Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Remains of 18 Indigenous people held by UK museums return to Australia

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Return is part of painstaking effort to recover thousands of ancestors stolen from traditional lands who now lie in more than 20 countries

The remains of 18 Indigenous people have been returned to Australia by two British museums, part of the laborious and painstaking effort to recover thousands of ancestors stolen from their traditional lands which now lie in more than 20 countries around the world.

At midnight Australia time on Wednesday, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum returned 17 ancestors to the custodianship of the federal government, which will hold them while further research is undertaken “to determine the traditional custodians”. Another was given to the custodianship of the south-east First Nations people of South Australia, who were represented by Robyn Campbell.

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Indigenous voice referendum should be sooner rather than later, Uluru statement co-chairs say

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Pat Anderson and Prof Megan Davis urge Labor to not waste momentum and call on the media to ‘rise to this occasion’

The Uluru Statement from the Heart co-chair Pat Anderson has urged the federal government to not waste “momentum” for the Indigenous voice to parliament, calling for a referendum on the constitutional change sooner rather than later.

Anderson said the national vote could occur in October 2023, the most recently proposed of many mooted dates, as she called for the nation’s media to “rise to this occasion” in reporting on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

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Queensland eases alcohol restrictions for Cape York community amid trend away from prohibition

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Equivalent of 12 cans of mid-strength beer can be carried in Pormpuraaw, leaving just five ‘dry’ communities

Queensland has taken another step towards ending its prohibition on alcohol in remote Indigenous communities, with restrictions being eased in Pormpuraaw, on Cape York.

The community of about 600 people on the western coast of Cape York is among 15 local government areas in Queensland where alcohol is restricted and was among a handful in which it was banned entirely.

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‘Not fit for purpose’: government looks to amend ‘antiquated’ referendum laws ahead of voice vote

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Linda Burney says government will propose changes to modernise the century-old act before the end of the year

A leading constitutional expert says Australia’s century-old laws around referendums are “not fit for purpose”, suggesting the government could look to amend rules around donations, funding disclosures and social media advertising before the voice to parliament vote.

Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, said the government would propose changes to “modernise” the Referendum Act before the end of the year, and promised a civics campaign and more information about the voice campaign in early 2023.

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Australia news live: Ed Husic says government must intervene in gas market; Pocock backs fossil fuels super profits tax

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Industry minister says gas companies are ‘not picking up the signals’. Follow all the day’s news live

Gas supply not a problem, ‘glut of greed is’, industry minister says

Husic:

This is not a shortage of supply problem; this is a glut of greed problem, that has to be basically short-circuited and common sense prevail.

The pricing mechanism is the one that I think needs to be seriously examined.

The LNG exporters are offering gas to the domestic market at prices they couldn’t reasonably expect on the international market.

We have the ACCC looking at that [code of conduct] and that code of conduct is to help better guide the way in which these contracts get negotiated … in terms of the other areas, we want to work through that internally.

If you look at what the treasurer has said over the last few days, he is examining those type of options and again that will be in the mix of things he thinks through.

I think the bigger focus long-term is the price mechanism.

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Zachary Rolfe bragged about injuring innocent man, Kumanjayi Walker inquest told

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‘Treated him to the old illegal shoulder charge,’ Northern Territory police officer wrote in text message, inquiry hears

A Northern Territory police officer who fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker bragged about injuring a man wrongly suspected of escaping custody, an inquest has heard.

Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on 9 November 2019.

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‘Don’t run from police’: Zachary Rolfe boasted to mother about injuring suspect, inquest told

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NT inquiry into death of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 hears Rolfe separately bragged to paramedic he ‘mashed some dude’s face against a wall’

A Northern Territory police officer who shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker bragged to his mother about injuring another man wrongly suspected of escaping custody, an inquest has heard.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Const Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, in November 2019.

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Cassius Turvey’s mother urges calm at vigils saying she is angry but ‘violence breeds violence’

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Mechelle Turvey says ‘outpouring of tributes across the nation has been so appreciated’ after her son was allegedly murdered

The mother of schoolboy Cassius Turvey, allegedly murdered in Perth, has called for calm ahead of nationwide vigils to honour her son who she says was the “heart and soul” of the local community.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with the Indigenous teenager’s murder after the alleged attack on 13 October when Cassius and several of his friends were walking home from school in Middle Swan.

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Zachary Rolfe ‘humiliated’ Indigenous teen in violent arrest before Walker shooting, inquest told

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Video from Rolfe’s body-worn camera shows him approach wheelie bin with 14-year-old hiding inside before slamming lid and pulling bin to ground

The Northern Territory police officer who shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker was involved in an earlier arrest of another Indigenous youth that was allegedly violent and humiliating, an inquest has been told.

The inquiry into the death of 19-year-old Walker – who was shot during a bungled arrest in Yuendumu in 2019 – was played a video on Tuesday of Const Zachary Rolfe detaining a 14-year-old boy in 2018.

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Construction of First Nations cultural centre in SA halted amid budget blowout

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Initially slated for 2025 at a cost of $200m, the Tarrkarri project is now $50m over budget and will be reviewed early next year

Work on Tarrkarri, slated as “the world’s leading First Nations cultural centre”, has been suspended amid cost blowouts.

The construction of Tarrkarri, which means “the future” in Kaurna, began in December 2021 in Adelaide, and it was due to open in 2025.

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Growing prison populations in Australia are costing $4.2bn a year despite falling crime rates, Labor says

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Government would have saved $2.6bn if incarceration rate had remained at 1985 level, assistant treasury minister Andrew Leigh says

Taxpayers are each forking out $140 more a year for prisons than would be needed if Australia maintained its 1985 rates of incarceration, according to Andrew Leigh.

The assistant treasury minister will reveal the cost of Australia’s rising incarceration rates in a speech to the Australian Institute of Criminology on Monday.

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‘You people’: second-top cop accused of racialised language towards Queensland First Nations leaders

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Exclusive: Deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski allegedly pointed finger at senior elder in ‘aggressive’ and ‘disrespectful’ way

First Nations leaders claim Queensland’s second-most senior police officer became angry and aggressive during a meeting with them, pointing his finger at a senior elder and saying “you people” don’t run the organisation.

Amid wider claims of serious and systemic racism levelled at the Queensland police service (QPS) at a state inquiry, the relationship between the organisation and its formal First Nations advisory body appears to have substantially broken down.

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Aboriginal cultural heritage protected as NSW rejects Glendell coalmine expansion

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Wonnarua people want Ravensworth Homestead added to the state heritage register and to become a site of reconciliation

The New South Wales independent planning commission has for the first time ruled against a coalmine extension in Singleton.

Scott Franks and Robert Lester, representatives of the Plains Clans of the Wonnarua People (PCWP), learned this week that priceless Wonnarua cultural heritage in the Upper Hunter region – centred on the Ravensworth Homestead – would be protected because the planning commission had denied Glencore’s Glendell coalmine expansion.

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Sophie Nicholls is a freelance writer based in the Hunter Valley

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Parks director should be accountable for ‘offence’ to Kakadu sacred site, protection authority says

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AAPA seeks leave to appeal against NT supreme court decision that found director is exempt from prosecution under state’s laws

A fight to hold Parks Australia to account over a walking track built through a sacred site in the Kakadu national park could be heading to the high court after a lower court found a Northern Territory law did not apply to the federal organisation.

The Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) has sought leave to appeal against a decision by the NT supreme court in September which found the director of Parks Australia was exempt from prosecution under the NT Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act.

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Land clearing at Queensland’s Deebing Creek angers Indigenous protesters

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Bulldozers were halted after activists and First Nations people held a smoking ceremony at the site

Clearing has begun on land in south-eastern Queensland upon which Indigenous protesters claim the bones of their ancestors lay and an unrecognised massacre took place.

Bulldozers on the former Deebing Creek Aboriginal reserve were halted on Friday, however, when the protesters held a smoking ceremony on the site on Ipswich’s southern outskirts.

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Cassius Turvey killing: mother questions why police took only a brief statement before he died

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‘We did not hear from any detectives, no police. Nothing. For five full days. That was their opportunity’ said Mechelle Turvey

The grieving mother of 15-year-old Cassius Turvey, killed in an alleged violent attack in Perth, has paid tribute to her son while questioning why police took only a brief statement from the schoolboy before he died in hospital.

Mechelle Turvey, the mother of the year 9 student, said the family has been left heartbroken after the attack. She remembered him as a “young leader” who loved basketball, school and his friends. The Noongar teenager died on the weekend.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest: flying doctor pilots feared remote NT community runway may have been ‘sabotaged’, court told

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Teenager died on floor of Yuendumu police station as pilots allegedly argued about state of the runway

The Royal Flying Doctor Service refused to fly to an Indigenous community after a police officer shot and severely wounded Kumanjayi Walker, a Northern Territory inquest has been told.

The 19-year-old died on the floor of the Yuendumu police station as the pilots allegedly argued about the state of the runway in the remote community north-west of Alice Springs.

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Housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services to receive extra $560m in federal budget

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Exclusive: The partial indexation of funding aims to help community organisations cope with rising costs

Community organisations such as housing, Indigenous and domestic violence services will receive an extra $560m over four years in Labor’s first budget since its re-election.

The partial indexation of funding revealed by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, aims to help community services keep up with rising costs.

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Brisbane-based Indigenous art collective proppaNOW wins prestigious global prize

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Curator at school which awards Jane Lombard Prize says the artists’ work would ‘galvanise arts and social justice communities’ in New York


Indigenous Australian art collective proppaNOW has won a prestigious prize that will take them to New York next year after the selecting jury found their practices would serve as “models for political empowerment throughout the world”.

But don’t expect traditional Aboriginal artworks.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest: senior NT constable justifies attending ‘drinks’ at Zachary Rolfe’s house after shooting

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Senior Constable Shane McCormack says he went to social gathering two days after Rolfe killed Walker because he was concerned for his welfare

A senior Northern Territory police officer has told an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker that he attended a gathering at the house of the officer who shot the Warlpiri teenager because he was concerned about his welfare.

Constable Zachary Rolfe shot 19-year-old Walker three times during an attempted arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, in November 2019. Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges after a six-week trial earlier this year.

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