Indigenous affairs
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Australian politics has reached a dead end
What the whole debate about an Indigenous Voice to Parliament demonstrated, with brutal clarity, is that Australia is a morally backward society. Continue reading »
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Voice to Parliament: An Australian test of character
Will Australia today say Yes and agree to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice? Or will we reject the request made to us by representatives of First Nations communities in the Uluru Statement from the Heart? Continue reading »
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Dark money is distorting the Voice debate
The Voice campaign has revealed how much Dark Money is distorting our political debates. But will proposed reforms of money in politics crush the independents? Continue reading »
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While Australia votes, India-Pakistan cricket is downstream of politics
On 14 October, my attention will wander between three unconnected stories as they unfold in real time. I will be in New Zealand on that general election date. Polls indicate the Labour government will be replaced by a centre-right coalition. But the peculiarities of the electoral system make election results and the outcome of post-election Continue reading »
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Was the Uluru Statement of the Heart a prophetic vision for Australia?
‘Prophets nurture and evoke a new way of thinking. They give us images and words which subvert our system and tell us that we haven’t seen the whole picture yet. Prophets are not just concerned about social change for the sake of social change. They are concerned above all with transformation and freedom of the Continue reading »
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Our Central Land Council “overwhelmingly asks you to vote YES”
“For over half a century the Central Land Council has fought for the voices of Aboriginal people from the heart of our nation to be heard. Our 90-member Council overwhelmingly asks you to vote YES, because we know that when decision-makers listen to our voices we end up with policies that help us, not harm Continue reading »
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I am voting Yes, but many No voters support reconciliation
The referendum campaign could use more Why, and less Yes. Continue reading »
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Will a “shocking hurdle” defeat the Yes vote?
In a lead article published on the front page of The Saturday Paper on the 30th of September Rick Morton discussed the people who were planning to vote against the Voice. He remarked that focus groups conducted late last year revealed what he called ‘a shocking hurdle’ blocking the path of the yes vote. Almost Continue reading »
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The Voice: through the disinformation to the source of opposition
On Saturday, 14 October, Australians will vote on a seemingly inoffensive change to their Constitution. Why is it meeting such opposition? The case of the destroyed site at Juukan Gorge offers a hint. Are Australian mining companies, with such a poor record of respecting the voice of aboriginal communities, the true source of opposition? Continue reading »
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In the final week of the referendum – make up your own mind
What can we achieve together in this final week of the referendum campaign? Join me on Thursday for a special webinar with First Nations women Lynette Riley and Beverly Baker to learn first hand about the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Continue reading »
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Will referendum defeat foretell doom for Albanese?
There’s no spin or ex-post facto interpretation of the likely defeat of the Aboriginal Voice referendum able to disguise a resounding setback for Aboriginal Australians. Continue reading »
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Will Chinese Australians take the moral high ground, again?
In 1888 Lowe Kong Meng, Cheong Cheok Hong and Louis Ah Moy took the moral high ground in The Chinese Question booklet. They were ignored, of course. It was the time. Continue reading »
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From genocide to resilience: The Crimean Tatars’ struggle for justice
For nearly five decades, the Crimean Tatars tirelessly campaigned to return to their historical homeland in Crimea. Yet, for many political analysts writing about Crimea today from a critical perspective, the historical facts remain sadly unknown. Continue reading »
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A Yes Vote just as important to Chinese-Australians as for our Indigenous brothers and sisters
With a population of 1.4 million, Chinese-Australians are the largest ethnic minority community in Australia and our say has weight. From the perspective of that community, an important objective must be playing our part in seeing Australia lift its game to match world standards of acceptance of minorities and particularly of its indigenous peoples. Continue reading »
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Killing for Country: Another plank in truth-telling
At the heart of David Marr’s new book, Killing for Country, is a crucial question. How should we deal with old, ugly secrets within our own families? Should we ignore them as excesses of the past, when and where things were done differently, or should we examine them closely for clues and lessons that might Continue reading »
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This land cries out in final warning
We need an Indigenous Voice to parliament. We need any other voice that will offset the disastrous self-serving notions of the present fools that govern this country. We are all living under the shadows of the illusions of the colonised mind. Continue reading »
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The AFL had the power to turn the tide
My mates and I, growing up in our happy, homogenous and very white suburbia in the 1960s and 70s, would probably not have met an indigenous Australian but for playing footy. Without our great game, we might, at least as kids and teenagers, have remained stuck in the fearful ignorance that was pretty common at Continue reading »
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The referendum: So little asked, so graciously, but seemingly too much
Why do so many of my fellow non-Indigenous Australians seemingly have such a deep aversion towards the Aboriginal peoples of this land? Sadly, I am compelled to ask that question as we approach a referendum asking for constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Nations and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to parliament. Continue reading »
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If you are proud of the Constitution, vote ‘Yes’
In 1996 I was fortunate enough to be involved in the Centenary of the 1895 Bathurst Peoples Constitutional Convention. Continue reading »
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The Voice reveals the urgent need for truth reforms
The knowledge that the official AEC Yes and No campaign pamphlet sent to every home in Australia was not obliged to be factual is shocking. Continue reading »
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The Constitution, sovereignty and The Voice
One question relating to the upcoming referendum on ‘The Voice’ that has recently come to prominence concerns the question of sovereignty. Who or what is ‘sovereign’ as the term is applied to the governance of Australia? Is there any such thing as Indigenous sovereignty? Might it be said that in Australia sovereignty is or could Continue reading »
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Karla Grant explores Norway’s 34-year Indigenous Voice to Parliament
As Australia nears its referendum, Karla Grant takes a closer look at Norway’s Voice To Parliament. Continue reading »
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Leadership from Paul Keating on recognition of Aboriginal dispossession -1992
“Nowhere in the world, I would venture, is the message more stark than it is in Australia. We simply cannot sweep injustice aside. … the starting point might be to recognise that the problem starts with us non-Aboriginal Australians. It begins, I think, with that act of recognition. … Down the years, there has been Continue reading »
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In the chorus of Yes, why aren’t the bishops joining in?
The official position of the church on the Voice referendum is curious, because, despite overwhelming support for a YES vote from an extraordinary range of Catholic agencies, religious orders and congregations, and voluntary Catholic organisations, the highest national church authority, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has not followed suit. This is surprising because the whole Continue reading »
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The Great Australian Silence
Voice proponents flood the streets of major cities as Australian media battles its ‘cult of forgetfulness.’ Continue reading »
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Remember Brexit? Australians will regret voting No on the Indigenous Voice
Australians have been able to witness the voter remorse that can arise when a nation votes on a specific question of policy in a referendum that has the potential to set their country on a new course. Referendum questions with that level of significance don’t come along very often for democratic nations but when they Continue reading »
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Assimilation re-emerges
In her recent address to the National Press Club, Jacinta Price resuscitated the seventy years old policy of assimilation constructed by Minister for Territories Paul Hasluck. Continue reading »
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Why The Voice will lead to better government decision-making
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to parliament will result in systemic and sustainable change in government decision-making and policy formulation affecting First Nations peoples. Here are four reasons why. Continue reading »
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Avoid the damage of NO: A plea to all women
This is a PLEA to all sensible women (and men) to vote Yes in the referendum because the damages of a No win will move us backward, not forward. We will still need ways of remedying the serious mess of inequities initiated in 1788. The failure of Yes will show the lack of sufficient trust Continue reading »
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Smothered indigenous voices
This is a story of what a voice can achieve and how easily it is undone by external forces. Continue reading »