Indigenous affairs
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It’s time to tell the truth
The past few months, as Australia debated the Voice proposal, have been incredibly challenging for First Peoples. Now we must find ways to move forward together. Continue reading »
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Australia has shown itself to be a selfish nation that lacks empathy
As an Australian with First Nations and coloniser blood running through my veins, I’ve always believed in the promise of a fair and just Australia, one that can celebrate our 65,000 years of history, reconcile our colonial past and build a better future for all. But the Voice referendum has cast a shadow on that Continue reading »
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The Voice: what the world heard
On Saturday, 14 October, Australians did themselves no favours. Again. Continue reading »
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The Voice: caught between a socio-economic hammer and anvil
As the shock waves from last weekend’s Voice referendum reverberate, a deeper reality is beginning to more fully reveal itself. The ‘division’ that Voice opponents claimed the proposition would create already exists among non-indigenous Australians and it is reshaping how politics is done in this country. We are moving ever closer towards a politics of Continue reading »
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Another day in the colony
The deputy prime minister Richard Marles was asked by Insider’s host David Speers if the voters of Australia were right to roundly reject the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples and the Voice to parliament. Of course they were right, said Marles, they’re always right. In a press conference and later during question time in parliament, Continue reading »
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Is the No victory another signal of voters’ distrust of democratic reps?
The high levels of loss of Yes voters to the No camp during the referendum campaign add indicators that the once social democratic contributions to governance are in trouble. Where once policies for fairness were seen as integral parts of good democracies, these have been replaced by neo liberal market models. This shows up too Continue reading »
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Our mainstream media failed this country during the Voice referendum
As the former managing director and editor in chief of The Age newspaper (and founder of the Australian Press Council), this is a hard piece to write. In my view the mainstream media – journalists and commentators – have failed this country during the debate on the Voice. Continue reading »
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Rejected by the people who dispossessed and colonised them
This morning, I call to mind the Aboriginal woman who spoke at the end of a forum we held in Darwin on the Voice. She told us: ‘A lot of my people don’t understand all the law and politics about this Voice. All I know is that when they wake up on Sunday 15 October Continue reading »
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The Poisoned Waterhole
The Great Australian Silence Continues Continue reading »
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The Voice, a broken system and the righting of old wrongs
The cut-through of mercenary, racist and Trumpist tropes reflected in the “No” referendum campaign has many people, including refugees, alarmed. Continue reading »
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The Voice has been silenced, but now we must listen
As vanquished Australians, white and black, fell back in ruin, defeat and humiliation on Saturday, the most galling prospect they must face is that for many of the victorious, the Voice battle was but the first engagement in a longer war. They do not want to give their enemies time for regrouping, or even for Continue reading »
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The failed referendum is a political disaster
October 14, 2023 will be remembered by many as the day reconciliation died. Continue reading »
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Dutton’s Pyrrhic victory
Certainly, Dutton has demonstrated that disinformation, division and some outright lies can confuse and motivate large sections of the community. Continue reading »
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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 »
