Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Marcia Langton attacks ‘relentless scare campaign’ waged by opponents of Indigenous voice

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Comments from design group co-chair come after NT’s Country Liberal president announced resignation over party’s opposition to voice

Prof Marcia Langton, one of the most experienced members of the Indigenous voice to parliament working group, has launched an attack on the “relentless scare campaign” waged by opponents and called on the government to “reassure” voters by endorsing the voice co-design report.

Langton has called on the Albanese government to endorse the report as the basis for post-referendum parliamentary processes and public consultations. The report lays out in detail how a national voice model would operate.

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Indigenous group says company offering Australian land to Oscar nominees used its name and material without permission

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Indigenous Carbon Industry Network says it has no connection with Pieces of Australia, which confirmed it has removed content that may have been inappropriately used

The company offering Oscar nominees “a symbolic souvenir” of land in outback Australia says it has removed material, including the name of an Indigenous organisation, from its marketing after being accused of using it without consent.

Pieces of Australia is one of a number of brands to pay $4,000 to secure a spot in the Oscars gift bag that is unaffiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but sent by the company Distinctive Assets to the acting and directing nominees.

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Coalition demands government release Indigenous voice legal advice

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Julian Leeser says Australians deserve to know what the solicitor general said about the power of the voice to advise executive government

Julian Leeser has demanded the release of legal advice about the Indigenous voice’s power to advise the executive government, claiming Australians have a right to know if its top lawyer has “concerns”.

The shadow attorney general wrote to his counterpart, Mark Dreyfus, on Friday. And he reiterated his demand for any advice by the solicitor general to be released in an interview on Sunday. The referendum working group has not yet made its final recommendation.

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‘We are so far behind’: Lynda Edwards says Indigenous voice could spur action on NSW treaty

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Comments from NSW premier’s woman of the year come as government minister rules out progress on treaty if re-elected

The New South Wales premier’s woman of the year says the state is “so far behind everyone else” on a treaty with First Nations people, suggesting a federal voice could lead to action despite a declaration by a Coalition minister that it is not on the agenda.

Lynda Edwards received the title on Thursday, when she was also named the NSW Aboriginal woman of the year by Dominic Perrottet for her work advocating for the financial rights of First Nations people and working to reform the financial sector to better serve them.

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Queensland mother whose son took his life calls for change at robodebt royal commission – As it happened

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Inquiry into the unlawful scheme, which ran from 2015 to 2019, is ongoing. This blog is now closed

Final robodebt hearing shines light on people affected

A Centrelink employee and a customer impacted by the illegal robodebt scheme will be the final two witnesses appearing at the royal commission’s public hearings, AAP reports.

The international standard now in the OECD area is beyond 52 weeks. It’s great we’re moving to 26 but we are not going fast enough, doing what other countries are doing. We have slipped down the international rankings on paid parental leave.

It’s very important that we give the support to parents when a new baby arrives so they can share the leave, they can begin life with a new child, give that child the best shot and alongside that, of course, we need quality, early childhood education and care which we in the Greens think should be free, just like primary school.

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NRL vows to rid rugby league of racism after alleged slur directed at Latrell Mitchell

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Andrew Abdo has promised the NRL will do all it can to protect its players and eradicate racist fans, after Latrell Mitchell was allegedly abused

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has vowed to eradicate racism from the sport as he promised to sanction and educate any fan found to have abused Latrell Mitchell.

Abdo on Friday stopped short of promising a life ban for the spectator who allegedly racially abused Mitchell at Penrith on Thursday night, but said the game would come down hard on any offenders. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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Australia politics live: NAB passes on full rate hike; pre-departure Covid testing to end for China, Hong Kong, Macau travellers

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Covid measures had been in place since 5 January, after China halted a lot of its own protocols. Follow the day’s news live

Gallagher aware of funding issue on national partnership agreements

A lot of funding in Australia is tied up in national partnership agreements. They are usually for short periods – the commonwealth works with the states to come to an agreement on funding, but it often means that agreements almost come to an end (or indeed, do end) and need emergency funding to continue while the next national partnership is worked out.

That agreement, which this money flows through is part of the national housing and homelessness agreement. And we are in active negotiations with the states. I’m aware of the funding issue. This is, you know, to give appropriate remuneration funding for or funding for payment for staff and Julie Collins is working hard on it. I can’t give you an answer today because it is right literally on our table.

We certainly were aware of the inflation problem in October. So you saw that we were we had upside, revenue coming in to the budget that we banked that – I think it was 99% in the first two years and 94% of the upside revenue over the forward estimates.

Now that was an important message, not just from the fact that we’re going to be fiscally responsible, but that where we can, you know, show restraint in spending.

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Brisbane watch house officer tells inquest she did not check if Aunty Sherry Tilberoo was breathing

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Debra Haigh tells hearing she now understands she should have stood in front of cell for longer and used a torch to look for movement

A Brisbane watch house officer who was suspended after the death of First Nations woman Shiralee Tilberoo has admitted during an inquest that she did not check whether she was breathing or shine a torch into the darkened cell on nine occasions.

The Birri Gubba woman – also known as Aunty Sherry – died of a brain aneurysm in Brisbane City watch house in the early hours of the morning on 10 September 2020.

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Voice referendum no campaign’s lack of tax-deductible status ‘discriminatory’, Warren Mundine says

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Exclusive: Leading no campaigner has called on government to quickly approve status but his organisation is yet to formally apply

The no campaign in the voice referendum has asked the government to quickly approve its bid to receive tax-deductible donations for its campaigning, applying for the status five months after it was granted to the yes side.

Leading no campaigner Warren Mundine has told the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, it would be “discriminatory” to not give the same tax concessions to both sides. But despite complaints from voice critics that the government had extended deductible gift recipient (DGR) status to the yes side, federal agencies said this week they had not yet received any application from the no side.

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Opposition demand funding for yes and no campaigns – as it happened

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The RBA board will meet tomorrow to make its decision about raising interest rates (which, if it does so, will be the 10th increase in a row). The board has said it won’t hesitate to raise interest rates again and again to get inflation down to its target band (between 2 and 3%), but the data shows whatever savings buffer some people had after the pandemic is diminishing.

David Pocock told ABC Breakfast TV it might be time to look at how we deal with inflation:

I mean, this is a big question. There’s so many Australians doing it tough. My understanding is that they are simply implementing the rules. I’d like to maybe see some discussion about the rules.

If – you know, to reduce inflation, is the best way just to give money to the banks? You know, there’s surely a better way of locking up some of the cash in the economy, whether it’s putting it into super, raising the GST, I don’t know – but to have politicians criticise what seems to be just the process that has been set up by politicians is one thing.

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Racism in NT police ‘systemic’, senior Indigenous public servant tells Kumanjayi Walker inquest

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NT Australian of the Year Leanne Liddle describes consultations to develop an Aboriginal justice agreement as ‘devastating’

A senior Indigenous public servant in the Northern Territory government has told an inquest that she had seen “so many examples of systemic racism in the NT police force” that negotiating a justice agreement for the territory was “one of the most depressing and saddest experiences” of her life.

Leanne Liddle, an Arrernte woman and director of the Aboriginal justice unit in the NT attorney general’s department, developed the Aboriginal justice agreement (AJA) after extensive consultation in Aboriginal communities.

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Labor approves $9.5m for ‘facts of the voice’ but says it is not funding de-facto yes campaign

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Coalition ‘concerned government is putting fingers on the scales’ and independent David Pocock says information should be fact-checked

The Albanese government has authorised $9.5m of spending for a voice civics and awareness campaign to include the “facts of the voice” but insists it is not funding a de facto yes campaign.

The new $9.5m was contained in the “decisions taken but not announced” section of October’s budget, revealed in a legislative instrument made by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, on Thursday.

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Calls to increase allowances for Indigenous carers to keep children connected with culture

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Ensuring First Nations siblings remain in contact must also be a priority, former Victorian Aboriginal children’s commissioner says

Victoria’s former Aboriginal children’s commissioner has called for increased allowances for kinship and foster carers in a bid to increase the pool of First Nations people looking after children in out-of-home care, and ensuring they remain connected to culture.

Andrew Jackomos, who held the commissioner role for five years between 2013 to 2018 and was the first person to hold an Aboriginal children watchdog role, has also appealed for greater safeguards to ensure Indigenous siblings in the out-of-home care system remain in contact.

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NT police officer denies Kumanjayi Walker text was ‘angry racist message’ to ‘protect boy in blue’

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Inquest into death of Aboriginal man hears text describing Walker as ‘shit cunt’ was forwarded to Zachary Rolfe

A Northern Territory sergeant who described the Aboriginal victim of a police shooting as a “shit cunt” in a text message in which he also told a colleague how to “answer his critics” in relation to the shooting has denied it was an “angry racist message designed to protect a boy in blue”.

Sergeant Ian Nankivell gave evidence on Thursday at an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, who was shot dead by Constable Zachary Rolfe at the remote community of Yuendumu in 2019. Rolfe was cleared of criminal charges including murder in relation to the shooting.

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Spears stolen by Captain Cook from Kamay/Botany Bay in 1770 to be returned to traditional owners

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Held by Cambridge University for more than 250 years, the spears mark ‘first point in shared history’

Four spears stolen from Kamay, now known as Botany Bay in Sydney, by Captain James Cook, a then Lieutenant, and his crew, are to be returned to their traditional owners after more than 250 years.

The Kamay spears were among 40 recorded as being taken on to the HMB Endeavour in 1770, at the time of first contact between those aboard the ship and the local Gweagal people.

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NSW ‘effectively abandoned’ strategy to have less Indigenous children in care, ombudsman finds

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Report says Aboriginal kids now account for 43.8% of children in out-of home care, up from 38.4%

The New South Wales government has been lashed for effectively abandoning its own strategy to reduce the representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care and failing its own targets.

The state ombudsman, Paul Miller, handed down a scathing report into the five-year Aboriginal Outcomes Strategy (AOS), noting that since its 2017 launch the Department of Communities and Justice appears to have abandoned it without explanation.

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Deputy commissioner highly critical of botched arrest of Kumanjayi Walker, inquest hears

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Murray Smalpage tells coroner he is ‘struggling to find a reason’ for deviation from arrest plan on day Warlpiri teen was killed by Zachary Rolfe

The Northern Territory police’s second-highest serving officer has told an inquest he is “struggling to find a reason why” there was such a deviation from the “detailed” plan to arrest Warlpiri teenager Kumanjayi Walker on the day he was shot and killed by Constable Zachary Rolfe.

Walker, 19, was shot dead by Rolfe during a botched arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in 2019. Rolfe was cleared of all criminal charges in relation to the shooting.

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Opposition criticises super proposal – as it happened

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‘Really clear’ wages are not driving inflation, Tony Burke says

Circling back to the interview with employment relations minister, Tony Burke. He’s asked about soaring corporate profits, which were up more than 10% in the December quarter compared to wages which rose 2.6%, and whether that demonstrates that it’s corporate profits driving inflation – as the union movement is arguing – not wages.

It is really clear that wages are not driving inflation, are not the principal driver of inflation here. It’s really clear we don’t have some sort of spiral of inflation being caused by high wage growth. It’s also really clear we don’t have high wage growth.

I was pleased that the last wage price increase got up to 3.3%. To the extent that that’s the highest it’s been for some time and had we not taken actions that we took last year, particularly with respect to the minimum wage and awards, you wouldn’t have got to figure as high as but it’s still much, much lower than inflation.

Supermax prisoners are served better food than the workers building Snowy Hydro 2.0.

You have workers living, literally locked up in a camp with limited recreational facilities in the middle of nowhere, being fed maggot-infested food.

The problem is the joint venture who was awarded the contract is pinching every penny they can to try and improve their profit margin.

The whole site’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

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NSW police says Lidia Thorpe will not be charged for blocking its Mardi Gras float

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Social media video shows senator laying in front of police float, temporarily blocking Oxford Street parade

New South Wales police has confirmed it will not charge Senator Lidia Thorpe for temporarily blocking the Sydney Mardi Gras parade on Saturday night.

Thorpe lay down in front of the NSW police float on Oxford Street, momentarily stopping the parade, to boos from the crowd.

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Indigenous prisoner spent less than an hour in medical unit after emergency, Victorian coroner told

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Inquest hears Michael Suckling struggled with drug addiction, back pain, mobility issues and significant weight gain in prison

A First Nations man who died in a Melbourne prison was the subject of a “code black” medical emergency two days earlier, but spent less than an hour in a healthcare unit before being returned to his cell, an inquest has heard.

Michael Suckling, 41, died on 7 March 2021 at Ravenhall Correctional Centre in Melbourne’s west from an enlarged heart.

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