Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Indigenous teen Cassius Turvey’s alleged murder ‘not racially motivated’, court hears

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Prosecutor tells jury ‘it is not the state’s case’ the alleged murder was racially motivated

A man accused of swinging the weapon that killed an Indigenous teenager says the dead boy stabbed him before a friend allegedly struck the fatal blows, with a court told the attack wasn’t racially motivated.

Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, died in hospital 10 days after he was allegedly struck in the head with a metal pole in Perth’s eastern suburbs on 13 October, 2022.

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‘Keep moving forward’: Yunupingu leads Australia Day honours

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Late Yolŋu Indigenous rights activist appointed companion of the Order of Australia, along with lawyer Megan Davis and refugee advocate Gillian Triggs

The late Yolŋu Indigenous rights activist Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu has posthumously been appointed a companion of the Order of Australia in this year’s Australia Day honours list, where he is joined by emeritus professor Gillian Triggs, the former head of the Australian Human Rights Commission, and Cobble Cobble constitutional lawyer and Indigenous advocate scientia professor Megan Davis.

Yunupingu, a key supporter of the Indigenous voice to parliament, died six months before the referendum on constitutional recognition that was the driving force of the final decades of his life.

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Water quality expert calls for wider PFAS ban as NSW community seeks blood tests on ‘poisoned’ land

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Cost of fixing ‘forever chemical’ pollution should be borne by manufacturers and polluters, not governments and consumers, expert tells Senate inquiry

A water quality expert says the Australian government should expand a planned ban of PFAS as a New South Wales indigenous community called for funding for blood tests for people living on “poisoned” land.

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of several thousand synthetic compounds, are found in a wide variety of products including waterproof fabrics, food packaging, hygiene products and firefighting foam. They are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to break down and persist in the environment for extended periods.

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Australian Music prize: 80-year-old Kankawa Nagarra wins over Nick Cave and Amyl and the Sniffers

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Walmatjarri elder and blues musician wins $50,000 prize for Wirlmarni, saying she hopes it will bring pride to her community in Wangkatjungka

The Walmatjarri elder and blues musician Kankawa Nagarra has won the $50,000 Australian Music prize (AMP) for her debut album Wirlmarni, seeing off competition from Nick Cave, the Dirty Three and Amyl and the Sniffers.

Inspired by the UK’s Mercury prize, the AMP focuses “entirely on artistic merit” and aims to “financially reward and increase exposure” for Australian musicians who release the best album in a calendar year.

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More than 90% of people caught with small amounts of illicit drugs criminalised in NSW despite diversion reforms

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Exclusive: Police used discretion to divert just 6.9% of people caught with personal use quantities of drugs from criminal justice system, data shows

A New South Wales government program that gives police discretion to divert people found with small quantities of illicit drugs away from the courts has only been extended to 6.9% of people caught, including just 2.6% of those who are Indigenous.

The major reform by the Minns government came into effect in February this year and was flagged by the attorney general, Michael Daley, as a way to treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one. Yet data obtained from NSW police under freedom of information shows the vast majority of those caught with illegal drugs continue to be criminalised.

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Pro-brumby activists racially vilified head of Indigenous group, Victorian tribunal finds

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Exclusive: Yorta Yorta woman targeted in campaign by Barmah Brumby Preservation Group that included posters with racist slogans, Vcat finds

A pro-brumby activist organisation racially vilified the then head of an Indigenous group in Victoria through posters and social media posts showing her face and racist slogans, the state’s civil and administrative tribunal has found.

The Barmah Brumby Preservation Group displayed public posters showing the face of Monica Morgan, a Yorta Yorta woman, and racist slogans. Morgan argued at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat) the posters, along with social media posts and comments between 2020 and 2023, incited hatred of her and Yorta Yorta people on the basis of race.

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Tribute to love, resilience and song: Indigenous musical legends Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter immortalised in bronze

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The pair bonded as teenagers after chance meeting at Salvation Army drop-in centre while they were sleeping rough on Adelaide’s streets

Their songs have been the soundtrack to countless marches for justice, family gatherings and community barbecues. Now, Aboriginal music legends Uncle Archie Roach and Aunty Ruby Hunter have been immortalised in bronze.

The permanent tribute to the acclaimed musical couple was unveiled at Atherton Gardens on Saturday in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, with family and friends travelling from across the country to mark the occasion.

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Predatory rent-to-buy operators barred from Centrepay debit system in sweeping Albanese government reforms

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Exclusive: ‘High-risk services’ will be removed, including companies providing consumer leases and household goods

The federal government will boot predatory rent-to-buy operators off its Centrepay debit system as part of sweeping reforms designed to stop the financial abuse of vulnerable Australians.

The reforms, set to be announced Monday, follow a Guardian Australian investigation that revealed shocking failures in the Centrepay system and helped trigger an urgent government review.

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First Nations Voice makes history in South Australia: ‘We are determined to prove you wrong’

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Inaugural address from Leeroy Bilney, outlining racist history of Australia and future challenges, greeted with acclaim

The First Nations Voice has delivered its first message to the South Australian parliament: “We are determined to prove you wrong.”

MPs had to squeeze together to make room for all those who turned up to Wednesday’s special joint sitting to hear the Voice’s inaugural address.

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Zachary Rolfe’s ego played a part in Kumanjayi Walker’s shooting death, NT coroner told

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Coroner urged not to ‘sugarcoat’ police officer’s actions as inquest nears end

Zachary Rolfe’s ego “had a lot to do with” the death of Kumanjayi Walker, and the former police officer “invented” evidence about the Warlpiri man attempting to take his gun before the fatal shooting, a court has heard.

The inquest into the death of Walker is holding its final hearings, almost two years after it was due to be completed.

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‘Crisis’ of domestic violence in NT needs immediate action, advocates say after landmark report released

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Northern Territory domestic homicide rate seven times the national rate, with systemic failings contributing to deaths, coroner’s report finds

Women’s safety advocates are urging governments and the police to take immediate action after a landmark coroner’s report exposed systemic failings that contributed to the deaths of four Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory.

The NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage on Monday handed down findings into the deaths of Miss Yunupiŋu, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Kumarn Rubuntja and Kumanjayi Haywood, making 35 recommendations aimed at stemming what she called the “epidemic of violence”.

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Burnayi Lurnayi: Bendigo development aims to provide safe homes for Aboriginal women

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Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation says the development will help Indigenous women stay in the increasingly unaffordable regional city

Traditional owners have partnered with community housing providers in central Victoria to build a new housing project aimed at addressing the high rates of homelessness faced by Aboriginal women.

The development, named Burnayi Lurnayi, meaning “young women” in Dja Dja Wurrung language, is being built in the Bendigo suburb of Flora Hill, in a partnership between the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (Djarra) and community housing organisation YWCA.

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‘We’ve got a responsibility’: Queensland truth-telling head vows to complete inquiry despite premier’s plan to scrap it

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Commission chair reopens submissions and says report will be finished and tabled in parliament

The head of Queensland’s Indigenous truth-telling and healing commission has vowed to complete the inquiry, defying the government’s plan to eliminate it.

The chairperson, Josh Creamer, restarted the historic inquiry on Friday, 23 days after the new premier, David Crisafulli, ordered it to halt work.

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Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly wants powers over schools’ Indigenous history curriculum

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Co-chair says treaty will not outline specific changes to syllabus but is ‘more about saying this is the role that First Peoples will play’

Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly wants decision-making powers over how the state’s Indigenous history is taught in schools but says a treaty will not outline specific changes to the curriculum.

The assembly – the state’s democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin nation-first treaty talks with the Allan government in the coming days. A state-wide treaty – the first of its kind in Australia – will tackle problems affecting First Nations Victorians.

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Woman wins right to sue Queensland over alleged historic sexual and physical abuse as a ‘state child’

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High court rules Aboriginal woman can pursue damages for abuse allegedly suffered in state care more than 60 years ago

The high court has ruled an Aboriginal woman can pursue damages on some allegations of historical sexual and physical abuse while in state care in Queensland.

The woman, 70, had tried to sue the Queensland government for almost $1.76m in damages, claiming she suffered a psychiatric injury as a “state child” decades ago.

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Alexis Wright wins $60,000 Melbourne literature prize

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The Waanyi writer, who won the Miles Franklin award and Stella prize this year for her novel Praiseworthy, has been recognised for her body of work and contribution to Australian culture

Alexis Wright has been awarded the $60,000 Melbourne prize for literature, capping off an extraordinary year in which she has won more than $200,000 in prize money after the publication of her epic novel, Praiseworthy.

The Melbourne prize for literature, awarded every three years, recognises a Victorian writer whose “body of published work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature and to cultural and intellectual life”. Past winners include Christos Tsiolkas, Alison Lester and Helen Garner.

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Indigenous deaths in custody reach 22 in 11 months as advocates say numbers ‘met with indifference’

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Justice campaigners say 580 Aboriginal deaths since 1991 royal commission point to ‘gross overrepresentation’ in system

Twenty-two Indigenous people have died in custody in just 11 months, according to national data collated by the Australian Institute of Criminology, with justice advocates saying deaths that should spark a “national outcry” are being met with silence.

That means at least 580 Aboriginal people have died in police or prison custody since 1991 – when the royal commission into the matter handed down its final report – according to the AIC’s National Deaths in Custody database, which tracks Indigenous deaths in prison, police custody and youth detention.

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Jacinta Allan warns against ‘American-style division’ as Indigenous treaty negotiations begin in Victoria

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Premier says ‘misinformation’ and ‘fake news’ should not interfere with efforts to improve society, after opposition MP suggests talks being held in ‘secret’

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has warned against “American-style division” surrounding the state’s nation-leading Indigenous treaty, ahead of negotiations beginning this month.

The First Peoples’ Assembly – Victoria’s democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government in the coming weeks.

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Jamie Oliver pulls children’s book from shelves after criticism for ‘stereotyping’ Indigenous Australians

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Billy and the Epic Escape to be withdrawn worldwide after First Nations groups say fantasy novel trivialises complex and painful histories

Jamie Oliver has pulled his children’s book from sale after condemnation from First Nations communities that the fantasy novel is offensive and harmful.

Penguin Random House UK on Sunday notified the Guardian that Billy and the Epic Escape would be withdrawn from sale in all countries where it holds rights, including the UK and Australia.

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Jamie Oliver apologises after his children’s book is criticised for ‘stereotyping’ First Nations Australians

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Exclusive: Publisher takes responsibility for the failure to consult Indigenous groups, who say the fantasy novel trivialises complex and painful histories

Jamie Oliver says he is “devastated” by the offence he has caused to First Nations people and has issued an apology, after calls by Australia’s peak body for Indigenous education for the British celebrity chef to withdraw his children’s book from sale.

Oliver is in Australia promoting his latest cookbook, Simply Jamie, but it is his decision to join a growing flock of celebrity children’s book authors with a 400-page fantasy novel for primary school-age children that has come under fire.

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