Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Melbourne council moves to abandon Australia Day citizenship ceremonies

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Federal government tight-lipped on whether it will allow ceremonies on other dates as Merri-bek council votes on change

The future of citizenship ceremonies at three Melbourne councils hangs in the balance, as the federal government refuses to reveal whether it will revoke a Coalition-era policy that forces the ceremonies to be held on 26 January.

The Greens-led Merri-bek council, in Melbourne’s north, on Wednesday voted to abandon Australia Day citizenship ceremonies and instead honour the date with a mourning event to recognise the dispossession of Indigenous Australians.

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Victoria’s child protection system is creating ‘new stolen generation’, Aboriginal leader says

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Condemnation comes as the state’s truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice commission, prepares to hold hearings on the subject from Monday

Aboriginal leaders say Victoria’s “culturally unsafe” child protection system is creating “a new stolen generation”, as the state’s truth-telling inquiry prepares to hold hearings on the subject from Monday.

Last year, one in nine Aboriginal babies aged under one was taken away from their families by the state of Victoria, more than double the national average.

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Indigenous voice opponents say Labor is being ‘disingenuous’ on funding for campaigns

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Warren Mundine criticises government for giving tax-free status to yes vehicle but not an equivalent no group

Opponents of the voice to parliament claim the federal government is being “disingenuous” by declining to provide public funding to the respective sides of the debate, but say the growing no campaign will reach out to corporate Australia for funding.

The main campaign vehicle in favour of Indigenous constitutional recognition has backed the proposed amendments to laws governing referendums, as well as promising a major escalation in their campaigning early in 2023.

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Grieving family pays tribute to pregnant woman who died in Perth after being hit by concrete block

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Noongar woman Diane Miller and her unborn baby died in hospital three days after incident at Waterford Plaza shopping centre

Instead of planning a baby shower, Diane Miller’s family is preparing for her funeral.

The pregnant 30-year-old Noongar woman’s life support was switched off at 2am on Friday, three days after she was struck in the head with a concrete missile that was launched into her open passenger-side window at a Karawara shopping centre in Perth’s south-east.

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‘It’s awakened a consciousness in me’: Collingwood urges AFL clubs to conduct racism reviews

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Magpies implement 14 recommendations of Do Better review with four in progress as president Jeff Browne says new systems will build inclusive club

Collingwood says it is making strides to remove the stain of racism and wants other AFL teams to learn from its lessons, two years after an external review found systemic racism within the club.

The Do Better report, the result of an independent review in 2020 by the Jumbunna Institute, outlined 18 recommendations for Collingwood to transform its processes, values and culture to become a more inclusive workplace – all of which were adopted by the club.

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Labor adds extra week of Senate estimates – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Milton Dick also makes these recommendations for things he believes may improve the parliament:

Offensive words or reflections on Members Standing Orders 88 to 90, for example, provide that Members should not use offensive words or cast adverse reflections on Members, but they do not refer specifically to language or behaviour that is sexist or otherwise exclusionary or discriminatory. Revisions to these Standing Orders, so that they explicitly include that this type of conduct is highly disorderly, would be advantageous to the Chair in ruling on such matters.

Education and procedural support

Sanctions against disorder Under Standing Order 94{a), the Speaker may direct a Member to leave the Chamber for one hour if the Member’s conduct is considered disorderly. At times, this direction to leave can be advantageous to a Member or be worn as a ‘badge of honour’.

If a Member’s conduct is grossly disorderly, the Speaker can choose to name the Member in accordance with Standing Order 94{b), but in practice this option is not often used and not used for ordinary offences. It would assist the Speaker to have additional options to sanction a Member for disorderly conduct. For example, choices for increased penalties of time, and/or the introduction of cascading penalties of time for continued disorder, would be a disincentive to Members to be ejected.

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Australia politics live: Dutton says Coalition won’t support motion to censure Morrison – but Archer says she is ‘inclined to’

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The censure motion against Scott Morrison over multiple ministries scandal will be debated in House of Representatives tomorrow. Follow the day’s news live

Bipartisanship cedes to brinkmanship in battle over integrity commission

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus is preparing to stare down the Liberals and the Greens over an amendment to the national anti-corruption commission legislation which Dreyfus says risks establishing the commission and the Liberals and Greens say will ensure it won’t be political.

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David Littleproud is a ‘kindergarten kid’ whose Nationals will be ‘left behind’ on voice, Noel Pearson says

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Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price caught in a ‘tragic redneck celebrity vortex’ and ‘punching down on other Blackfellas’, Cape York leader says

The Cape York leader Noel Pearson has called the National party leader, David Littleproud, a “kindergarten kid” whose party is in danger of being “left behind in history” after it decided to oppose an Indigenous voice to parliament.

In a blistering interview with ABC radio on Tuesday, Pearson also accused the Northern Territory Country Liberal party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price of being drawn into a “a tragic redneck celebrity vortex”.

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National party won’t support Indigenous voice to parliament, saying it won’t close the gap

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The Liberals are yet to reach a position on the referendum, which is expected by the end of 2023

The Nationals will not support the proposal for a voice to parliament, putting a dent in hopes for bipartisan support for a referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

The Liberal party is still to settle its party room position on the pending referendum, but at least some members of the junior Coalition partner will campaign actively against the change.

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Dutton given official warning by Speaker – as it happened

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How can strengthening federal laws stop the destruction of sacred heritage sites?

Tanya Plibersek:

I think I think it’s really worth having a look at the two inquiries that the the parliament undertook into the Juukan Gorge destruction because it describes not just the failure of laws, but the failure of process and the failure of people to listen and that happened at the commonwealth level and it also happened at the West Australian state government level.

The other thing that it describes is a company that paid lip service to consultation and really, you know, really didn’t do what it should have done when Aboriginal people said you can’t blow up caves that are 46,000 years old, that have examples of continuous use and habitation that you know, the site of finds like a 4,000-year-old hair belt, and tools that are tens of thousands of years old.

There’s absolutely a sense of urgency to ensure that this sort of cultural heritage destruction doesn’t happen again.

I completely agree with that, but a very strong message from the the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance is also that they genuinely want to sit at the table to work through these issues in partnership and cooperation.

Yeah, I’m not going to put I’m not going to put a timeline on it yet. I think that’s something that we determined as we work through the complexity of these issues, and there are a lot of complexities involved.

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Liberals expected to give MPs freedom to campaign as they wish on Indigenous voice

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Peter Dutton says Coalition is still in discussions but sources say free vote is likely, in defiance of John Howard’s advice

The Liberal party is expected to allow members the freedom to campaign however they wish on the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, defying advice from former prime minister John Howard.

There is a broad range of views in the opposition on Labor’s plan for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, but even Liberal supporters say the government must give more information about the voice and conduct a parliamentary inquiry before they could pledge their support.

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Former senior NT police officer tells inquest failure to probe complaints of excessive use of force was ‘corrupt’

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NT police service ‘needs to be able to deal with badness in itself’, coronial inquiry into police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker told

A former senior Northern Territory police officer has told the Kumanjayi Walker inquest that the force’s failure to adequately investigate excessive use of force complaints was corrupt.

Former assistant commissioner, Nick Anticich, told the coronial inquiry into the shooting death of Walker in 2019 that the failure to adequately investigate alleged incidents in Alice Springs was “wrong and shouldn’t have happened”.

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Indigenous advocates call for ban on unmuzzled police dogs in WA as ‘disturbing pattern’ emerges

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Push comes after 13-year-old Noongar boy left ‘traumatised’ and needing skin grafts following mauling in Perth

Western Australia police have been urged to stop using unmuzzled dogs, as the state’s Aboriginal Legal Service raises concerns about the “disproportionate” number of canine-assisted arrests involving First Nations people.

The ALSWA said it was supporting the family of 13-year-old Noongar boy Jayden Abraham, who was hospitalised and needed surgery after being mauled by a police dog during an incident in Perth earlier this month.

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Inquest into death of Aboriginal man Stanley Russell shown disturbing footage of moment he was shot by police

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Graphic footage showed police shooting Russell at least five times in a house in Sydney’s west in November 2021

A New South Wales court has seen graphic footage of police shooting an Aboriginal man at least five times in the “obstructed tunnel” of a narrow hallway of a house in Sydney’s west, during an attempted arrest in November 2021.

Gomeroi man Stanley Russell, 45, was shot dead by police in his aunt’s home in western Sydney on 9 November 2021, after they had come to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

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Mother of Aboriginal man injured in apparent vigilante attack condemns Facebook abuse

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Kathy Penny calls on social media companies to put a stop to ‘hatred and revenge’ following comments about her son

A Noongar woman whose teenage son was seriously injured in an apparent vigilante attack says she has been threatened and abused online, but has urged supporters not to retaliate.

Kathy Penny’s 18-year-old son, Ronaldo, was left in a critical condition when a 49-year-old woman chased him and his friend through Perth’s northern suburbs after it was alleged they had stolen a motorcycle. The woman has pleaded guilty to charges of driving dangerously and causing aggravated grievous bodily harm.

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News live updates: Medibank, Optus among companies shunning privacy law hearing in ‘collective failure of corporate Australia’

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Greens senator David Shoebridge has criticised notable absences at a Senate committee looking at privacy laws today. Follow the day’s news live

ADF personnel to help in NSW as government works on dedicated disaster workforce

Murray Watt is asked about a permanent disaster workforce to assist during national disasters and their clean-up, given the pressure put on the defence force.

The ADF does certainly play a role, particularly in the recovery phase. And just yesterday we activated more defence forces to go into western New South Wales to assist so over the next couple of days, we expect to see 200 defence force personnel helping there to top up these state-based services. But the reality is all of this is putting a huge amount of pressure, whether it be on those state-based services or the ADF. And that’s why in this budget, we committed over $30m to a volunteer veteran organisation called Disaster Relief Australia to sort of top up the kind of services that are available for communities, particularly in that clean-up phase.

But we’re going to be keeping on doing some work on this about what we need to put in place as a country to supplement the ADF and I’d be hopeful that we might be able to bring that to a conclusion around about the budget next year.

There’s insurance costs so let alone the huge damage bill that individuals are going to be incurring themselves.

So I think everyone is unfortunately going to be having to put their hands in their pockets for for this unfolding event that just won’t go away.

So even if we weren’t to get any more rain, we’re going to be looking at even more damage from the existing flood waters. And, as I say, I think we’re likely to see more. We’ve also got to remember that we haven’t yet seen the cyclone season start whether that be in north Queensland, Western Australia or Northern Territory. So unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of good news for people except for the fact that there is unlikely to be a lot of rain over the next couple of days. So that’s a good thing.

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Queensland watch house whistleblower labelled ‘dog’ in Facebook group for police

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Exclusive: current and former officers appear to be involved in the conversation about the whistleblower on a private group

A Queensland police whistleblower who leaked audio recordings of officers using racist and violent language has been called a “rat” and a “dog” in a private Facebook group for police officers.

The QPS has apologised for the “sickening and disturbing” Brisbane city watch house recordings – which included comments that black people should be beaten and buried – and said the incidents are being investigated.

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Leaked audio reveals cultural problems in Queensland police force, human rights commissioner says

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Scott McDougall calls for independent scrutiny of police after recordings reveal racist and violent language at Brisbane watch house

Queensland’s human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, says “clear” and “pervasive” cultural problems are plaguing the state’s police force after leaked audio revealed violent and racist conversations by Queensland police staff.

Police service officers at the Brisbane city police watch house can be heard using racist slurs and offensive language while working in the holding cells, referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos”, and raising fears that Australia “will be fucking taken over” in a series of leaked tapes published by the Guardian Australia on Sunday.

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NT federal Labor MP says families need to be more accountable for youth crime

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State proposal to take unsupervised children off Alice Springs streets a ‘Band-Aid solution’ that will fail, Marion Scrymgour says

Federal Labor MP Marion Scrymgour says a Northern Territory government plan to take unsupervised children off the streets at night is “putting a Band-Aid on the situation” and she is calling for traditional owners “to show leadership on the issue”.

Scrymgour has raised concerns about the proposal in which children undertaking “risky” behaviour in Alice Springs at night would be taken into custody for assessment, and removed from their families if they are found to be continuously unsupervised.

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New child removal protections passed but NSW minister says more can be done to end Indigenous ‘over representation’

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Exclusive: Further changes to new legislation requiring social workers to prove they have made ‘active efforts’ to keep families together will be considered in a year

The minister responsible for child services in New South Wales says she wants to do more to address the “over representation” of Aboriginal children removed from their families, acknowledging the community’s frustration at the slow pace of reform.

On Thursday, the government passed a new bill that requires social workers to prove they have made “active efforts” to keep families together before courts can approve the removal of children from their parents.

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