As a 20th Century Scot, arriving in Australia as a migrant teenager when assimilation was the base criteria for migrants and common sense was pretty common, I was proud to be called an OzScot alongside Colin Lillie, Jimmy Barnes, Alistair Pope, Ian Frazer, and Colin Hay.

After completing professional training, national service, building a company from scratch, exporting to 47 countries, winning 10 awards, and having a great extended family of Aussie-born kids and grandkids, it absolutely gives me the screaming irrits to hear the ill-founded ‘Welcome to Country’ message.

It is one of the six good reasons not to fly Qantas. Landing in any Australian airport with Singapore Air, you were mercifully spared.

Consulting for DAA (Dept of Aboriginal Affairs) re-badged as ATSIC (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission), over a 20-year period this OzScot created more prosperity, jobs and training than most. Check for yourself in the Spectator Australia August 16 2023 article And the 2023 Voice Award goes to…the Scots.

So… Queensland Human Rights Commission, please accept this statement as a complaint if you wish, and come and arrest me for the following misdemeanours:

• When listening to this Welcome to Country message on domestic flight arrivals, I loudly object. I still retain platinum and gold memberships because most flight crews agree with me. You HRC people should get out more often!
• When addressing a business forum in Benowa last year, I gave my version of Welcome to Country, thanking the previous owner of that block of land, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, thanking past elders of the early Christian churches that helped develop communities and educate Indigenous and regional children more than a century ago.
• As a seasoned discriminator, I continue to discriminate against four out of five job applicants. In the early days of starting my business, it was against tall people, union members, Catholics, obnoxious Poms, and potential misfits. Don’t even start me on Collingwood supporters!

On this list were the Dutch and Kiwis until I discovered that Dutch people made the Scots look generous. Compared to the Kiwis, the Scots are real philanthropic legends, so the Dutch and Kiwis were taken off the list, and indeed populate my new list of friends.

But now that I am older, wiser, and more mature and knowing that tall people, even pommie or Catholic ones, no matter how affluent they become, they will never fit in an aircraft flatbed seat. Poor souls!

I now just discriminate against Green voters because they are openly anti-Australian, and seem to have miserable scowls representing them and would never fit in with the happy bunch in my office. Yes, it is still about assimilation, whether allowing people into a big country or into a small company.

Every small business, every farmer, every fisherman will discriminate against four out of five job applicants. Yes 80 per cent could claim they are being discriminated against, even for bad breath and could easily take their offence to HRC offices in our nanny states.

Now the Queensland Human Rights Commission is chasing Dave Pellowe, on behalf of a complainant about a Welcome to Country message at a church event. In my extensive travel and as a church goer, I have never heard, nor do I ever want to hear, a Welcome to Country message in any church service or event. This would absolutely be the same case with Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or other religious events.

I learnt in my seven years at sea on beautiful passenger-cargo ships, that there was always 2-3 per cent of the passengers very unhappy about the ship, the music, the food, the carpet colour, or anything. Malcontents are always there, but do we need to fund a government department to cater for their perspective?

I need every Australian to email the local, state, and federal politicians to stop wasting our money with this unnecessary grievance industry.