Special report: Shootings, poisonings and children driven off cliffs – this is a record of state-sanctioned slaughter
• A massacre map of Australia’s frontier wars – interactive
The truth of Australia’s history has long been hiding in plain sight.
The stories of “the killing times” are the ones we have heard in secret, or told in hushed tones. They are not the stories that appear in our history books yet they refuse to go away.
Continue reading...Indigenous affairs minister uses powers under the NT Lands Right Act to force the council to meet over an alleged conflict of interest
In an unprecedented move, Nigel Scullion has used his powers under the Northern Territory Land Rights Act to compel the Northern Land Council to meet to resolve a perceived conflict of interest involving some of its senior executives.
It’s the first time since the Land Rights Act was introduced in 1976 that a minister for Indigenous affairs has used his powers in this way.
Continue reading...Joint committee calls for further review of bill stripping terrorists of citizenship, as PM hands down Closing the Gap report and Coalition keeps up medical transfers scare campaign. All the day’s events, live
The attorney-general’s office released the transcript of his interview with Kieran Gilbert on Sky News this morning.
It includes this exchange between Christian Porter, as the first law officer and Gilbert:
Chris Bowen and Mark Butler have held a press conference to blast the government for dumping the big stick.
Labor doesn’t support this policy but the Bowen/Butler argument is the government did, and this is yet another energy policy that has now bitten the dust. The government says it will take the policy to the coming election, and seek a mandate.
Continue reading...A biennial report shows attitudes shifting in support of key aims of the reconciliation movement
An overwhelming majority of Australians support a formal “truth telling” process to acknowledge past injustices against Indigenous people, the latest survey on community attitudes towards reconciliation shows.
The reconciliation barometer survey, conducted by Reconciliation Australia every two years, shows attitudes shifting in support of some of the key aims of the reconciliation movement.
Continue reading...Studio 10 panellist accuses TV veteran of racism after she refers to rape during discussion about Invasion Day protests
The Studio 10 co-host Kerri-Anne Kennerley has been accused of racism by fellow panellist Yumi Stynes after the veteran presenter talked about sexual violence in Indigenous communities during a discussion about Invasion Day protests.
Kennerley attacked the motives of the protesters who want the date of Australia Day changed by implying they were ignoring the alleged rape of children and women in the “outback”.
Continue reading...Record crowds reported for protest marches calling for the Australia Day public holiday to be abolished
Continue reading...Scott Morrison talks of his ancestor’s arrival on the continent, and defends celebration of Australia Day
• Hundreds attend first dawn service to be held on Australia Day
Scott Morrison has said 26 January 1788 was “pretty miserable” for his ancestor, in a speech defending the celebration of Australia Day, while tens of thousands of people joined Invasion Day marches around the country calling for the public holiday to be abolished.
Morrison told a citizenship ceremony in Canberra that his fifth great grandfather, William Roberts, arrived with the first fleet in a group that was “wretched, naked, filthy, dirty, lousy, and many of them utterly unable to stand, or even to stir hand or foot”.
Continue reading...Indigenous leader and former Labor boss to be parachuted in as a Liberal in the NSW electorate held by retiring MP Ann Sudmalis
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine will be parachuted in to contest the marginal seat of Gilmore under a Scott Morrison-endorsed plan being considered by the New South Wales Liberal party executive.
On Tuesday the state executive voted to block the preselection of real-estate agent Grant Schultz, who had been picked by local members to contest the seat held by the retiring MP Ann Sudmalis.
Continue reading...PM says ceremonies must be held on Australia Day, but some councils say they are too small, or too hot
The federal government has been told to put its money where its mouth is on the question of Australia Day. Councils are arguing they should be financially compensated if they are forced to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January.
A day before he launched a rebrand of his Coalition government, Scott Morrison on Sunday said he was “prime minister for standards” as he spruiked a new rule that would force councils to oversee the ceremonies on Australia Day. The government will also ban “board shorts” and “thongs” from those events.
Continue reading...After centuries of being written about, Indigenous Australians are reclaiming their own stories
Ninety-six-year-old Wes Marne has been telling stories, he says, “since Moses played fullback for Jerusalem”.
But the Aboriginal elder worries about the future of storytelling.
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