Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

WA premier Roger Cook axes Aboriginal cultural heritage laws after outcry by landholders

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Government apologises for new laws it says went too far and placed unnecessary burdens on everyday property owners

The Western Australian government has apologised and scrapped its controversial Indigenous cultural heritage protection laws just weeks after they came into effect.

The premier, Roger Cook, and Aboriginal affairs minister, Tony Buti, made the announcement after days of speculation and months of intense pressure from the state’s farming, mining and pastoralist industries over concerns the new laws were confusing and difficult to implement.

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No vote overtakes yes in all states except Victoria, Guardian Essential poll shows

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‘Hard no’ opposition to the Indigenous voice rose in July but young people, women remain strong supporters

More Australians are planning to vote no in the Indigenous voice referendum than yes, a first for Guardian’s Essential Poll.

The Essential poll of 1,150 voters released on Tuesday found that 47% did not approve of the voice, with 43% in favour and the remaining 10% unsure. That represents a reversal of July’s results, which found yes narrowly ahead by the same margin.

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Australia politics live: NSW government considers aerial shooting of wild horses in Kosciuszko

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State government seeking feedback on proposed amendments to park’s wild horse management plan. Follow the day’s news live

Voice being weaponised politically and to help ‘raise funds’: Andrew Gee

Andrew Gee had more to say about that:

I think that at the moment the voice is being weaponised politically for a number of reasons, and obviously, it helps raise funds and I know this because I’m still getting the emails saying, ‘the voice is terrible, please give some money’.

They’re doing it I think to shore up leadership positions. I think they’re doing it to just have some ground to fight on. But ultimately, I think, the hope that this is the pathway to victory is a bankrupt hope.

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Australia news live: pre-emptive release of Sofronoff report ‘denied me procedural fairness’, Shane Drumgold says

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ACT director of public prosecutions steps down after agreeing with ACT attorney-general Shane Rattenbury his position was ‘no longer tenable’. Follow live news updates today

PM urges people to look at the yes and no pamphlets

Albanese is asked about the word “Makarrata”, which has been subject to attack by the no campaign.

Why would someone disagree with the idea of Makarrata, with which is a Yolngu word for coming together after conflict - what that is about is just advancing reconciliation.

What the no campaign insists on doing is talking about anything but what is in the question before the Australian people. I would say to your listeners, have a look at what the question is, have a look at the yesand the no pamphlets. The yes pamphlet with its optimistic appeal for hope and a vision for the future, and the no campaign quoting people, misquoting people who are not actually supporting it.

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Voice would ‘fail at first hurdle’ if not enshrined in constitution, Albanese says

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Speaking at the Garma festival in the Northern Territory the prime minister issued a plea for support for a yes vote, saying there will not be another opportunity any time soon

Anthony Albanese says the Indigenous voice would “fail at the first hurdle” if it were not enshrined in the constitution, again rejecting calls from sceptics to change the referendum and simply enact the First Nations consultation body in regular laws.

The prime minister says the Labor government and Coalition opposition have broadly similar policies on the voice, but maintained the voice must be protected in the constitution because of the request from Indigenous Australians through the Uluru statement from the heart.

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Noel Pearson says Indigenous voice is not about ‘party politics’ and will cut wasteful spending

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Pearson says referendum is not a competition ‘between blue and red’ after Anthony Albanese’s Garma festival speech

The prime minister’s Garma speech was the “unequivocal” support for an Indigenous voice to parliament of an Australian leader, not a party politician, the Cape York leader, leading “yes” campaigner and Guugu-Yimithirr lawyer Noel Pearson has said.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Saturday that he would not defer or delay the referendum, and dismissed “no” campaigners as being “desperate to talk about anything but the actual question”.

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PM accuses Coalition of ‘creating noise and confusion’ over voice – as it happened

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Australia has ‘nothing to fear and everything to gain’ from a yes vote, Anthony Albanese says. This blog is now closed

Albanese says he won’t announce date of voice vote at Garma

Albanese will not announce at Garma what date the voice to parliament referendum will be held on:

I’ve made it clear a year ago what the timetable would look like, that it would be in the last quarter of this year. Obviously when we get into December, you are into the rainy season, so that gets knocked out. September, it could be held then except we have the footy finals.

We’ll make an announcement soon. We’ll talk through with the Australian Electoral Commission and make sure it’s an appropriate date, one that doesn’t clash with other events.

What is occurring with this referendum is it’s a clear proposition … the words are clear that have been put forward, they’ve been passed by the parliament, overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Indeed, across the parliament, both sides say they support constitutional recognition. Both sides say that you need to legislate the voice. The only difference is that Peter Dutton is saying that if you actually … enshrine it in the constitution, that that is something that they oppose.

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Anthony Albanese vows ‘no delaying or deferring’ of Indigenous voice vote

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In Garma speech, PM says there is ‘nothing to fear and everything to gain’ and no vote in referendum would only lead to ‘more of the same’

There is “nothing to fear and everything to gain” from an Indigenous voice to parliament, Anthony Albanese has said at the Garma festival in Arnhem Land on Saturday, in his strongest pitch yet for Australians to vote yes in the upcoming referendum.

The prime minister promised to stay the course on the vote, due between September and December this year.

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‘An opportunity to be lifted up’: Anthony Albanese hails local clan council as model of Indigenous voice at Garma festival

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The event began with a solemn and loving tribute to beloved late Gumatj leader Yunupingu

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has reaffirmed his commitment to implementing the Uluru statement in full, saying “no one will be hurt by a yes vote in this referendum, but we have an opportunity to be lifted up”.

Asked by reporters if he still was committed to the Uluru statement in full, Albanese simply answered: “yes”.

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Australia news live: ‘nonsense’ to suggest Qantas has an outsized influence over Albanese government, Alan Joyce says

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Follow the day’s news live

Queensland to give free meningococcal B vaccine to infants, children and adolescents

The meningococcal B vaccine will be made free for infants, children and adolescents in Queensland.

After hearing the stories of heartbroken Queensland families, I had to act.

We know the meningococcal B strain can be lethal and – if a young person is lucky enough to survive the disease – it’s likely they will develop permanent and sometimes devastating complications.

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Traditional owners win pause in woodland clearing at cultural site in Darwin

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Defence plan to build housing at Lee Point/Binybara put on hold after calls for habitat of Gouldian finches and black-footed tree rat to be protected

Clearing of savanna woodlands for a defence housing development at Lee Point/Binybara in Darwin will be paused until the end of March in a win for traditional owners and members of the Darwin community.

Defence Housing Australia said in a statement it had voluntarily decided to stop work at the site until 31 March 2024 while it worked with government agencies and responded to an application regarding Aboriginal cultural heritage at the site.

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Albanese lashes Dutton over Garma festival no-show as leaders trade barbs over Indigenous voice

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PM and opposition leader spar over referendum, apology to the stolen generations and the prospect of treaty in heated parliamentary debate

Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “undermining the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people” by opposing the Indigenous voice, launching a strident defence of the referendum and criticising the opposition leader for declining to attend the Garma festival this weekend.

As the Coalition again pursued the government in question time over the treaty element of the Uluru statement from the heart, asking how long it would take and what it would cost, Albanese sought to re-focus attention on the referendum. The prime minister questioned why the Liberal party opposed a constitutionally enshrined voice despite backing a legislated model, claiming the opposition was seeking to divide the nation.

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Past and present public servants to be investigated – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

Home prices to keep rising despite higher rates: REA

National property prices are expected to increase by up to five per cent in 2023, having already lifted more than two per cent since the start of the year, AAP reports.

We saw price increases despite rising interest rates and reduced borrowing capacities and anticipate moderate price increases to continue over the coming months.

Don’t wait for a flare to rise from Canberra, until you get started.

The campaign has truly begun. Get out there, talk to your family, talk to your friends.

This is your moment.

I urge you to campaign for a future you want to see.

We will win this referendum, conversation by conversation. Silence doesn’t make history, people make history.

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Yes campaign failing to counter opponents’ targeted tactics despite spending more, experts say

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Supporters of the Indigenous voice to parliament urged to hone their strategy in bid to convince undecided Australians to vote yes

The yes campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum is outspending voice opponents on social media, but critics say its broad approach is failing to counter the no camp’s more targeted tactics.

Yes campaigners have spent approximately $180,000 more on Facebook ads than the no campaign since 1 January, Guardian Australia analysis has found.

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NSW police use force against Indigenous Australians at drastically disproportionate levels, data shows

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Exclusive: Redfern Legal Centre obtained records which show First Nations people were involved in about 45% of the incidents

New South Wales police used force against Indigenous Australians at vastly disproportionate rates during the past three years, internal police data shows.

Records obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were significantly overrepresented in police use of force incidents from 2018-20 to 2021-22.

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Noel Pearson urges voters to ‘let go of your political party affiliations’ and vote yes for Indigenous voice

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Yes campaigners will target Liberal, National and teal voters ahead of the referendum

Liberal, National and teal voters across New South Wales will be targeted by campaigners for the Indigenous voice to parliament, as its biggest advocates urge voters against following party politics on the issue.

Advocates will push the values underpinning the proposal and the need to listen to Indigenous people over political leaders for the next three months, after polling suggested support had softened.

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NSW police reject suggestion ‘racism is rife’ in force and say ‘lessons learned’ after Bowraville murders

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Police act ‘with respect’ to victims and people in custody, federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children hears

A senior NSW police officer has rejected suggestions “racism is rife” within its ranks and has told a federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children that lessons have been learned after the Bowraville murders.

The parliamentary inquiry has held hearings around the country, hearing from experts, government and police agencies, and families of those murdered and disappeared.

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Honey produced by Australian ant has highly effective antibacterial properties, researchers say

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Honeypot ant researchers hope to identify compounds that can be used in antimicrobial treatments as western science catches up to Indigenous knowledge

The honey produced by Australian honeypot ants has antibacterial and antifungal properties, researchers have found, in a discovery that brings western science up to speed with Indigenous knowledge.

The Australian honeypot ant, Camponotus inflatus, has been used by First Nations people as a bush food and in traditional medicine for thousands of years, including to treat colds and sore throats.

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Julie Bishop backs Indigenous voice as ‘step in the right direction’

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Former Liberal deputy leader tells National Press Club she supports the referendum, but stops short of saying she will actively campaign for yes vote

The former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop has called for Australians to support the Indigenous voice referendum, warning that existing policies are not working to close the gap.

Bishop, who was deputy leader of the Liberal party for 11 years, said many Indigenous people she respected greatly “have put a lot of thought into this and they believe that it is a step in the right direction”.

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How a viral Channel 7 clip that had nothing to do with the voice was co-opted by the no camp

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Confusion over Western Australia’s new cultural heritage laws is being co-opted by the no campaign and far-right opponents of the voice

The two-minute clip never mentions the Indigenous voice to parliament, but a now-viral Channel 7 news story about cancelled tree planting ceremonies in Western Australia was quickly seized upon last week by the no campaign and far-right opponents of the voice.

The video has now reached more than 1.5m views on Twitter, largely thanks to a significant boost from opponents of the voice, who have attempted to co-opt controversy over the state’s updated planning laws since at least early July.

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