Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Anthony Albanese open to Makarrata commission for truth and treaty for Indigenous Australians

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But the government is being urged to move more quickly in outlining policy after failure of voice referendum

Anthony Albanese says he will attend Arnhem Land’s Garma festival in August to “talk about a way forward” on Indigenous policy after the defeat of the voice referendum, keeping open the prospect of setting up a Makarrata commission to advance truth and treaty processes.

But key advocates for the referendum have urged the government to move more quickly in outlining its new agenda, including honouring the prime minister’s election night pledge to implement the Uluru statement from the heart “in full”.

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Child protection department preparing for ‘likely transfer’ of powers to Indigenous Victorians under treaty

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Department expects ‘extensive’ changes to result from state government’s negotiations with First Peoples’ Assembly later this year, documents say

The Victorian department responsible for child protection and housing is preparing for a “likely transfer” of powers to First Nations groups as a result of treaties that will soon be negotiated with the government.

The Department of Fairness, Families and Housing (DFFH) is looking for an organisation to provide training to staff to “increase readiness for treaty”, according to tender documents seen by Guardian Australia.

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WA police formally apologise to family of Aboriginal woman who died in custody in 2014

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Ms Dhu died two days after being locked up at police station after arrest for unpaid fines of $3,622

Western Australia’s police chief has formally apologised to the family and community of a 22-year-old Aboriginal woman who died in custody a decade ago.

Yamatji woman Ms Dhu, whose first name has not been used for cultural reasons, died two days after being locked up at South Hedland police station on 4 August 2014.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest: NT police commissioner knew about racist awards last year, court told

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Michael Murphy denies deliberately misleading public about knowledge of awards but regrets not investigating earlier, inquest hears

WARNING: This article contains offensive images and content

The Northern Territory’s top police officer has agreed he was “gaslighting” Aboriginal people when he said he had not seen racism in the force, and admitted he knew about racist award certificates months before their existence was made public.

The police commissioner, Michael Murphy, told the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker on Wednesday that he regretted not investigating the “coon of the year” certificates awarded within the force’s Territory Response Group or reporting them to the NT police professional standards command when he learned about them in August 2023.

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Comedian drops plan for a billboard of Gina Rinehart portrait in Times Square

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Dan Ilic wanted to project Vincent Namitjira’s work after Australia’s richest woman tried to have it removed from the National Gallery

An Australian comedian has dropped his plan to broadcast Vincent Namatjira’s contentious portrait of Gina Rinehart to thousands of tourists and New Yorkers in Times Square.

Dan Ilic told Guardian Australia on Tuesday lunchtime that, after exceeding his crowdfunding target of A$30,000, his stunt would go live in Times Square at 8pm on Friday night.

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‘Superstar’ Indigenous artist and activist dies aged 67

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The artist used ephemera to convey how white Australia failed to come to terms with the country’s Indigenous peoples

Destiny Deacon, the trailblazing First Nations artist and activist known for her works using “Koori Kitsch” to subvert colonial interpretations of Indigenous culture, has died aged 67.

Deacon’s death was announced on Friday by Sydney’s Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, which has represented the artist for more than two decades.

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William Crowther: controversial statue toppled in Hobart one night before removal decision due

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Controversial monument of a Tasmanian premier who beheaded the body of an Indigenous man damaged and graffitied

A controversial statue of William Crowther has been toppled in Franklin Square, Hobart, after its legs were cut through the night before a decision on its removal.

It was dumped face-down on the ground beside its podium, which was graffitied in red with the word “decolonize” and “what goes around”.

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Australia news live: high court rules in favour of indefinite immigration detention; publisher of banned book to offer free download

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High court delivers judgment in the case of ASF1. Follow the day’s news live

Penny Wong is speaking on RN Breakfast now. Right off the bat she was asked by Patricia Karvelas if the Australian government will support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN at a vote later today.

Wong begins with a preamble about Australia’s support for a two-state solution, then says:

We will consider the final resolution that comes before the General Assembly. Obviously, countries are still negotiating texts.

I don’t want to speculate about our vote … I think an abstention generally means you can agree in part with the resolution but not with sufficient, not with all of it, or not with a sufficient extent of the resolution for you to vote for it, so it can send a message that whilst you don’t agree with it in full, you’re not going to stand in the way.

I understand that question … I understand questions from those who don’t want us to deal with it at this time. I think one of the things we are aware of, and thinking about, is the timing of the situation on the ground. We know Hamas is still holding hostages. We want to look at the wording of the resolution to make sure we are being responsible, that what we commit to we are obliged to and look to the UN Charter and the resolution would have to be consistent with the charter. And of course it was with our partners, but your listeners, what I would say to them is Australia does support a two-state solution.

You’ve spoken to me many times over the years, Patricia, and you know I always try and bring a more nuanced discussion about what is really happening rather than getting drawn into the end the hard edges of the debate. Unfortunately, in this country, we seem, we see too much of this discussion, which is looked at by those who basically say you’re either with us or against us. And everything is black and white and simple. Regrettably, that is not what is happening in the Middle East. And regrettably, that is not how we should be looking at this.

The board finds that both posts violated the Coordinating Harms and Promoting Crime rule that prohibits content “advocating, providing instructions for, or demonstrating explicit intent to illegally participate in a voting or census process.

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Australia news live: Michele Bullock says data ‘pretty bumpy’ but RBA vigilant about continued high inflation risk

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The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says the prime minister needs to “pick the phone up” and speak directly to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, after the Australian government accused a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares close to an Australian helicopter in international waters.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, yesterday branded the incident as “unacceptable” and said the Australian pilot had to take evasive action to avoid the flares. You can read all the details below:

I think the prime minister needs to pick the phone up, frankly, and speak to the Chinese president … and express our deep concern, because at some stage, there’s going to be a miscalculation and an Australian defence force member is going to lose their life.

And that is a tragic circumstance that has to be avoided at all costs, but there will be a miscalculation by somebody who’s flying that jet or somebody who’s on the deck of a Chinese naval ship, something will happen.

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Financial rights advocates ‘seriously concerned’ about how Youpla support scheme will be spent

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‘Disappointment’ comes after documents reveal only two-thirds of $96m will go to Indigenous victims of predatory funeral fund

A coalition of financial rights advocates say they have “serious concerns” about an Albanese government’s $96m support scheme for the thousands of Aboriginal people harmed by the collapse of the predatory funeral fund ACBF-Youpla, after revelations that almost a third of the funds will be spent on its own departments.

According to documents published on the government’s AusTender site on Thursday, the maximum amount it is expecting to pay out to the 13,700 affected policyholders is $66.6m. Over the years of ACBF-Youpla’s operations, policyholders paid millions of dollars into the business in the belief that their funerals would be taken care of.

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Bonza urged to pay April wages; data breach exposes family violence, sexual assault data – as it happened

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PM responds to reports regional women camping out, sleeping in cars

Anthony Albanese has commented on reports that carparks in regional areas are being opened for women to sleep in tents or their cars.

We have allocated funding through our Housing Australia Future Fund for emergency accommodation for women and children escaping domestic violence. I will be in discussions with the states and territories as well about what more can be done.

We know that the circumstances where a woman is escaping a violent situation [and] has to sleep in her car or surf on a couch of a friend and rotate around, we hear stories about that as well, is unacceptable in 2024. We need to do better. There’s no question about that.

We need to look at bail laws. More importantly, we actually need to look at how we can keep women, or victims and children in the home environment and force the perpetrator to leave. We have a program in NSW called the Staying Home: Leave Violence program. There are over 138 LGAs in this state at the moment, only 91 have access to that program, even though we know it is incredibly effective. We need programs like that funded immediately, not just across NSW but across the country.

I am optimistic about who we are as a country and our capacity to take responsibility for ourselves. The time of us to do this is now. We don’t have three months, which is what the government is suggesting, to wait and see what happens next. By then another 23 women will have lost their lives.

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Bonza fleet’s grounding extended – as it happened

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Prime minister says trial ongoing into funding for women escaping violence

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC RN about yesterday’s announcements after national cabinet.

Well, there is already a trial going ahead. We want to make sure that the processes are in place [so] that they will begin within the next financial year as a permanent program, not just offering financial support, but as well as offering support for referral services, risk assessments, safety planning, and other support …

This isn’t something that you solve with a meeting on one day. This is something that governments are determined to take action on. For some of us this is deeply personal, for others, it is incredibly important.

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Victorian premier confronts ‘bloody stains of colonisation’ at historic Indigenous truth-telling inquiry

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Jacinta Allan’s journey to deepen her understanding of injustices is one many Victorians will need to embark on for Yoorrook to succeed

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, entered the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s hearing room on Monday holding a message stick bearing the names of the state’s Indigenous groups who have participated in the truth-telling process.

During a smoking ceremony ahead of the premier’s evidence, Travis Lovett, a deputy commissioner at the truth-telling inquiry and a Kerrupmara/Gunditjmara man, presented the premier with the message stick. He implored Allan to carry with her the stories of First Nations people who have put their “heart and soul” into the commission’s work.

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Truth-telling ‘critical’ to treaty, Victorian premier says before historic appearance at Indigenous-led inquiry

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Jacinta Allan says failure of voice referendum hardened her resolve to ‘present the facts’ about impacts of colonisation

Ahead of a historic appearance at Victoria’s Indigenous-led truth-telling inquiry, the premier, Jacinta Allan, said Australia’s failed voice referendum had strengthened her resolve to help “present the facts” about the state’s history and inequalities faced by the First Nations people.

Allan on Monday will become Australia’s first state leader to provide evidence at an Indigenous-led truth-telling inquiry, which has the same powers as a royal commission. The Yoorrook Justice Commission is now holding public hearings investigating land injustice.

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Urban Rampage banned from using Centrepay to sign up mostly Indigenous customers to credit arrangements

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Asic finds arrangements posed ‘significant risk’ of financial hardship but clothing store says it will appeal ‘racist and paternalistic decision’

The Australian Security and Investments Commission has permanently banned the clothing store Urban Rampage from using the government’s Centrepay system to sign up mostly vulnerable Indigenous customers to “inherently inappropriate” credit arrangements that place them at risk of financial harm.

Coral Coast Distributors – which operates 10 Urban Rampage stores in regional and remote locations across Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, selling household items – can no longer sign-up customers into Centrepay credit arrangements.

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‘Epidemic’ of violence against Aboriginal women in NT is getting worse, exasperated experts warn

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Despite having Australia’s highest rates of domestic violence, particularly against Indigenous women, the NT only receives about 1% of federal funding, senators hear

She was a domestic and family violence advocate; a leader in her community and the country. But in 2021 Kumarn Rubuntja was murdered by her partner, Malcolm Abbott.

“We lost one of our own,” the Tangentyere family violence prevention manager, Dr Chay Brown, told the murdered and missing First Nations women and children parliamentary inquiry.

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First Nations boy, 10, dies in apparent suicide while in state care in Western Australia

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Advocates say the boy took his own life, leaving his family ‘devastated’ and triggering a coronial inquest

A 10-year-old First Nations boy has died in an apparent suicide in state care in Western Australia, advocates for the family say.

Advocates for the family say the boy, who cannot be named, took his own life on Friday night, leaving his family “devastated” and triggering a coronial inquiry.

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Great Barrier Reef discovery overturns belief Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery, archaeologists say

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Paper dates 82 pottery pieces found in single dig site at between 3,000 and 2,000 years old

Groundbreaking archaeological research may have upended the longstanding belief that Aboriginal Australians did not make pottery.

A paper published in the Quaternary Science Reviews on Wednesday details the finding of 82 pottery pieces from a single dig site on a Great Barrier Reef island, dates them at between 3,000 and 2,000 years old and determines that the pots were most likely made by Aboriginal people using locally sourced clay and temper.

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NSW to review child protection screening algorithm over concerns about racial bias

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Families minister says system is ‘not delivering the outcomes we want to see’ as almost 50% of children in care in NSW are Aboriginal

The New South Wales government will review a child protection tool that disproportionately affects Aboriginal children – and that has not been updated in the state for more than a decade.

The controversial system known as “structured decision making” (SDM) has been in use since 2010 to screen for at-risk children.

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‘Time to be fearless’: NT attorney general urges Australian leaders to pursue treaty after voice defeat

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Chansey Paech says the Uluru statement is ‘not finished’ despite the result of the voice referendum

The Northern Territory’s attorney general is urging the nation’s leaders to put last year’s voice referendum result behind them and move to forge treaties with Indigenous people because “the time for sorry business is over”.

The attorney general and deputy chief minister, Chansey Paech, is urging the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and state and territory colleagues not to allow the referendum result to stall progress on the other elements of the Uluru statement from the heart.

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