Our new Prime Minister Scott Morrison, despite promising not to be a culture warrior, has spent much of his time fighting culture wars - when not fighting strawberry needlers. One such battle which has seen him don the armour and sharpen the spear concerns the date of Australia Day.

His motives for bringing this painful and divisive debate up again are transparent enough.

This is a man who defeated the right wing’s choice for PM, Peter Dutton, and is now trying to patch things over with the conservatives who ousted Turnbull and ensure the security of his tenure.

He blamed inner-city hipsters, the left, the Greens and Labor as the instigators for changing the date. This ignored the long history of indigenous people who have protested and continue to raise their voice against the day of January the 26th being a day of celebration.

Here is the crux of the problems existing between indigenous people and the Australian government. Morrison seemingly refuses to acknowledge that indigenous people have their own thoughts and opinions of their own; they are pawns in a leftist conspiracy against Australia.

His choice of envoy for indigenous people was obviously more an excuse to get former PM Tony Abbott as far away from Canberra than achieve anything. Now, Tony Abbott does have a real concern for indigenous people, and his heart is full of good intentions.

But you know which road is paved with good intentions. Tony Abbott’s vision for the indigenous people of this nation is to turn them into white fellers. This did not work in our past, and it will not work now.

People, as individuals or groups, don’t like to be forced, they don’t like to be told what to think. Resistance is the natural outcome. The only way forward, to avoiding the problems of the past, is to listen to the indigenous people and to work with them for better outcomes.

Let us treat them as adults and fellow citizens, rather than unthinking clay to be moulded in our hands. The debate about the date of Australia Day is only a smaller symptom of a wider problem about the relationship between the government and our First People.

On August 25, 2018 the Griffith Parkinson's Support Group hosted a "Walk in the Park" at Ted Scobie Oval.

As a relatively new support group we all came together to not only walk around the park but to honour an anniversary in providing support, celebrate and acknowledge those who "walk tall" with Parkinson's.

It is one day in the year when people with Parkinson's can walk proudly within a community showing pride and at the same time, letting the community know what it is like to live with Parkinson's Disease.

It is a day when caring family members and friends unit to remind those living with Parkinson's Disease, that they are not alone.

I would like to thank the Hanwood Soccer Club in particular, who welcomed our group to walk the perimeter of the oval whilst the children were enjoying their soccer games and for supporting our cake stall to raise much needed funds for those suffering this disease.

Our thanks also to the radio stations Triple M and FM, WIN TV and The Area News for their help in advertising the day and the community who responded to our cause, whatever their connection, the cake stall sold out and many donations were gratefully appreciated.

To the members of our group, carers, families and friends who provided the cakes and biscuits, etc for sale and who worked throughout the day, thank you all for making the event the success it was.