In discussions of the upcoming referendum on establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, a question often raised is how will it make a difference? This has been difficult for advocates to address because instances of governments’ empowering our First Nations peoples are few and far between. There is, however, a valuable example in Continue reading »
Indigenous affairs
With the date of the Voice referendum now having been set for 14 October, all households will have received a pamphlet outlining the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ case. Australians should understand that these pamphlets have not been officially fact checked. An attempt at fact checking the two cases by The Guardian is worth reading but I Continue reading »
The Statement from the Heart’s affirmation of the spiritual sovereignty of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their ancestral ties with the land is welcomed with gratitude by the Religion and Social Policy Network of the University of Divinity. RASP is humbled by the audacious generosity extended to the non-Indigenous Australian people through Continue reading »
More than 180 human rights and legal experts, social justice organisations and First Nations community groups have signed the open letter below condemning the Queensland Government for overriding the state’s Human Rights Act to lock children in the state’s police watch houses indefinitely. The letter is addressed to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mark Ryan, Minister Continue reading »
The 13th of September 2007 was an important day in the history of Australian diplomacy although few people have heard of it. That was the occasion when veteran Aboriginal activist Les Malezer addressed the U.N’s General Assembly as the Chair of the Global Indigenous Caucus and introduced the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. Continue reading »
The truth is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people successfully governed themselves for over 60,000 years and Australia need only get out of the way so they can continue. Promoting self-determination is an ongoing process of choice usually reserved for Government, but this year the Voice referendum means Australians will be asked to promote Continue reading »
Despite their occupation of our continent for over 60,000 years, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not recognised in the Constitution, the document on which our nation is founded. It is high time to repair our national record and complete our national story by providing that recognition. Enshrinement in the Constitution of an Continue reading »
“For me, indigenous recognition won’t be changing our constitution so much as completing it.” – Tony Abbot, 2015. When on the 7th of February 1788 the British claimed the eastern half of Australia they left us with two abiding problems. They assumed that the First Nations were not in actual possession of their own homelands Continue reading »
There is barely an Indigenous murmur in The Centre about the Voice from the Heart. I spoke with 36 people in Alice Springs. Only five were aware of the intricacies of the referendum. All five were white tourists from Canberra or Sydney. The remaining 31 were all Indigenous. None of them had even heard of Continue reading »
Internationally-acclaimed Indigenous artist Richard Bell’s latest ‘Pay the rent!’ installation at the Tate Modern in London goes to the heart of some of the intractable problems of Australian white settlement. The notion that rent is owed challenges the legitimacy of the claim by the British crown to own Australia, since no treaty was ever made Continue reading »