Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

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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Kerry O’Brien gives impassioned defence of Indigenous voice to parliament at hearing

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Former ABC journalist tells joint select committee on voice wording that it is a ‘simple and unambitious and unthreatening’ proposal

Prominent Australian journalist Kerry O’Brien has delivered a passionate defence of the Indigenous voice to parliament, saying the nation is at an “absolutely pivotal moment” in demonstrating “our ability to learn the lessons of the past”.

O’Brien was speaking at the first day of hearings of the joint select committee on the wording of the voice referendum.

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Constitutional expert gives legal tick to Indigenous voice in parliamentary submission

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Voice will not result in obligations on the executive or parliament, Anne Twomey says in submissions to inquiry

One of the nation’s top constitutional experts has reiterated to a parliamentary inquiry that the Indigenous voice to parliament won’t slow down government decision-making or clog up the courts.

Conservative critics have raised fears the voice could spur ongoing court challenges, but Prof Anne Twomey once again dismissed those concerns in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry probing the referendum.

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Peter Dutton accused of misrepresenting locals’ views on Indigenous voice to parliament

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Residents of Leonora in country WA say the opposition leader was more interested in discussing the cashless debit card

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is being accused of misrepresenting his visit to the Western Australian town of Leonora, with locals claiming he was more interested in their views on the cashless debit card, than canvassing their opinion on the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Dutton said he travelled to communities, including Leonora, about 800km north-east of Perth, seeking grassroots opinions on the voice and this had helped inform the Liberal leader’s decision to oppose the yes vote.

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Australia news live: Dutton says PM should ‘make sure’ federal police are sent to to Alice Springs; recount ordered for Sydney seat

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Opposition leader says locals are leaving town and tourism numbers are down due to lack of safety. Follow all the day’s news

If the NDIS is improved for people, it will be better for budget, Shorten says

Shorten is being asked about his other portfolio, minister for NDIS. The Grattan Institute yesterday made several recommendations to help rein in the budget, saying the government need to take a hard look at the NDIS.

If we run the scheme better for the person, the participant, the person with severe and profound disabilities. I also think that some of the other anxieties which are about money being wasted, will be dealt with.

We’ve been reforming individual features of the scheme already like getting people who are medically discharged from hospital on the NDIS, not languishing in hospital for months and months. We’ve been reducing some of the legacy cases.

So the budget will no doubt have measures which will be about improving the NDIS for participants but the budget isn’t an end in itself. So we’re doing work right now. There’ll be more work being done, and there’ll be work also finally announced when the review happens.

The bigger piece first of all, is that when the government thinks that someone owes a debt to the government, we’ve got to have a much more methodical transparent process to establish the accuracy of the debt.

The best thing you can do is not make a mistake to begin with – and I mean the government not make a mistake.

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Simon Birmingham the latest Liberal party frontbencher who will not campaign against Indigenous voice

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Senator’s show of reluctance comes after Julian Leeser resigned as shadow attorney general over referendum stance

The Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham says he won’t campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament, becoming the latest opposition member to show reluctance to support the party’s official position on the referendum.

Former Liberal minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said some of his former colleagues were being “tested” after the party’s policy to campaign against the voice was revealed, as fallout continues from Julian Leeser’s resignation from the opposition frontbench.

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Indigenous voice: electoral commission launches campaign to combat misinformation and confusion

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The AEC says it will be ‘proactive’ online and use a variety of other media to help inform voters about the upcoming referendum

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has launched a public education campaign to improve knowledge of the constitution and the referendum process, while combatting misinformation about the voice to parliament.

More than 6.4 million enrolled voters have not taken part in a referendum since the 1999 poll on whether Australia should become a republic. Community leaders and government agencies have warned there is a basic lack of understanding about the process and a deluge of misinformation.

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Dutton may allow conscience vote, Wyatt says – as it happened

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Treasurer flags power bill assistance

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is giving more specifics about how this IMF report may affect the upcoming May budget. He’s flagging the government will be helping Australians pay their electricity bills.

As we say these forecasts about a decline in the economy are because of these cost of living pressures, which is hurting families and pensioners and people right around Australia.

Because they are expected to be persistent because we expect inflation to be higher than we’d like for longer than we’d like and we do need to deal with in a responsible, methodical way those cost-of-living pressures and so we need to do that in a way that doesn’t make inflation worse.

On the view of the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is on an increasingly perilous path. The situation in the world has become more complex and more challenging even over the course of the last few months. And so we won’t be completely immune from that.

The Treasury does expect our own economy to slow considerably later this year because of that combination of a slowing global economy and the impact of higher interest rates here at home as well. So we’ve got a lot coming at us from around the world.

So is it your view that avoiding a recession is still possible but a lot harder now?

Of course, it’s still possible and it’s still the expectation of the Treasury and the Reserve Bank, and a number of other economic forecasters here in Australia.

But we need to be upfront … and say that a slowing global economy matters to us a great deal, and we do expect our own economy to slow considerably the Treasury and the Reserve Bank are not currently expecting a recession here at home.

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Leeser praised by Labor but his changes to Indigenous voice model likely to be ignored

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Government unlikely to support former Liberal frontbencher’s call to wind back the voice’s power to make representations to parliament and executive government

The Labor government and Aboriginal leaders have praised Julian Leeser’s decision to quit the shadow frontbench to campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament, but his calls to alter the wording of the referendum question may still be ignored.

A parliamentary committee on the referendum will hold its first public hearing on Friday, but Labor is unlikely to support Leeser’s suggestion to wind back the voice’s power to make representations to parliament and executive government.

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Albanese says yes campaign ‘factored in’ Dutton’s opposition to Indigenous voice to parliament

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Prime minister confirms AFL, NRL and cricket stars are lined up for ad blitz, and he expects businesses and faith groups to add support

Anthony Albanese says the government has “factored in” the prospect of Peter Dutton’s Liberal party campaigning against the Indigenous voice, and it doesn’t mean the referendum will fail.

He has confirmed that the yes campaign will soon feature sports stars from the NRL, AFL and cricket – and he expects the business community and faith groups to add their support.

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