The Australian 10 January 2012
Finally, Opposition spokeswoman Teresa Gambaro has cracked the age-old question of why we all can’t just get along, and the answer turns out to be deodorant. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.
Multiculturalism will never work while foreigners smell funny
Posted in political cartoons, The Australian.
*insert witty gag about consistent smell of poo emanating from Canberra*
Jon, I wouldn’t be too quick to condemn Ms Gambaro. I was in Melbourne recently and had the misfortune to catch a taxi from Tullamarine to the City where I asked the driver to let me out (I had originally planned to go through to Ringwood but due to the obnoxious odour coming from the driver I nearly suffocated. So as not to hurt his feelings I asked to be let out the second we arrived in Melbourne. Even though a cold wintery Melbourne day I had to hang my head out the window all the way. At one point I asked him if he was just finishing a long shift and he said “No you are my first fare for the day†I pitied all the subsequent fares that he would pick during the course of his shift. The stench was that of an unwashed body and God only know what else.
The tories can’t help themselves, divide and conquer has always been their motto.
Kathy, I genuinely don’t know where to start.
Poor @Kathy…. he wouldn’t smell so bad had he been a white caucasian.
Dear friends, please don’t always assume and go on the attack this is ignorant behaviour. My own dear Husband was not born in this Country nor wore the Husbands of my three Sisters. The driver was a jolly soul and told me he was from Greece. My point is that there is no need for a slack attitude to hygiene these days when a cheap cake of soap and a daily shower is all that is required.
So what you’re asking is for people to avoid unfair stereotyping?
I believe that Teresa Gambaro has apologised today over her calls for hygiene lessons for migrants. Her own parents were immigrants and I’m sure that she did not mean to offend by singling out newcomers to this Country, her point could have been made differently but her point was a valid one. In this day of pc every time one opens ones mouth there is the potential for misunderstanding.
Some of her best friends smell bad, huh?
@Kathy: Surely there are more important things to worry about than a bit of BO (something that wasn’t a problem until deodorants became a solution). My mind goes in the direction of people who fart silent-but-deadly style.
True, Real Australians fart loud and proud.
Personally I hate the smell of a lot of the deodorants and two of them actually give me migraine if sprayed near me. Give me a bit of BO any day. Each to their own. [NB I am not a sweaty person but use essential oil soap under arms.]
I find the smell of most perfumes that you might catch when sharing an elevator is far worse than any bad sweat smell. And all those air deodorisers that people spray in their toilets etc are generally worse than the smell of shit. The same principle could apply to Gambaro vis-a-vis new migrants I guess.
I have a friend from India who wondered where we got our drinking water from when he first got here. It’s a pretty funny story, he says he didn’t used to drink out of the taps in India…
So, is it bigoted to have told him?
Still, cool cartoon.
Why would it be bigoted to answer a question? It is okay to answer questions, even bloody stupid ones, if that helps.
Personal hygiene is a very important part of life however this story is just a racist swipe by a racist party.
Seems more rude with a side order of xenophobia than outright racist to me, but each to their own.
I am happy to stand corrected, xenophobia also runs rampant in the Liberal Party, more so in the National Party and in Queensland where the Liberal Party now rides rough-shot over the once powerful National Party in the form of the LNP, well need I say more.
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It’s generally been fair game to bag the Poms for their quaint personal hygiene customs does this also have to stop – or is it only outrageous in the case of non-Poms.
By the way it’s not just us who have sensitive noses. I worked many years in the UAE in in one of the biggest national companies. The Gulf Arabs are fastidious in personal hygiene. At regular intervals the Vice President for HR, a local, would issue edicts telling the mainly sub-continent staff to use de-odorant. These usually followed a trip in a crowded lift. But, as he was not a West European, that must be OK and not rascist?
Whatever you’re comfortable with, Chris. No need to feel like you’re being persecuted.
I think personal hygiene is important for all people, especially those who can afford the luxury of deodorant.
I demand that the elderly also be made to take Gambaro’s classes. They smell funny as well and don’t know how to stand in line either, pushy buggers.
And then there’s the problem of babies. They can get pretty high on occasion, too. Send ’em back where they come from, I say!
These people are just plain stupid, or just don’t know what to try next to divide and conquer.
Look, people are entitled to their own opinion but should never force them on other people. I mean, if it were a real safety problem then sure, but if you have problems with how people smell, immigrants or not, it’s exactly that; your problem. So deal with it yourself. Don’t force your opinion on someone else. I guess my main point is whatever race or smell don’t cry about it to other people, deal with it yourself.
Lets face it the LNP have a problem, not with the smell of immigrants, but with the religion. I am not sure whether they have a point or not, could someone enlighten us on Islam?