Condolences and condemnation: Indigenous people and people of colour react to the death of Queen Elizabeth II

While some have offered unflinching takes on the damage of British colonisation, others say the monarch held ‘a special place’ in their hearts

The reaction to the death of the Queen among Indigenous people and people of colour, including those from Commonwealth nations, has been swift and, at times, unflinching.

For many the Queen was the personification of British colonisation and the damage it has wreaked in their countries – and they were not afraid to say so. Yet others expressed their condolences for the monarch who has long held “a special place” in their hearts.

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NT Labor members at odds with government after call to ban fracking in Beetaloo Basin

Northern Territory party conference passes string of motions urging a ban on fracking and an end to gas industry subsidies

Grassroots Northern Territory Labor members passed a string of motions on the weekend calling for a ban on fracking in the Beetaloo Basin and an end to gas industry subsidies, putting themselves at odds with both the territory and federal Labor governments.

The previous federal Coalition government helped speed up gas exploration in the resource-rich Beetaloo Basin, about 500km south-east of Darwin, by handing tens of millions of dollars to fracking companies to incentivise exploration.

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Massive rain band to bring more storms, flooding and windy weather to Australia’s east coast

Bureau of Meteorology expects to issue further flood warnings as rain falls in already saturated areas

A massive rain band moving across the country towards the east coast is threatening to bring severe thunderstorms, flash flooding and gusty winds in the coming days.

Inland Queensland and northern New South Wales were expected to be hardest hit by thunderstorms, with flooding also likely.

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Kumanjayi Walker’s family feared another police shooting following his death, inquest told

Cousin of NT man shot dead during arrest says she livestreamed as family gathered outside police station out of fear of media, police

A relative of Kumanjayi Walker has told an inquest she feared for the lives of her family following the 19-year-old’s death and said the shooting had led to deteriorating relations between police and the Aboriginal community.

Walker was shot three times by police officer Const Zachery Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in November 2019.

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Inquest to examine NT police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker by Zachary Rolfe

Rolfe was acquitted of murdering Walker in March, unleashing grief and anger in the remote community of Yuendumu

It’s already been the subject of a high-profile murder trial and now a coroner will examine the outback police shooting of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker.

Walker died on 9 November 2019 when Const Zachary Rolfe shot him three times in the remote community of Yuendumu 290km north-west of Alice Springs.

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‘Where is the evidence?’: critics take aim at NT judge who says antiracism is becoming ‘a religion’

Opponents say it is ‘surprising’ for Judith Kelly to claim that ‘on the whole, modern Australian society is not racist’, in speech on Indigenous domestic violence

Lawyers and academics have criticised comments by a Northern Territory supreme court judge that antiracism was becoming a “religion” preventing honest discussions about the “epidemic of extreme domestic violence” against Aboriginal women.

In the 26 August speech to a gathering of women lawyers, Justice Judith Kelly said there was a “cultural component” to the violence inflicted on Aboriginal women by Aboriginal men in the territory.

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Woman fatally struck by car in Alice Springs was lying on highway, police say

Death is the 11th pedestrian fatality on Northern Territory roads in the past 18 months, majority of which have been Indigenous people

A woman lying on a highway in central Australia was killed when she was hit by a car, authorities say.

Northern Territory police said the 21-year-old woman was struck in Alice Springs’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

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How an Indigenous Australian artist ‘astonished’ a giant of American art

Sol LeWitt never met Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who began painting in her 80s, but he was blown away by her work. A new AGNSW show celebrates their unlikely link

He was one of the 20th century’s pioneers of modern American art; she was the Anmatyerre artist who put Australian desert painting on the world stage.

Sol LeWitt and Emily Kame Kngwarreye never met, yet one had a profound effect on the work of the other, and led to one of the largest collections of Utopia art outside Australia. LeWitt became a huge fan of Kngwarreye, and of the distinct style produced by the Indigenous Australian artists working in Utopia, Northern Territory.

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Northern Australia could have dangerously high heat most days of the year by 2100, study finds

New research also says southern parts of the country may experience deadly heatwaves annually by that time

Tropical regions including northern Australia could experience dangerously high heat levels most days of the year by 2100, while southern regions of Australia may experience deadly heatwaves annually, new research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, suggests that even if the world meets the Paris agreement of limiting global warming to 2C, exposure to dangerous heat will “likely increase by 50-100% across much of the tropics”.

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‘Too much to lose’ in Santos gas project off Tiwi Islands, marine ranger tells court

Federal court hearing on the islands, north of Darwin, told a spill would mean ‘everything ends up dead’ in delicate marine ecosystem

A large gas project off the Tiwi Islands could threaten a vulnerable turtle species and disrupt a thriving ecosystem of fish, a marine ranger has told the federal court.

Tiwi Islander Dennis Tipakalippa is challenging the decision to allow Santos to drill eight wells in the Barossa gas field, 265km north-west of Darwin.

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Greens question governor general’s ‘non-disclosure’ of Morrison powers – as it happened

Albanese government awaits legal advice from solicitor general over former prime minister’s power grab. This blog is now closed

More on the governor general’s diaries, from AAP:

Governor general David Hurley’s diary makes no mention of the five times he handed extra ministerial powers to then-prime minister Scott Morrison.

Morrison took on the health, finance, treasury, home affairs, industry, science, energy and resources portfolios between March 2020 and May 2021.

The Governor General’s Program lists in detail the numerous activities of Mr Hurley, including phone calls, official events and luncheons.

Morrison was secretly appointed health minister on March 14, 2020, with the knowledge of then-health minister Greg Hunt.

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Northern Territory girl allegedly abducted 13 days ago found safe and well

One person is in custody and more are helping police with their inquiries after girl taken to Darwin police station

One person is in custody and more are helping police with their inquiries after a young girl, allegedly abducted in the Northern Territory, was found safe and well.

A special taskforce was established to find the girl after she went missing on 7 August, with police focusing their efforts on a group they said “continued to peddle ideologies and false information”.

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Eastern Australia faces wet weather and flooding with 70% chance of third consecutive La Niña

Bureau of Meteorology forecasts heavy rain in spring driven by negative Indian Ocean Dipole and warm waters in the north

Australia could be lashed with more rain and possible floods for the next three months with La Niña conditions predicted to return for a rare third consecutive year.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology raised the El Niño-Southern Oscillation La Niña outlook from “watch” to “alert” on Tuesday afternoon.

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Anthony Albanese reveals ‘simple and clear’ wording of referendum question on Indigenous voice

Prime minister uses Garma festival speech to suggest Australians should be asked a simple yes or no question on enshrining a voice in the constitution

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the Australian people should be asked a “simple and clear” yes or no referendum question regarding whether an Indigenous voice to parliament should be enshrined in the constitution.

“We should consider asking our fellow Australians something as simple as ‘Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’” Albanese said in a landmark speech at the Garma festival in Arnhem Land on Saturday.

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‘Momentum is building’: high hopes for an Indigenous voice to parliament as Garma festival starts

Anthony Albanese is first prime minister to visit Arnhem Land festival since Malcolm Turnbull in 2017

Momentum is building for an Indigenous voice to be enshrined in the constitution, an Uluru Statement from the Heart leader says, as the annual Garma festival begins in the Northern Territory.

The opportunity for a voice to parliament has arrived and if it is missed it may not return for another generation, Wiradjuri man Geoff Scott warned on Friday.

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Karen Andrews links June asylum seeker boat arrivals to Labor policy – as it happened

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Business Council calls Albanese government the most engaged she’s seen

Westacott, the council’s chief executive, told ABC Radio:

I can’t remember a more engaged government than this. I have had call after call after call from ministers.

When you add up all those little things it makes a big difference.

We need to rebrand Australia as a place we want people to come to work.

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Conservative Christian groups lobby federal MPs against territories’ assisted dying rights legislation

Australian Christian Lobby says it is ‘… completely inappropriate for the new government to prioritise a controversial bill such as this’

Conservative action groups are mobilising supporters against a government push to allow territories to make their own laws on euthanasia, raising concerns around potential impacts on Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory.

The Australian Christian Lobby is flooding federal MPs with emails in a campaign to block a private member’s bill to be introduced next week, but territories minister Kristy McBain says she’s confident it will pass parliament.

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Cost of living 2022: see how inflation has changed prices in Australia in the June quarter – interactive

Use this data explorer to see which goods and services are getting cheaper or more expensive in different Australian cities

Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed prices climbing by 6.1% in the June quarter – the fastest annual pace since 2001 – driven primarily by the increasing cost of food and fuel.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up global oil and gas prices as well as food, with Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest as Russian missile strikes continue on its ports.

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Government ‘recognises concern’ over monkeypox with 44 cases recorded – as it happened

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Labor wants consensus between business and unions – Burke

Burke says “everything is on the table” including the potential for fixed enterprise bargaining. He also says that the government would like to seek consensus between business and union groups if it can. Asked specifically about a deal struck between the ACTU and the Business Council last year, Burke says he doesn’t know whether that is possible now but he’d be interested in exploring it.

If I can find agreements where there’s consensus I don’t know whether the consensus of that agreement of a couple of years ago still existed in identical form, but if a consensus like that turns up at the job summit you could work on the basis I will be inclined to grab it, because that did have safeguards around it to prevent workers from in fact going backwards.

When you don’t have an energy policy for a decade that’s inflationary. When you have a skills crisis and refuse to invest in skills, that’s inflationary. So in establishing the first bill will be dealing with in the Parliament will be jobs and Skills Australia, we have already had Chris Bowen taking action in terms of making sure we are dealing with the energy crisis. But none of this turns around straight away.

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