Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Lidia Thorpe’s cousins pursuing contentious Victorian treaty negotiations model

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Head of traditional owner corporations says Indigenous elders had long fought for current ‘representative structures’

Two cousins of federal senator Lidia Thorpe are pursuing a contentious model of representation for Victoria’s landmark treaty negotiations as they seek to be elected to the state’s First People’s Assembly.

Voting for the second term of the assembly will commence next month after nominations for the 32-seat Indigenous body closed on Monday, ahead of a treaty negotiations due to begin this year.

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Australia news live: defence strategic review ‘a cannibalisation of army mobility’, Hastie says; Victorian jockey dies after race fall

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Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live

Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll

In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.

They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.

People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.

We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.

A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”

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Former president of Kiribati backs legal case against Australia over inaction on climate crisis

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Anote Tong says that Australia needs to take responsibility for emissions caused by the export of its fossil fuels

A former Pacific Island president has backed a Torres-Strait Islander-led legal case to hold the Australian government accountable for climate crisis inaction.

On Monday, Anote Tong, the former president of Kiribati, signed a statement of solidarity with Paul Kabai and Pabai Pabai, who have taken the government to court, demanding further emissions reductions in line with science.

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Youpla profits surged after it was approved for federal government’s automatic payments system

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New data reveals the scale of how many Indigenous people were impacted by the disgraced funeral fund

New data has revealed disgraced funeral fund ACBF-Youpla’s profits skyrocketed by tens of millions of dollars after the company was approved for the federal government’s automatic payments system Centrepay.

ACBF-Youpla collapsed in March 2022 leaving thousands of Aboriginal people, some of them elderly and in palliative care, without the means to pay for funerals. Families resorted to crowdfunding and some were forced to leave their loved ones’ bodies in the morgue while they raised the funds.

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Indigenous voice: Coalition digs in on ‘lack of transparency’ claim despite Labor releasing legal advice

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Advice from solicitor general rebuffs no campaign’s central claim that the voice would clog up the courts

The Coalition is still accusing the Albanese government of a “lack of transparency” on the Indigenous voice referendum, despite the release of advice from the nation’s top legal adviser.

The government released a legal opinion on Friday from solicitor general Stephen Donaghue, saying that the voice wouldn’t clog up the courts or slow down government decision making – rebuffing a central claim of critics and the Coalition.

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ACTU will not push for spot on RBA board as review released – as it happened

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Bandt: if budget can afford stage-three tax cuts it can afford to lift Australians out of poverty.

Bandt is also highly critical of the government as it appears set to reject a call from its very own expert advisory panel to raise the jobseeker rate. He says if the budget can afford to keep stage-three tax cuts, it can afford to lift Australians out of poverty:

Everyday people are not causing inflation. They are the victims of inflation. Now, Labor has found over a quarter of a trillion dollars for tax cuts for billionaires and politicians that can’t lift people out of poverty.

Labor’s not making hard choices in this budget, they’re making everyone else make hard choices, like whether to pay for the rent or whether to put food on the table.

We’ll have a look at all of the recommendations of the review, and the government’s response when it’s released fully but a major party stitch up isn’t going to fix the inflation problem.

We need more than just outsourcing the issue of tackling inflation to the RBA, which is what Liberal and Labor want to do. We know that it is excessive profiteering that is driving higher prices and inflation in this country. It’s not the everyday people.

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Lidia Thorpe says mental health speculation is ‘racist and misogynistic’ attempt to discredit her

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Senator says she was provoked and stood up for herself after video showed expletive-laden row outside Melbourne strip club

The independent senator Lidia Thorpe says speculation about her mental health is a “racist and misogynistic narrative” used to discredit outspoken women and claims political opponents including Anthony Albanese are trying to “drag” her down.

After video emerged showing the Victorian senator engaged in an expletive-laden argument outside a Melbourne strip club on the weekend, the prime minister suggested health issues could be behind the incident and said he hoped she “gets some support”.

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Australia news live: Andrew Hastie fires back after Mark McGowan ‘cold war pills’ comment caught on camera

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Coalition’s defence spokesperson calls WA premier ‘a prison guard looking for work’. Follow live

Voice committee heads north to hear traditional owners

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has defended the wording of the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament, dismissing fears of possible high court challenges, AAP reports.

This is a legally sound proposition. It makes it very clear that parliament is in charge.

There’s no obligation and there’s certainly not an obligation on the government to agree to the voice. There is the provision for the voice to be heard, for at least the views to be put.

That will be up to the government as a whole. I don’t know.

The reality is that we know that people are doing it tough, absolutely doing it tough. And what we want to do is where it’s responsible that we can – and affordable – that we can support people doing it tough.

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Australia news live: Labor will not lift jobseeker despite recommendation for ‘substantial increase’ to base rate

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Joyce describes Indigenous voice as ‘a consultative power by selected group’

Joyce says the voice will affect all Australians, not just Indigenous Australians, because a selected rather than elected body will move away from the democratic process.

It is a massive change to how democracy works because we’re now dealing with a consultative power by selected group, not an elected group … and that move away from the democratic process.

What I’m asking you is that you say on one hand that there’s no legislation … But you also make a claim about a model which doesn’t exist, you can’t have it both ways.

In all the narrative from Mr Pearson, to his Ms Langton, to the Calma Langton report, they talk about selection, not election.

So then you do think you’ve got a model?

Then let us see the legislation.

I just don’t believe that we should be inserting a racial clause into our constitution in 2023.

Tick the box that you believe in racial differentiation. You’ve just ticked the box that you believe in racial differentiation.

It’s the form that it comes in. I’ve got no problems with the statement of fact that Indigenous Australians were the first people in Australia.

I’ve got no problems with the constitutional recognition referendum on the premise that we see the details first … I’m talking to about a more proper and pertinent alternative approach, which means that we get all the details not some of the details, we see the legislation before we vote, we don’t get a blank check. And we also make sure that we see the proper legal opinion before we vote not someone’s opinion of the opinion, which is what Mr Albanese is going to give us.

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Peter Dutton says he didn’t raise specific allegations of child abuse with PM

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Opposition leader tells Sky News he mentioned general concerns about abuse in Alice Springs which Anthony Albanese confirmed

Peter Dutton says he did not raise specific instances of alleged child abuse with Anthony Albanese but maintains that he raised broad concerns about assaults in Indigenous communities with the prime minister in private and in parliament.

Dutton’s comments to Sky News on Tuesday were the latest in a back-in-forth between Labor and the Coalition, with the opposition highlighting abuse and neglect in Aboriginal communities as a reason for opposing the Indigenous voice referendum.

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Off-duty Queensland police officer filmed head-butting 14-year-old Indigenous boy

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Youth involved in late-night altercation in Dalby says he feels he was targeted because of the colour of his skin

An off-duty police constable has been filmed head-butting a 14-year-old Indigenous teenager in the face in a late-night altercation outside a McDonald’s in regional Queensland.

The state’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said an Ethical Standards Command investigation has been launched, describing the officer’s actions as “inappropriate”.

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Guardian Essential poll: Indigenous voice retains majority support but sees opposition harden

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No voters to constitutionally entrenched body remain at 40%, while Coalition leader Peter Dutton sees approval drop to 44%

Opposition to the Indigenous voice to parliament is hardening although the proposed constitutional change enjoys majority support with 60% in favour, the latest Guardian Essential poll finds.

The poll of 1,136 voters, released on Tuesday, found those who described themselves as a “hard no” against the voice was up three points to 26%, with “soft nos” down by three points to 14%.

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Australia news live: household assistance on energy bills to be detailed in budget, Chalmers says

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Treasurer says volatility in the global economy to have ‘flow-on effect on budget’. Follow the day’s news live

The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, is chastising the PM for letting there be any doubt whether he will be attending the Nato security summit.

Bangarra Dance Theatre supports voting ‘Yes’ in voice referendum

For over three decades, Bangarra Dance Theatre has been privileged to be entrusted with sharing the powerful voices of the world’s oldest living cultures – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures of this nation.

The stories we tell have awakened a national consciousness to the deep scars of our colonial history, and the legacy of unseen trauma left in its wake. We attend to this knowing that by carrying Story, we also carry a responsibility to give insight into our experiences, promote understanding, and effect change. But is this enough?

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Jacinta Price calls for federal takeover of child protection, claims Indigenous kids being sent back to abusers

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Coalition senator echoed Peter Dutton’s accusations of child sexual abuse in Alice Springs and reiterated her opposition to the voice

Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called for a federal takeover of child protection, saying foster parents have told her Indigenous children are being put back into the hands of abusers.

Nampijinpa Price levelled serious accusations against the Northern Territory’s child protection agency on Sunday as she reiterated her opposition to enshrining an Indigenous voice in the constitution.

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NT police minister defends kinship care system after Price abuse claims – as it happened

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Indigenous voice would benefit Alice Springs if people were ‘prepared to be honest’: Price

Price said she wanted the federal government to run the child protection system in the Territory in order to prioritise the “human rights for children regardless of racial heritage, in this country”.

I support the idea of regional and remote legislated bodies that would represent issues going on, on the ground. That’s what I would support. That is what the Coalition supports going forward.

What I have advocated for is I don’t believe in separating us along the lines of race within our constitution. What I have always advocated for is the voices of people in remote and regional communities to be amplified because of the circumstances in those regional/remote communities are very different to other communities.

Someone from somewhere like Balgo, Docker River, Yuendumu, Indigenous voices from there are very different to Indigenous voices from suburban Sydney or Brisbane, or even Alice Springs. And their voices in the bush are often not heard, are not amplified in these discussions, even more so the vulnerable voices in those communities are not heard.

We need to say that children who are living in circumstances where their human rights are being upheld should not be removed for the sake of putting children back with kin.

And I know of circumstances where children have been put in danger because of that provision.

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‘I was shattered’: grieving First Nations families accused trauma support service of letting them down

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Veronica Nelson’s mother among critics of Thirrili, which encouraged people to contact it if they didn’t feel its support was adequate

First Nations families grieving the loss of loved ones have accused a federally funded Indigenous suicide and trauma support service of failing to turn up to appointments, not responding to phone calls and not replying to financial support requests.

Guardian Australia has spoken to four First Nations families who have raised concerns about the service provided by the not-for-profit Thirrili, which provides financial, social and emotional support to Indigenous families affected by suicide and trauma.

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Man charged with foreign interference to remain behind bars until Monday – as it happened

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The 55-year-old businessman appeared via video link at Parramatta magistrates court. This blog is now closed

‘Really disturbing footage’: David Pocock responds to gas seep video

Senator David Pocock has called the video showing large methane gas bubbles active on the surface of Queensland’s Condamine River “really disturbing footage”.

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Legal experts criticise suggestions Indigenous voice will have veto power in parliament

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‘No substance in it,’ former chief justice Robert French says, while experts split on whether amendment should include ‘executive government’

Constitutional experts have criticised suggestions the Indigenous voice will have veto power in the Australian parliament, calling such prophecies “doomsdaying” and “distorting” of the truth.

Speaking at the first hearing of the joint select committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice referendum, a string of legal experts said the voice would be legislated to provide representations on relevant matters, akin to advice.

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NSW minister calls frontline workers ‘heroes’ after paramedic killing – as it happened

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Kerrynne Liddle says ‘prove it’s not happening’ on child sexual abuse in Alice

Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle, the first Indigenous senator from South Australia, and a name being touted as a contender for shadow minister for Indigenous Australians after Julian Leeser’s resignation.

I think we have to be really careful about politicising this issue, because matters related to any form of assault are sensitive, but important to understand and respond to.

… I think what’s really important though, is it can’t ignore the issue of sexual abuse, but you must also tackle those issues, alongside other issues which include [service] delivery and decision dysfunction.

Do you encourage your leader to temper his language given we haven’t yet seen evidence to say that there is a widespread phenomenon of this?

I say prove it’s not happening. And then we can have a conversation about the kind of language that we can actually use for this.

… You’ve got you’ve got the statistics, which everyone accepts are underreported and underrepresented. You’ve got to have relationships with communities to enable people to start talking about these safe spaces for young people to raise this issue of need to support people to have housing so that young people and older people are not at risk of this.

It’s possible to be optimistic about Australia’s economic future, and to be realistic about a global slowdown.

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NSW police breached body-worn camera policies during shooting death of Indigenous man, coroner finds

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Inquest into death of Gomeroi man Stanley Russell urges changes to how officers handle people with an intellectual disability

A coroner delivering findings into the police shooting death of Indigenous man Stanley Russell said officers seriously breached their own policies on body-worn cameras during the incident.

The New South Wales deputy state coroner Carmel Forbes also recommended policy changes on how police handle people with intellectual disabilities, and urged them to clarify rules on when officers need to wear body cameras.

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