Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Super fund took more than 500 days to approve death benefit for grieving widow, Asic says

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Landmark report makes 34 recommendations to overhaul the superannuation sector, citing delays, poor customer service and ineffective procedures

An unnamed superannuation fund took more than 500 days to approve a death benefit payment to an Indigenous woman grieving the loss of her husband and ignored her concerns about financial hardship and a confusing claims process.

The “distressing” case has been highlighted by the financial regulator as one of many “poor industry practices” by funds that have had “devastating impacts” on members experiencing “deep grief, vulnerability, frustration and genuine suffering”.

A “landmark” report released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) on Monday has made 34 recommendations to overhaul the superannuation sector. The report investigated the conduct of 10 trustees, which are responsible for 38% of all member benefits in Australia.

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Aboriginal women are scared to seek help for fear their children will be taken, report finds

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Human Rights Watch spoke to 33 Aboriginal parents who between them have had 114 children removed and placed in out-of-home care

Warning: this story contains distressing descriptions of violence

Briana* was just starting to get a handle on the unpredictability of feeding, bottles and all that comes with a newborn when she received an email informing her she had lost custody of her three-month-old son.

Days later, child protection authorities took her child. With him, they took many of the milestones the 36-year-old first-time mother was looking forward to. “I’m going to miss those first words, the first rollover, everything,” she says.

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Rate of Indigenous people in jail has risen by 20% since 2019, Closing the Gap data shows

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New data reveals child protection, incarceration and suicide rates getting worse

The rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people imprisoned increased by 12% in a year and was up 20% since 2019 – despite state and federal governments agreeing to reduce rates of incarnation by 15% by 2031 in June 2020.

Indigenous organisations have urged greater action from all governments to improve the lives of Indigenous people after new Closing the Gap data revealed child protection, Indigenous incarceration and suicide rates were getting worse.

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Indigenous leaders celebrate as court rejects appeal in landmark Yunupingu compensation case

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High court upholds ruling against commonwealth that Gumatj clan’s land was not acquired ‘on just terms’, in case initiated by renowned land rights activist

Traditional owners say justice has been served for their people as the high court dismissed a commonwealth appeal in a landmark compensation case.

The commonwealth lost the high court battle over whether it may be liable for up to $700m in compensation for bauxite mining at Gove in north-east Arnhem Land.

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Help for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is available on 13YARN on 13 92 76

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Voice referendum normalised racism towards Indigenous Australians, report finds

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Complaints detailing distressing incidents of racism reveal 2023 referendum one of Australia’s ‘darker moments’, author says

Warning: this article contains distressing descriptions of racism

A report examining racism towards Indigenous Australians found one fifth of all complaints contained reference to the failed voice to parliament referendum, in what authors say was one of the nation’s “darker moments”.

The report, titled If You Don’t Think Racism Exists Come Take a Walk With Us, was released on Thursday. Undertaken by the University of Technology Sydney’s Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research and the National Justice Project, it is the second annual report about racism targeting First Nations people and is based on 453 validated reports of racism made to the Call it Out register in the 12 months to 20 March 2024.

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More than 10,000 First Nations people killed in Australia’s frontier wars, final massacre map shows

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‘Horrendous’ eight-year long project has ended with final fact check, leaving a legacy ‘nobody can argue’ with, says researcher

The final findings of the “horrendous” eight-year long “massacre map”, tracing the violent history of the Australian colonial frontier have been released.

The Colonial Frontier Massacres Digital Map Project, spearheaded by the late emerita professor of history at the University of Newcastle, Dr Lyndall Ryan, officially concluded in 2022.

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At least 10,657 people were killed in at least 438 colonial frontier massacres.

10,374 of them were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people killed by colonists.

Only 160 of those killed were non-Indigenous colonists.

There were 13 massacres of colonists by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.

The most intense period of massacres was from the late 1830s into 1840s, with a pivotal point being the Myall Creek massacre in 1838 – the first time any perpetrators had been punished.

After the Myall Creek convictions, the government could no longer involve the military and new “police” forces were created, which set a pattern for the rest of the conflict.

About half of all massacres of Aboriginal people were carried out by police and other government agents. Many others were perpetrated by settlers acting with tacit approval of the state.

Some perpetrators were involved in many massacres.

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Embrace of Indigenous artists reaches London thanks to influence of Venice Biennale

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Curators and artists say this is a time of overdue recognition but others are cautious about the longevity of the moment

At last year’s Venice Biennale, the pavilions were packed with Indigenous art from around the world.

Artists from the Tupinambá community in Brazil sat alongside work by the late Rosa Elena Curruchich, who made pieces about Indigenous women in Guatemala. The Amazonian artist Aycoobo was celebrated, as were carvings by the Māori artist Fred Graham. The eventual winner of the Golden Lion – the event’s highest accolade – was the Indigenous Australian artist Archie Moore.

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Indigenous teen Cassius Turvey’s alleged murder ‘not racially motivated’, court hears

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Prosecutor tells jury ‘it is not the state’s case’ the alleged murder was racially motivated

A man accused of swinging the weapon that killed an Indigenous teenager says the dead boy stabbed him before a friend allegedly struck the fatal blows, with a court told the attack wasn’t racially motivated.

Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, died in hospital 10 days after he was allegedly struck in the head with a metal pole in Perth’s eastern suburbs on 13 October, 2022.

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‘Keep moving forward’: Yunupingu leads Australia Day honours

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Late Yolŋu Indigenous rights activist appointed companion of the Order of Australia, along with lawyer Megan Davis and refugee advocate Gillian Triggs

The late Yolŋu Indigenous rights activist Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu has posthumously been appointed a companion of the Order of Australia in this year’s Australia Day honours list, where he is joined by emeritus professor Gillian Triggs, the former head of the Australian Human Rights Commission, and Cobble Cobble constitutional lawyer and Indigenous advocate scientia professor Megan Davis.

Yunupingu, a key supporter of the Indigenous voice to parliament, died six months before the referendum on constitutional recognition that was the driving force of the final decades of his life.

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Water quality expert calls for wider PFAS ban as NSW community seeks blood tests on ‘poisoned’ land

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Cost of fixing ‘forever chemical’ pollution should be borne by manufacturers and polluters, not governments and consumers, expert tells Senate inquiry

A water quality expert says the Australian government should expand a planned ban of PFAS as a New South Wales indigenous community called for funding for blood tests for people living on “poisoned” land.

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of several thousand synthetic compounds, are found in a wide variety of products including waterproof fabrics, food packaging, hygiene products and firefighting foam. They are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to break down and persist in the environment for extended periods.

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Australian Music prize: 80-year-old Kankawa Nagarra wins over Nick Cave and Amyl and the Sniffers

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Walmatjarri elder and blues musician wins $50,000 prize for Wirlmarni, saying she hopes it will bring pride to her community in Wangkatjungka

The Walmatjarri elder and blues musician Kankawa Nagarra has won the $50,000 Australian Music prize (AMP) for her debut album Wirlmarni, seeing off competition from Nick Cave, the Dirty Three and Amyl and the Sniffers.

Inspired by the UK’s Mercury prize, the AMP focuses “entirely on artistic merit” and aims to “financially reward and increase exposure” for Australian musicians who release the best album in a calendar year.

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More than 90% of people caught with small amounts of illicit drugs criminalised in NSW despite diversion reforms

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Exclusive: Police used discretion to divert just 6.9% of people caught with personal use quantities of drugs from criminal justice system, data shows

A New South Wales government program that gives police discretion to divert people found with small quantities of illicit drugs away from the courts has only been extended to 6.9% of people caught, including just 2.6% of those who are Indigenous.

The major reform by the Minns government came into effect in February this year and was flagged by the attorney general, Michael Daley, as a way to treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one. Yet data obtained from NSW police under freedom of information shows the vast majority of those caught with illegal drugs continue to be criminalised.

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Pro-brumby activists racially vilified head of Indigenous group, Victorian tribunal finds

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Exclusive: Yorta Yorta woman targeted in campaign by Barmah Brumby Preservation Group that included posters with racist slogans, Vcat finds

A pro-brumby activist organisation racially vilified the then head of an Indigenous group in Victoria through posters and social media posts showing her face and racist slogans, the state’s civil and administrative tribunal has found.

The Barmah Brumby Preservation Group displayed public posters showing the face of Monica Morgan, a Yorta Yorta woman, and racist slogans. Morgan argued at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat) the posters, along with social media posts and comments between 2020 and 2023, incited hatred of her and Yorta Yorta people on the basis of race.

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Tribute to love, resilience and song: Indigenous musical legends Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter immortalised in bronze

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The pair bonded as teenagers after chance meeting at Salvation Army drop-in centre while they were sleeping rough on Adelaide’s streets

Their songs have been the soundtrack to countless marches for justice, family gatherings and community barbecues. Now, Aboriginal music legends Uncle Archie Roach and Aunty Ruby Hunter have been immortalised in bronze.

The permanent tribute to the acclaimed musical couple was unveiled at Atherton Gardens on Saturday in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, with family and friends travelling from across the country to mark the occasion.

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Predatory rent-to-buy operators barred from Centrepay debit system in sweeping Albanese government reforms

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Exclusive: ‘High-risk services’ will be removed, including companies providing consumer leases and household goods

The federal government will boot predatory rent-to-buy operators off its Centrepay debit system as part of sweeping reforms designed to stop the financial abuse of vulnerable Australians.

The reforms, set to be announced Monday, follow a Guardian Australian investigation that revealed shocking failures in the Centrepay system and helped trigger an urgent government review.

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First Nations Voice makes history in South Australia: ‘We are determined to prove you wrong’

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Inaugural address from Leeroy Bilney, outlining racist history of Australia and future challenges, greeted with acclaim

The First Nations Voice has delivered its first message to the South Australian parliament: “We are determined to prove you wrong.”

MPs had to squeeze together to make room for all those who turned up to Wednesday’s special joint sitting to hear the Voice’s inaugural address.

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Zachary Rolfe’s ego played a part in Kumanjayi Walker’s shooting death, NT coroner told

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Coroner urged not to ‘sugarcoat’ police officer’s actions as inquest nears end

Zachary Rolfe’s ego “had a lot to do with” the death of Kumanjayi Walker, and the former police officer “invented” evidence about the Warlpiri man attempting to take his gun before the fatal shooting, a court has heard.

The inquest into the death of Walker is holding its final hearings, almost two years after it was due to be completed.

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‘Crisis’ of domestic violence in NT needs immediate action, advocates say after landmark report released

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Northern Territory domestic homicide rate seven times the national rate, with systemic failings contributing to deaths, coroner’s report finds

Women’s safety advocates are urging governments and the police to take immediate action after a landmark coroner’s report exposed systemic failings that contributed to the deaths of four Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory.

The NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage on Monday handed down findings into the deaths of Miss Yunupiŋu, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Kumarn Rubuntja and Kumanjayi Haywood, making 35 recommendations aimed at stemming what she called the “epidemic of violence”.

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Burnayi Lurnayi: Bendigo development aims to provide safe homes for Aboriginal women

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Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation says the development will help Indigenous women stay in the increasingly unaffordable regional city

Traditional owners have partnered with community housing providers in central Victoria to build a new housing project aimed at addressing the high rates of homelessness faced by Aboriginal women.

The development, named Burnayi Lurnayi, meaning “young women” in Dja Dja Wurrung language, is being built in the Bendigo suburb of Flora Hill, in a partnership between the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (Djarra) and community housing organisation YWCA.

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‘We’ve got a responsibility’: Queensland truth-telling head vows to complete inquiry despite premier’s plan to scrap it

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Commission chair reopens submissions and says report will be finished and tabled in parliament

The head of Queensland’s Indigenous truth-telling and healing commission has vowed to complete the inquiry, defying the government’s plan to eliminate it.

The chairperson, Josh Creamer, restarted the historic inquiry on Friday, 23 days after the new premier, David Crisafulli, ordered it to halt work.

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