Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Lidia Thorpe says she ‘will not be campaigning no’ against Indigenous voice to parliament

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Tom Calma, who is helping design the voice, says the Greens are unnecessarily adding to confusion over upcoming referendum

The Greens’ First Nations spokesperson, Lidia Thorpe, says she will not back a “no” campaign against an Indigenous voice to parliament, despite previously criticising the government’s proposal as a “wasted exercise”.

On Tuesday, a report in the Australian newspaper suggested Thorpe had spoken with Indigenous businessman Warren Mundine about their joint opposition to a referendum on the voice. The federal government is committed to holding a plebiscite in this term of parliament.

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Man shot dead by police in Brisbane – as it happened

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Queensland police say officers had been called to Edmonstone Street in South Brisbane around 3pm. This blog is now closed

Treasurer says surging electricity costs will make inflation ‘hang around longer’

We brought you the grim news on the blog yesterday that the head of Alinta energy has predicated a 35% increase to retail electricity bills next year, as energy providers juggle phasing out fossil fuels alongside investment in renewables.

I think one of the reasons this inflation will hang around longer than we want it to is because there are expectations around these electricity price rises being more problematic for longer.

You’ve said the government would put the economy above politics, can you really say that’s what you doing if you leave the stage-three tax cuts in place as they are?

I can say that, and I think what people will see in the budget in two weeks’ time is some difficult decisions in difficult times.

Our job is to make sure that our budgets are perfectly calibrated to the economic conditions as we confront them.

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Jeff Kennett says Hawthorn racism allegations a ‘bump along the highway’ as WorkSafe investigates claims

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Outgoing president insists AFL club is not in crisis as WorkSafe urges anyone who experienced or witnessed ‘health and safety concerns’ to contact them

Outgoing Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the leaking of racism allegations at the AFL club is “unfair” and he hopes the issue can be resolved by the end of the year as WorkSafe Victoria announced it was investigating the claims.

Kennett said on Saturday night the club was not in crisis and he described the serious allegations as a “bump along the highway”. Kennett was speaking at the club’s best and fairest awards function.

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Current cybersecurity laws ‘absolutely useless’, Clare O’Neil says – as it happened

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On Optus, Dreyfus describes the incident as a “wake-up call for corporate Australia” and flags changes to the Privacy Act.

Keeping the very personal data of customers who had ceased to be customers years ago. I have yet to hear a reason why that was going on. And Optus failed to keep the information safe.

Companies throughout Australia should stop regarding all of this personal data of Australians as an asset to them, they should think of it as a liability. This is a wake-up call for corporate Australia.

We will look very hard at the settings in the Privacy Act. I may be bringing reforms to the Privacy Act before the end of the year, to try to both toughen penalties and make companies think harder about why they are storing the personal data of Australians.

That report this morning is simply, in in one of newspapers is wrong. Union officials are not excluded. Any third party seeking to adversely affect public decisions making in corrupt way will be subject to investigation by the commission.

The activities set up under this bill for this commission are directed at the public sector in Australia. It’s not directed at private activity. It’s directed at the public sector and is interaction third parties have with public officials, adversely affecting the way they go about their duties in a formal, honest manner.

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‘Socialism sucks’ stickers on display as CPAC Australia stokes fears of Indigenous voice

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Speaker after speaker – after wheeling out standard complaints about progressive politicians – poured scorn on the voice concept

Saturday’s CPAC conference in Sydney showed Australia’s political right is gearing up for a fight against the government’s proposed Indigenous voice to parliament – and highlighted the potential political perils of Anthony Albanese keeping many details of the constitutional change out of the public arena for now.

The Conservative Political Action Conference filled a small corner of the International Convention Centre, bringing a mixed assortment of federal senators, rightwing media personalities and international guests together for an audience of around 900. A hodge-podge of topics boiled down to broad grievances around “cancel culture”, “shadow banning” and “wokeism”; speakers variously criticised the “conservative cowardice” of Coalition politicians, the mainstream media and talk of “white privilege”.

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Tony Abbott tells CPAC an Indigenous voice to parliament would promote ‘discrimination’

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Former Australian prime minister, senator Jacinta Price and former senator Amanda Stoker attack voice at conservative conference

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has claimed the Labor government’s proposed Indigenous voice to parliament would “institutionalise discrimination” in a speech to a conservative political conference that focused heavily on criticisms of the Aboriginal consultation body.

The Coalition senator and Warlpiri woman Jacinta Price, who also spoke at CPAC in Sydney, described the voice as “racial separatism”, telling attendees they would be “called a name” if they opposed the change. Former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker described the concept of the voice as “terrifying”.

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NSW renames national park over pastoralist Ben Boyd’s links to slavery in Pacific

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New name Beowa means orca in Thaua language and comes after consultation with Aboriginal and South Sea Islander communities

A national park in New South Wales that was named after a pastoralist linked to the slave trade has been renamed.

The move to rename Ben Boyd national park was announced last year and new signs were installed at Beowa national park near Eden on Friday.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest: racism a ‘broader’ issue in NT police, superintendent says

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Jody Nobbs questioned about text messages between Constable Zachary Rolfe and other police officers that used racist language

The superintendent formerly in charge of central desert remote communities has told an inquest into the police shooting death of 19-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker that racism is a “broader” issue within the Northern Territory police force.

Walker was shot three times by Constable Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest by the immediate response team in Yuendumu in November 2019.

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First ad for yes vote on Indigenous voice asks all Australians to talk about referendum

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‘History is calling’, according to ad from Uluru Dialogue group, which says it’s the start of a ‘journey of nation-building’

The first ad campaign to encourage a yes vote in a referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is an emotive pitch targeted at everyday Australians from different walks of life.

The Uluru Dialogue group has produced the ad to support its voice referendum campaign, “History is calling”. It coincides with one local council making a call for 1,000 volunteers to sign up for a training program to raise support for a yes vote.

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‘They belong to Waramungu’: New Zealand museum agrees to return items to Indigenous Australians

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Warumungu people in Northern Territory negotiate return of four objects collected by anthropologist Baldwin Spencer in the early 1900s

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Four objects from the Warumungu people will be returned from a New Zealand museum to country in the Northern Territory.

Two hooked boomerangs (wartilykirri), an adze (palya/kupija) and an axe (ngurrulumuru) were collected by well-known anthropologist Baldwin Spencer and telegraph operator James Field.

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Fears for Indigenous rock art as construction begins on WA’s Burrup peninsula

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Ex-chair of Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation says hydrogen plant, gas facility and proposed urea plant are all threats to cultural sites

Traditional custodians fighting to protect ancient rock art on the Burrup peninsula have raised concerns that construction work has begun at multiple sites despite the federal government ordering a cultural heritage assessment of the area.

The peninsula in northern Western Australia is home to industrial operations including of the country’s largest gas producer Woodside, the Yara Pilbara ammonia plant and a proposed urea plant by Indian company Perdaman.

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Australia’s cashless debit card to become voluntary from 4 October, Labor says

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Legislation to end mandatory scheme delayed by death of Queen Elizabeth II but now expected to pass next week

People on the cashless debit card will be able to leave the program from early October after legislation to abolish the mandatory income management program was delayed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Albanese government announced the updated timeline late Friday, along with the details of a new “enhanced” card which people who choose to remain on the income management program will be able to use. They also announced $67m in additional social supports for communities transitioning off the card.

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Author of Hawthorn review says alleged mistreatment of Indigenous players ‘like a nightmare’

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Phil Egan says he has not heard anything like those allegations before at a football club and there should now be an audit of all clubs

The author of a damaging review into Hawthorn Football Club that contained allegations of serious mistreatment of First Nations former players has described the findings as “like a nightmare”.

The club engaged consultant Phil Egan, a former Richmond player, to conduct an external review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s experiences with the Hawks. The review will not be publicly released but the ABC has reported some of its findings.

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Australia news live: China meeting ‘constructive’, Penny Wong says; up to 9.8m Optus customers affected by data breach

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The foreign minister is in New York City for the UN general assembly. Follow the day’s news live

In New South Wales politics this has just happened:

The Senate is also up and about with a condolence motion being held in the upper house as well.

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AFL greats shocked at Hawthorn report into alleged racism

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Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Shaun Burgoyne react to allegations First Nations players were mistreated

Hawthorn greats Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge and Shaun Burgoyne have expressed shock at allegations First Nations players were mistreated by the club, including distressing claims they were separated from their families.

The ABC on Wednesday reported the contents of a Hawthorn-commissioned review based on interviews with First Nations players, with the ABC’s report including an allegation that Hawthorn pressured one couple to terminate a pregnancy.

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Backlash grows over decision to scrap Victorian hospital’s Indigenous name in favour of Queen Elizabeth II

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Daniel Andrews defends plan to change name of Maroondah hospital from Woiwurrung word that celebrates the natural environment

Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly has accused the Andrews government of making a hospital in Melbourne’s east “culturally unsafe” for Indigenous Australians after it vowed to rename the site in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, dumping its Indigenous name.

In a pre-election pledge on Sunday, Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, promised to rebuild the Maroondah hospital, in East Ringwood, at a cost of $1bn and rename it to pay tribute to the Queen.

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Federal government urged to extend voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds and prisoners

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Submissions into 2022 election inquiry include calls for regulation of ‘electoral lies’ and stricter caps on political donations

The Albanese government is being urged to expand voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds and people in prison in submissions to an inquiry into the 2022 election.

The academic Prof George Williams has proposed voluntary voting for 16 and 17-year-olds, and regulating “electoral lies” to prevent “baseless claims” such as Donald Trump’s about unproven electoral fraud in the US.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest hears ‘negative interactions’ between police and Aboriginal people could ‘normalise’ racism

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Senior constable says he has not heard officers use racist slurs but agrees unchecked frustration could lead to generalisations

• Warning: This story contains offensive and racist slurs heard in court

An inquest into the police shooting death of Northern Territory man Kumanjayi Walker has been told “negative interactions” with Indigenous Australians could to lead to “normalised” racism within the police force.

Walker, 19, was shot three times by the NT police constable Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in November 2019. Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges after a six-week trial in the supreme court in Darwin earlier this year.

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‘Racist and disgusting’: inquest into Kumanjayi Walker death hears of ‘shocking’ texts sent by Zachary Rolfe

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• Warning: this story contains extremely offensive language heard in court

Court hears police constable Rolfe talked of having ‘smashed’ Aboriginal community and described local people as ‘neanderthals’

An inquest into the police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker has heard that Zachary Rolfe, the constable acquitted of his murder, was involved in text message exchanges in which officers described Aboriginal people as “losers”, “grubby fucks”, “coons” and “niggas”, and discussed using force to “towel them up”.

Walker, 19, was shot three times by Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in November 2019. Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges after a six-week trial in the NT supreme court in Darwin earlier this year.

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Indigenous man’s death in Victorian custody the second in a month

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Family of 38-year-old Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man Clinton Austin say he was let down by police and justice systems

An Aboriginal prisoner in central Victoria has become the second Indigenous person to die in custody in the state in a matter of weeks.

Clinton Austin, a 38-year-old Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man, died at Loddon prison near Castlemaine in Victoria on Sunday. Austin’s family has said they are devastated by his death.

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