Indigenous affairs
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Gove and the native title revolution
The High Court’s judgment in March 2025 in favour of the Gumatj people has reaffirmed the centrality of the Indigenous peoples of Gove in the Northern Territory in the native title revolution that was conceived in a case against mining company, Nabalco Ltd, in the 1960s and continued with the High Court’s Mabo and Wik Continue reading »
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Uncle Robbie Thorpe to raise Australian genocide claim to the International Criminal Court
Having a legal action one has lodged with a court being refused is not usually the ideal outcome. Yet, the recent attempt by Uncle Robbie Thorpe to launch a private prosecution against so-called King Charles III for the crime of genocide being denied by the Victorian Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Krauatungalung Continue reading »
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The Henty legacy and its ongoing impact
In the 1860s, as the new colony of Victoria boomed following the discovery of gold, First Peoples were being moved onto missions and reserves, where their lives were tightly controlled. Continue reading »
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John Howard and British colonisation of Australia
Humphrey McQueen (Pearls and Irritations, ‘The lucky Aborigines’ 26 January 2025), has reminded us of John Howard’s opinion that “the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonised by the British. Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent than other European colonisers.” Continue reading »
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The lucky Aborigines
“I do hold the view that the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonised by the British,” he said. “Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent colonisers than other European countries.” – John Howard, October 26, 2023. Continue reading »
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Instead of noise and bluster, can January 26 be a day of loving awareness of those who are hurting?
I have been reading Stan Grant’s beautiful new book, Murriyang song of time (Bundyi: Sydney 2024). There is in it a sentence pertaining to the Uluru Statement of the Heart and the subsequent failed Referendum. Stan Grant says, poignantly, that ‘the Uluru Statement spoke from the afflicted to a nation that has never loved us.’ Continue reading »
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After the theft of a continent, welfare benefits beat work
Land rights now! By a strange quirk of fate, I was working in the Minister’s Office in 1976 when Parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. Great was our pride, and our expectations. In terms of securing title to land and sea the Act has been highly effective. But in terms of creating Continue reading »
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Rare earths: a conundrum for our responsibility to care for country and kin
The increasing global demand for rare earth elements (REE) is driven by clean energy technologies. The electric vehicle in particular, is a strong driving force. The un-ceded sovereign lands of hundreds of First Nations – now colonised and called Australia – hold at least four per cent of the world’s rare earth element reserves. Continue reading »
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Genocidal attitudes masked in the trappings of patriotism
The decision by Australia’s federal Opposition leader to avoid standing by the Aboriginal flag is a dangerously divisive and cynical move. Continue reading »
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Farewell fair go, hello despair
It’s true. The night fears have come to pass. The evidence is too great to ignore any longer. My country, our nation, is racist. Continue reading »
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Thorpe’s genocide case against Netanyahu’s Australian advisor as back in court
Mark Regev is “an Australian citizen and he’s advocating for genocide,” Uncle Robbie Thorpe explained last week. Continue reading »
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When media and the state collude
It was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a day meant to mark the start of a 16-day global campaign to end the scourge of gender-based violence against women. Yet, on this day of reflection and action, The Australian chose to publish a follow-up story to its sensationalised splash just two Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Up to 50,000 Māori mobilised and walked to the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington to to protest the treaty principles bill, which Amnesty International states should never have been introduced. Bob Carr states what he told us last week about AUKUS is now confirmed. A member of Knesset is forcibly removed for speaking out against Continue reading »
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The Australian colony: When will the ALP Government initiate system reform?
The visit of the British royals was for many Australians a non-event, an almost unreal formality that has to be experienced and processed. During the visit, Lydia Thorpe felt compelled to very publicly state: “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. … We want a treaty in this country. This is Continue reading »
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I’m still dreaming of a Blak Xmas stamp
In 1962, a columnist with the Melbourne Herald noted that a 16th century sculpture of Madonna and Child would be on that year’s Christmas stamp. He went on to praise ‘Our Lady of the Aborigines’ as ’a real Australian Madonna and Child,’ before asking, ‘How about it for next year?’ Continue reading »
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No Australian should swear loyalty to a foreign king
So Bridget McKenzie thinks Lidia Thorpe’s protest against King Charles raises some “quite tricky constitutional questions”. Yes it does, but not the ones she thinks. Continue reading »
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A dangerous move toward a modern-day Stolen Generation
By focusing on punitive programs instead of community-driven support over a ‘youth crime crisis’ that did not exist, the incoming Queensland LNP government appears to be blind to the systemic issues that drive children toward vulnerability. Their policies will reinforce a cycle of criminalisation that will haunt our communities for generations. Continue reading »
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On not being in control, and learning to ‘Go Round’
“It was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases and the alcohol.” – Paul Keating, Redfern speech. Continue reading »
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The foundation stones of reconciliation, truth telling postponed again
The failure of last year’s referendum still troubles the country. The focus on the Voice to Parliament took attention away from the far more consequential question of truth telling, while paradoxically displaying how much it is still needed. Continue reading »
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Lidia, I’m angry, too
A lot has been written in the past few days about Senator Lidia Thorpe and her courageous act of speaking truth to power when she confronted coloniser, King Charles, in the colonial halls of Parliament. Yet amidst the commentary, one voice remains absent: the voice of the criminalised community. As a formerly incarcerated woman, I Continue reading »
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Thorpe unmasks the coloniser who visited genocide on Australia’s First Nations
Both Charles and Camilla are having their gilt edged fault lines exposed on their Australian tour. We should be thankful for Lidia Thorpe’s courage and outspokenness. Continue reading »
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Myths of the Referendum
One year on from the defeat of the ‘Indigenous Voice’ referendum of 14 October 2023, some myths have arisen about the process and the outcome. These deserve further discussion. Continue reading »
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What will follow the referendum?
It is not surprising that so many of us believed that after the Voice Referendum 2023 Indigenous people would be recognised in the Australian Constitution and their voices valued. Continue reading »
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History’s wound, still open wide
Australia, land of Altjira, of oceans wild and skies untamed, Where stories of the Jukurrpa are told in songlines proclaimed. Continue reading »
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Indigenous cultures show other worlds are possible
‘I think the natives held privately that in taking such pains to make things grow where already things grew of their own accord I was maybe a little mad…. As for myself, there were times when…. it came to me with considerable force that perhaps in this private opinion there was a deal of truth…’ Continue reading »
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Northern militarisation overlooking Indigenous rights: Prof Henry Reynolds, History, University of Tasmania
Indigenous Australians have extensive land rights across Northern Australia where large scale militarisation is being undertaken, raising questions about processes of consultation and underlying Indigenous rights endorsed by Australia under international treaty arrangements. Continue reading »
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The military Americanisation of Northern Australia
The headline in the Weekend Australian said it all: NT Bases Key to American War Plans. Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, the Chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Australian, after a ten day visit to Australia that our geography offered key advantages to the US “as it sought to deter Chinese Continue reading »
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The campaign to persuade: the “Voice” among Chinese Australians
We live in an era of communicative abundance and post-truth politics, where networked digital platforms shape nearly every aspect of our daily lives, from information and communication to economic and social transactions. Digital platforms have transformed truth-claiming and fact-checking into an emotionally driven process, blurring the boundaries between information and misinformation, as well as opinion Continue reading »
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On fairness, our futures seem grim under Albo
Has the ALP read the Voice referendum loss as indicating limited voter support for First Nations rights, with an election soon? Continue reading »
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Political capitulation, moral failure
Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to the Gama Festival will certainly be memorable but not in ways that he will necessarily appreciate. It displayed, in a manner for all to see, his government’s final renunciation of the Uluru Statement From The Heart of 2017 and the attendant process of reconciliation. Continue reading »
