We here at FDB never fail to be amazed at the sheer dumbness of racists. This particular one tried to lever her positions as a presenter and sales representative at a rural NSW community radio station to impress her racist mates by putting the in-studio photo as shown below on her Facebook profile page.
Community radio stations have a mission, well defined in the Broadcasting Services Act, to serve the diverse needs of their local communities. 2MIA FM has a strong commitment to multiculturalism and devotes several hours per week to ethnic programming, presented by volunteers from various migrant communities in and around Griffith, NSW. 2MIA management were as shocked as we were to find that one of their staffers was an administrator on the ‘Fuck Off We’re Full’ and ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ Facebook groups.
Soon after Asher Moses began developing this story, Ms Verney set about deleting as much of her racist tripe as she could from Facebook. She very quickly withdrew from her Administrator positions on ‘FOWF’ and ‘APP’. Verney was definitely proud to be a racist bogan on the world-readable Facebook- why is she running scared when the equally world-readable Sydney Morning Herald comes-a-callin’?
Racism is an unacceptable civic behavior under any circumstances but it is particularly so when one has been entrusted with access to public assets like community FM radio broadcasting.
Ms Verney attempts to excuse her racism by claiming she’s a ‘patriot’. Verney’s entitled to her own opinions but she’s not entitled to her own facts nor dictionary definitions. Verney doesn’t like non-whites and Muslims- she’s a racist and a bigot. Verney expresses her small-minded beliefs on those issues in the public sphere. That makes her a racist activist. If Ms Verney happens to be a patriot, she can be that simultaneously, but being a patriot does not preclude nor excuse one from being a racist.
We hope that the Griffith Community FM Association gives very close consideration as to whether or not Terrie-Anne Verney possesses the good character required by ACMA for a person to be entrusted with access to a community broadcasting facility. We at FDB do not believe she does nor will in the foreseeable future.
NB: Many thanks to the dedicated denizens of the Australians Against Racial Discrimination (AARD) Facebook group for their assistance and support in researching this story.
From the SMH:
Multicultural radio presenter linked to anti-immigration Facebook groups
Asher Moses
July 2, 2009 - 2:02PM
Terrie-Anne Verney
A presenter for a NSW community radio station that specialises in multicultural programming has been reprimanded after she was revealed to be an administrator of several racist, anti-immigration groups on Facebook.
Terrie-Anne Verney, a presenter and sales representative for Griffith FM radio station 2MIA, was the administrator of the group “F— Off, We’re Full” and had also joined several Facebook groups including “Stop the Islamisation of Australia while we still can”, “Australian Conservative United Party”, the “Australian Protectionist Party” and “Australians against Multiculturalism”.
In posts on the site she ridiculed foreigners who did not have a good grasp of English, claimed the Islamic faith was destroying the Australian way of life and said that attacked Indian students should go back home to study.
She also wrote that groups of immigrants tended to develop a “mob mentality”, claimed KKK members she knew were “intelligent” and that she did not want immigrants who did not speak English or assimilate into “the Australian life” to be allowed into the country.
“If we allow the Islamic faith to continue to grow, sooner or later the Australian way of life will be destroyed,” Ms Verney wrote in one post.
“I can’t even imagine where we start to fix the problems caused by the introduction of this *cough cough* religion and its invasion of our society, but something needs to be done. Before its (sic) too late.”
Of bashed Indian students, she said they were “playing the victim card” and “the shit around their head must do something to their brain”.
“Maybe a gun to their head might help them get the hint that they are not wanted here!!,” she wrote.
Edna Wakley, president of the Griffith Community FM Association and station manager at 2MIA, said in a statement that she was “horrified” by Ms Verney’s affiliations, and that she was unaware of until yesterday.
She said the station did “not condone in any way sites such as these” and would “take appropriate disciplinary action where necessary”.
2MIA prides itself on “multicultural programming” and has several presenters from diverse backgrounds. Ms Verney works there as a sales representative and also presents a music show on Saturday afternoons.
“It is disappointing that this staff member’s actions could place a cloud over the integrity of this Association and all that it has achieved in Ethnic Broadcasting, multiculturalism and the community at large,” the statement said.
When Ms Verney was approached for comment over her Facebook posts, she said it was “unfortunate” patriotism was now regarded as racism.
“As a proud Aussie, I welcome new Australians in the hope and belief that they too, become proud Aussies,” she said.
“This country is beautiful the way it is, and like most average citizens, [I] do not want our society to change to suit others’ needs.”
But after this website approached 2MIA for a comment yesterday, Ms Verney began removing some of her Facebook group affiliations and posts.
In April, a contractor for one of Australia’s largest Defence Department-linked companies was suspended after she was alleged to have been involved as an administrator of the neo-Nazi web forum Blood & Honour.
