Showing posts with label influential Australians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label influential Australians. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The Most Influential Australian Of All Time Is....An American

By Darryl Mason

It just makes your heart swell with Australian pride to discover that 'The Most Influential Australian Of All Time' actually turns out to be an American.

The Bulletin Magazine has oh-so-pomously decided that some ex-Australian media mogul named Rupert Murdoch deserves to be called 'The Most Influential Australian', despite the fact that he didn't think being an Australian citizen was worth as much as owning a few American television stations.

That Murdoch is ranked above deeply patriotic, committed, passionate Australians like Fred Hollows, Manning Clark, Jack Lang, Henry Lawson, Damien Parar and Banjo Patterson makes this Australian icon branding of Murdoch all the more absurd.

Murdoch gave up his Australian citizenship for the benefit of no-one but himself. It wasn't an act of charity or generosity, and he didn't do it for love. He did it for money and power and his own prestige.

He was told he couldn't own TV stations in the US unless he became an American citizen, and so he very quickly dumped his right to be called an Australian like it was a smelly old coat he could now afford to replace.

People risk their lives to try and get to this country to become Australian citizens, and often have to spend a few years in a detention centre before they are extended this honour. They swear allegiance to Australia and expect nothing but the right to call themselves Australian in return.

But Rupert Murdoch thought his Australian citizenship was worth LESS than....Fox News.

"I think that we're on the cusp of a better world," Murdoch said during a speech in Sydney yesterday. "A world of certainly very fast change, change which we can't all foresee except we know it's going to be tremendous."

The Murdoch News media empire were the chief cheerleaders of the War On Iraq, and his television network, newspapers, book publishers and radio shows were the loudest promoters of the 'Saddam's Got Nukes' myth.

His media empire has profited to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars from the 'War On Iraq' and are now whipping up further distrust and hatred of Muslims in anticipation of more big dollars coming from a War On Iran. It should come as no suprise that Murdoch's media attack dogs are now claiming 'Iran's Got/Wants Nukes'.

According to the Australian Prime Minister and the Australian Treasurer, Rupert Murdoch is also "a great Australian', a claim they've both made numerous times, knowing full well that Murdoch sold out his nationality simply to make more money.

Murdoch is neither "A Great Australian" or 'The Most Influential Australian Of All Time'.

He is an ex-Australian, by choice, and there's nothing more insidiously un-Australian than that.


The Full List Of The 100 Most Influential Australians


The Sydney Morning Herald decided to run the list, as it should have been run in The Bulletin - in alphabetical order.

We'll come back to discuss some of the people on this list later. Rupert Murdoch is certainly not the most controversial choice on the list, particularly when it includes an Australian serial killer and a colonial-era armed robber and cop slayer.

Dennis Altman sexual theorist

John Anderson philosopher

Eric Ansell rubber manufacturer

J.F. Archibald journalist and editor

Faith Bandler political activist

Lewis Bandt ute designer

Geoffrey Bardon art teacher

C.E.W. Bean journalist and war historian

Geoffrey Blainey historian

Thomas Blamey military commander

J.J.C. Bradfield civil engineer

Donald Bradman cricketer

Martin Bryant mass murderer

Arthur Calwell federal politician

Manning Clark historian

H.C. "Nugget" Coombs public servant

Alfred Deakin prime minister

Owen Dixon High Court judge

Peter Dombrovskis wilderness photographer

Don Dunstan state premier

Michael Durack cattle pioneer

Sydney Einfeld advocate

Elizabeth Evatt jurist

William Farrer wheat breeder

Howard Florey pathologist

John Flynn missionary

Margaret Fulton cookery writer

Eugene Goossens conductor

Al Grassby federal politician

Germaine Greer feminist

Reg Grundy television producer

Michael Gudinski music entrepreneur

Pauline Hanson federal politician

Henry Higgins industrial relations judge

Fred Hollows eye surgeon

Donald Horne journalist and academic

John Howard prime minister

William Hudson dam builder

Robert Hughes art critic

A.V. Jennings home builder

Peter Jensen Anglican archbishop

Fletcher Jones clothing manufacturer

Susannah Kable First Fleet convict

Paul Keating prime minister

Ned Kelly bushranger

Allan Kendall children's TV producer

Graham Kennedy television personality

Michael Kirby High Court judge

Jack Lang state premier

Henry Lawson poet and writer

Essington Lewis industrialist

Ben Lexcen yacht designer

Norman Lindsay artist and writer

Frank Lowy business leader

John Macarthur wool pioneer

Jean MacNamara health campaigner

Daniel Mannix Catholic archbishop

William McBride medical researcher

Robert Menzies prime minister

Kylie Minogue entertainer

John Monash general

Allan Moss banker

Jack Mundey environmentalist and unionist

Glenn Murcutt architect

Rupert Murdoch business leader

Sidney Myer retailer and philanthropist

Albert Namatjira painter

Garth Nettheim legal theorist

Sidney Nolan painter

Gustav Nossal medical institute director

Kerry Packer business leader

Damien Parer war photographer

Ruth Park writer

Henry Parkes politician

Banjo Paterson poet

Noel Pearson Aboriginal activist and lawyer

Charles Perkins Aboriginal activist

George Robertson bookseller and publisher

W.S. Robinson industrialist and mining financier

Eric Rudd oil explorer

B.A. Santamaria Catholic activist

James Scullin prime minister

Peter Sculthorpe composer

Peter Singer philosopher

John Singleton advertising guru

Dick Smith businessman and adventurer

W.E.H. Stanner anthropologist

Jessie Street suffragette

Charles Todd meteorologist and electrical engineer

Bertram Wainer abortion campaigner

Edna Walling garden designer

Shane Warne cricketer

Peter Weir filmmaker

WIlliam Wentworth explorer and politician

Patrick White writer

Gough Whitlam prime minister

Alec Wickham swimmer

David Williamson playwright

Tom Wills football code creator

Tim Winton writer