Isteach Sa Teach

Some events change everything for ever! The final line in William Butler Yeats poem Easter, 1916 “A terrible beauty is born” summed up the change in attitude to the Easter Rising from annoyance to acceptance of their cause by the Irish people, after the leaders who had signed the Proclamation were brutally executed by the British military. COVID-19 - as terrible as it is - would seem to have the potential to be a watershed for how we see many things, including politics and politicians. It has often been said during this crisis but it is a point worth repeating here. Based on their performance to date, Australia’s politicians deserve credit and our respect for the way they have handled the greatest social, health and economic challenge to the country since World War II. There were several failures of leadership in terms of the devastating bushfires during the summer and while there have been a few missteps in some quarters, the big politicos have earned their keep. The creation of a national cabinet made up of the prime minister and the premiers and first ministers of the states and territories was a solid idea. Petty politics have been put aside and now you have Liberal and Labor leaders being highly complimentary of each other and likewise employers bodies and unions working closely together. Things that would ordinarily take years to get through parliament or other decision making channels have been done within days and weeks and rolled out seamlessly. It must be difficult for premiers or ministers for health (in WA’s case Roger Cook is also deputy premier) to give rolling death counts at daily press conferences. The mood of government leaders can be tense, even grumpy as they struggle to cope with an unprecedented situation. So Mark McGowan’s spontaneous outburst of laughter at a press conference when asked about a jogger over east being arrested by police when he stopped for a kebab was a lovely light and funny moment that reminds us they are just human too. Jogging and kebabs were a strange combination he said, but they would not be outlawed. A sense of humour is a great thing in anybody. Talking about being human, it will be interesting to see what way the dynamics between Irish political parties and individual politicians. It is easy to forget that Ireland only has a caretaker administration in place at this time of national crisis. The recent Irish general election on February 8 produced a fascinating outcome. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael each got about a third of the overall vote while a similar share went to Sinn Fein. So while you had three parties with about the same proportion of the vote, the real winner was Sinn Fein who went from being on the fringes of Irish politics to one of the main players. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are traditional enemies, dating back to their origins and the Irish Civil War. The fact they have agreed to come together to form government and cast aside a hundred year old hatred is groundbreaking. Such a thing only a few years ago would have been unthinkable and this may well be a side effect of the pandemic. But the new found love in the room is not universal or for everyone. Their intention in working together is to keep Sinn Fein out of government. Their mutual distrust has now been transferred onto Sinn Fein. There is some way to go yet before FF and FG - whose ‘anyone but SF’ alliance needs another third political party to work - can form government, and a lot is still uncertain. It is interesting to speculate on another impact coronavirus might have on Irish politics. Consider this. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald is the only party leader Mary Lou MacDonald Boris Johnson in isolation Has a terrible beauty been born? COVID-19 kills Irish Civil war politics

(to date) to have been known to have been infected by the virus. She has spoken publicly of her experience and openly said she has never been as sick. Boris Johnson contracted the disease and after what appears to have been a touch and go few days in ICU come out the other side and went back to work in late April. This puts McDonald and Johnson in a unique position. Politically they are as different as can be and represent constituencies with a long and difficult histories but they now have something substantial in common, like survivors of a shark attack. They have both faced down the virus, a perspective most of their colleagues do not share. Is it possible then that this would be a factor in any future dealings they might have? They may not be easily able to change their positions, but they could find some kind of recognition and respect for the other. This possibility reminded me of the scene in the brilliant play Allegiance about Irish rebel leader Michael Collins and British bulldog Winston Churchill who was the Colonial Secretary in charge of Ireland, which was staged at the Irish Club a few years ago. As the Treaty and Truce talks tethered on the brink of failure, the play imagines the events of a real night that Collins and Churchill spent a night in each other’s company, drinking, arguing, singing and even reciting poetry to each other. In the play, written by Mark Kenny in 2006, the two men talked about being singled out as wanted men by their enemies in war (Churchill in the Boer War) The fact they had both had a price of their heads gave them a common understanding and mutual appreciation of the other. Who knows, maybe its just wishful thinking of sorts and nothing might change at all! Isteach sa Teach would like to make special mention of a group of people in the WA Parliament who have stepped up to the pandemic in their own way. The parliament largely closed down in April but the kitchen and catering crews who normally feed and water the politicians and others found a way to do their thing and help others. “Today WA Parliament’s catering team prepared their first delivery for OzHarvest, as part of an initiative to prepare thousands of meals for the food rescue charity while Parliament is in recess,” the parliament Facebook said on April 6. In their first week they prepared 1,100 meals, dozens of hot cross buns for Easter and hundreds of croissants and other fresh foods. Parliament’s kitchens have worked with the food rescue and delivery service in the past and collaborations like this deserve some recognition.

A special thanks to the Parliament caterers for their work with OzHarvest delivering food for charity

Some other activities at parliament are also worth a mention. On March 10 - on its Facebook page - parliament remembered the contribution Irish born Charles Yelverton O’Connor made to Western Australia as “our first Engineerin-Chief”. The date is significant because it was on March 10 1902 when O’Connor ended his own life, as a result of pressure piled on him by critics of the Goldfields pipeline project. What was particularly interesting about the posting was that it contained a C.Y. O’Connor’s office, located just above the arch in the Pensioner Barracks O’Connor’s good offices celebrated

nice little nugget of O’Connor related trivia which most people would probably not be aware off. “C.Y. O’Connor’s office was located in the old Pensioner Barracks when it was tenanted by the Public Works Department - apparently just above the arch - across from WA Parliament House,” it said. Many iconic buildings and landmark around the world are often bathed in green light for St. Patrick’s Day. Parliament House was lit up in green for a weekend towards the end of February, but it had nothing to do with Ireland’s patron saint. In fact, the reason for the light show was to mark World Rare Disease Day on February 29. Some 300 million people worldwide suffer from a rare disease, something worth thinking about in the current climate. Parliament was lit up for St. Patrick’s Day, but not because of St. Patrick’s Day. The house on the hill turned ‘orange’ for Harmony Week,

which started on March 16. Meanwhile, on March 10 protestors used light and the building as a canvas to make a different point. In what must have taken quite a bit of planning they projected the words ‘Proudly owned by Woodside Chevron Shell BP” onto the facade of the state parliament. Continued from page 27

COVID-19 put the kibosh on most celebrations and events planned for St. Patrick’s Day, but the occasion itself was at least marked in both houses of parliament on March 17 by members with Irish heritage. The president of the upper house of state parliament Kate Doust wished Irish born environment minister Stephen Dawson a very happy St. Patrick’s Day. “It is a lovely green tie that you are wearing today,” she told Dawson, who thanked her for the compliment. Alanna Clohesy too got a mention for “wearing a lovely shade of green!”. Meanwhile, over in the other chambers (Legislative Assembly) just before a discussion about the government response to Coronavirus Jessica Stojkovski (née O’Gorman) took “a moment to wish everybody a very happy St. Patrick’s Day”. Hansard records that she got a “Here, here” from her colleagues. Hansard also shows another reference to the patron saint of Ireland, but it is not clear exactly what happened, perhaps it was the ring tone of a mobile that didn’t quite ring true on the day. Prisons and correction minister Fran Logan - who holds an Irish passport - was speaking in the Assembly when he was interrupted. The transcript for the day shows that Logan said: “I think that Scotland the Brave being played in the house on St Patrick’s Day is not really the right thing to do!”. The source of the interruption was ‘called to order’ by the deputy speaker of the house. Irish Scene editor Lloyd Gorman attended a daily COVID-19 press conference on the morning of March 17 at Department of Health offices in East Perth with health minister Roger Cooke. Remarkably the press conference - which drew a large number of media - was held in a small crowded room with no social distancing measures in place. Anyhow, at that point in time and as the situation was quickly evolving the atmosphere was still tense. I got to ask Mr Cooke the last question of the press conference but before I put the question to him I quickly wished him a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. He recognised my accent for what it is and returned the sentiment. In some small way, I reckon observing such simple - especially when they are not expected - niceties can help lighten the mood. An annual bash for members of the Irish community at parliament which was due to held in the same week as St. Patrick’s Day was called off so as not to have people mixing and potentially spreading the virus. Green Day Top: Parliament House ‘painted’ in orange lights for Harmony Week. Above: The words ‘Proudly owned by Woodside Chevron Shell BP” were projected onto the facade by protestors. Top: Stephen Dawson with two Rose of Tralee contestants. Above: Jessica Stojkovski with dad Tony O’Gorman

The IRA got a mention during a debate about the Criminal Code Admendment (COVID-19 Response) Bill 2020 in the Legislative Assembly. Police minister Michelle Roberts rushed the new legislation to the house for its second reading on March 31. The minister said that while very many people had displayed amazing community spirit in the face of the pandemic we had also “see[n] the very worst from a few” such as people claiming to have the virus who cough and spat at police, medicos and others. “As members of Parliament we must step up to enact the laws needed to safeguard the health and safety of the Western Australian community,” she said. “Never more so than in these times will the community turn to our frontline staff, to our police officers, our doctors and nurses, our paramedics and others, to protect, care for, and support them. In turn, those on our frontline need to know they have our support.” She also talked about the issue of trying to balance the need for police and other authorities at checkpoints and the need to keep traffic - especially trucks making vital deliveries and essential workers - moving as freely as possible. Tried and tested technology could help do just that she suggested. “We will be making greater use of automated numberplate recognition,” Minister Roberts said. “We will make use of that for regional travel; we will also make use of it for those people who are supposed to be quarantining. Interestingly, I introduced ANPR during the time of the Gallop government. Automated numberplate recognition was used originally in the United Kingdom to identify Irish Republican Army activists who were bombing stores in London. That automated numberplate recognition technology assisted police to a huge degree.” The number plates of certain people - such as those quarantining at home - can be entered onto a database, and if that plate is picked up by the system, it will ping, letting officers know that vehicle should be stopped and checked. “I met with officers yesterday who are monitoring that list of people in quarantine,” Ms Roberts added. “It is a pretty easy match to know what vehicles people regularly drive and they can be identified through that technology. Many innovative things are happening.” Anti-IRA measures called in to fight COVID-19 threat in WA Michelle Roberts

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