Here’s a thing: Common courtesy. If someone asks you not to do something, it’s generally nice not to do it. Not a particularly complicated principle to live by, and one with many exceptions, but nonetheless one that has a tendency to make things just a bit better for everyone if kept in mind. Visitors to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park will notice signs with one very specific request on them: Please don’t climb Uluru.
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This is due to safety concerns, the impact on the environment, and Uluru’s spiritual significance in Anangu culture. As a result of these, the climb will be permanently closed as of October 26 this year. Not climbing Uluru is not a hard request to acquiesce. Climbing Uluru is actually much, much harder than not climbing it. Not climbing it just kind of seems like the right thing to do.
This is why serial dumbass Pauline Hanson flying all the way to the NT just so she can climb Uluru before the closure in October seems like just kind of a dick move.
In a post to Facebook today, Hanson said she spoke to the Anangu Mayatja Council of Elders and received permission to do the climb. Speaking to SBS, Labor MP Linda Burney, the Opposition Spokesperson for Indigenous Australians, dismissed the move as a “stunt”, adding that the climb is still open and that, currently, “the traditional owners cannot stop anyone climbing.”
Tonight’s episode of The Project cited a source familiar with today’s events that said that Hanson did the climb early this morning, only seeking permission later in the day. Additionally, they reported that she climbed only to the first chain (about 40 metres up) and that she then turned around and “slid back down on her bum”. That is a direct quote.
TL;DR: Huge Tool Continues To Be Huge Tool.
