 

[Planigale]

Without commenting on the Child Molestation charge, Slim is considered by many to be the best British General of World War 2.

If you think Generals are the sort of people things should be named after then Slim would certainly be close to the top of deserving generals. (Just based on the
little reading about him I have done in the last couple of days.)

 

[lionking]

If you think Generals are the sort of people things should be named after then Slim would certainly be close to the top of deserving generals. (Just based on the
little reading about him I have done in the last couple of days.)

Yes I agree