GERMAINE GREER

Tuesday

THE breadth and fluency of Germaine Greer's monologue in the first half of her two-hour appearance at Bewdley Festival on Tuesday - which was provoked by the weekend's terrorist carnage in Bali - was breath-taking.

The feminist icon and acclaimed commentator ranged over subjects including the threat from al-Qaida, the plight of Australia's Aborigines, the country's environmental degradation and the Second World War.

Tying the disparate themes together was her argument her "beloved" Australia had endured a harsh history and was not the "lucky country" of legend.

This was Greer passionately talking about her homeland in a way that clearly came as a surprise to her audience - but, it was no less engrossing.

She revealed herself as a scathing critic of European colonisation which had left the country in a "mess" and given the indigenous population the gift of alcoholism and diabetes.

Her ancestors included a convict sent to this vast land for highway robbery and she said she did not blame the voluntary settlers, who "felt they had no future but the future they were offered was somebody else's country".

And Australia's famed "no worries" culture blinkered it to the hurt that still continues.

The provocative and seemingly ad-libbed talk contained much that was highly debatable, including a comment that "nothing Australia can do can make money" and her assertion the country could not defend itself.

This is the country that sends the Australian SAS to intercept asylum seekers.

Some of it was lighter, however.

She said the country's class system was on its head and the Aborigines were the true aristocrats.

"They don't work, they hunt whenever they like, they're very keen on singing and dancing and they're obsessed by their family tree."

This humour was also much in evidence in the second half, in which she fielded questions from the audience.

Hailing the advancement of women since - but she claimed not due to - her seminal book The Female Eunuch she said the sexes had to get used to their new roles.

Men - like gorillas - actually aspired to doing absolutely nothing but women wanted to work.

So the male of the species were the playboys who had to attract the workers by being "fascinating, delightful and adorable".

Addressing the men in the audience she demanded: "And when was the last time you were fascinating, delightful and adorable?" FA