‘There cannot be 432 victims and no perpetrators…’
Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody released its report in 1991, there have been 432 further deaths. Yet no police officer has ever been convicted over an Aboriginal death in custody in this country.
In the wake of George Floyd’s killing in the US, Australia can no longer ignore our brutal legacy of police violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
News
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With the government set to refund $721 million over the robo-debt fiasco, the scheme’s early critics are feeling vindicated. And the damage in cash terms could be far worse following a class action trial set to begin next month.
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Daniel Andrews and China’s Belt and Road Initiative
“To be brutally honest, DFAT have always had this realm to themselves and when the states want to enter they’re not happy with it.”
Victoria’s participation in China’s $US1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative has attracted widespread criticism and created conflict between the state and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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Prison visitation ban stirs tension
“The protests have been going on because we’re being told they’re stopping visitations until the end of the year. It’s been tense. There’s been fights everywhere. ”
A visitation ban in NSW prisons during the coronavirus crisis has cut off a key entry point for drugs into these facilities, but with so many inmates struggling with opioid dependence, tensions are rising.
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While Josh Frydenberg admits Australia has slid into its first recession in 29 years, he maintains government stimulus can spark a recovery.
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Trump threats add fuel to US turmoil
Trump’s response to George Floyd’s killing fuels racial tensions. Hong Kong bans vigil for Tiananmen Square massacre. New Zealand lifts coronavirus restrictions. Concerns raised about impact of Covid-19 on girls’ education and child marriages.
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Calls for journalist protections
A year on from AFP raids on the ABC and a News Corp journalist, the government is being asked to ensure the right of the media to protect sources.
Opinion
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Richard Denniss
Unis must save staff not cash reserves
“It’s easy to avoid a hard question by simply saying the government ‘should’ provide more money to the universities. But there’s a long list of things the Morrison government should do: extend the JobKeeper payment to casuals and temporary residents; permanently boost unemployment benefits; provide support to the arts and entertainment industry; introduce a carbon price. And avoiding hard questions, by focusing on what ‘should’ happen, isn’t going to spare the academics in the vice-chancellors’ firing lines. So, what can be done?”
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Paul Bongiorno
Morrison dragged into Trump’s mire
“As if Scott Morrison hasn’t got enough on his plate, now he has been dragged into the quagmire of Donald Trump’s increasingly ugly campaign to cling to office. The invitation to attend the September summit of G7 world leaders in the United States would normally be a feather in the cap for an Australian prime minister. Now it only complicates Australia’s interests at home and abroad.”
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Just as a grateful nation thought Cory Bernardi, the former pub keeper, former Liberal and former Australian Conservative, had stumbled off into that special pantheon reserved for “unrepresentative swill”, we find he’s back, looking to put his hand in your pocket. Yes. Cory Bernardi Confidential has been launched – a special website with intriguing gems behind a paywall, including “Who’s been swimming naked?” and “Is this the new normal?”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
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Editorial
Eight minutes in America
It’s my face, man.
I didn’t do anything serious, man.
Please.
Please.
Please, I can’t breathe.
Culture
Using glass as a medium, Yhonnie Scarce makes art that testifies to the trauma enacted on Aboriginal people and communities. She speaks about travelling to memorial sites around the world and the importance of truth-telling. “I don’t like being lied to … They were setting off bombs, and they knew there were blackfullas around in that area, but they didn’t care.”
“None of us were certain when the hole first appeared. Initially, we ignored it and sometimes would forget it was even there, except when we were sitting outside, hanging up our washing, or if we happened to look out of the large bay window above the kitchen sink that faced the backyard. ‘It’s just a hole,’ said Yusuf. Pitch black inside, perfectly circular, about the size of a basketball. It looked improbable and strange. ‘Maybe it will go away,’ said Soraya. But soon it became obvious to us that the hole was growing. Idhil dropped by to finish wrapping presents for her friend Maryam’s birthday. She commandeered my room and turned my desk into an arts and crafts station, attaching little cardboard cutouts of birds to a small gift bag.”
Life
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The Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it devastating health and social consequences. But it has also delivered an opportunity to learn valuable moral lessons that could benefit all of humanity.
Books
Puzzles
1. Which band, in a 2000 hit song, sang these lyrics: “I know that I can’t take no more/ It ain’t no lie. I want to see you out that door/ Baby bye bye bye”?
2. The Serpentine is a 16-hectare recreational lake in which British city?
3. The Māori term hongi refers to what?
4. In which ocean would you find the Walvis Ridge?
5. Which spy novelist’s birth name was David Cornwell?
6. Which Sydney-born woman has won four Academy Awards, more than any other Australian?
7. Linch, safety and bobby are all types of what?
8. Where in the human body is the femoral artery located? (Bonus point for naming the human body’s largest artery.)
9. Tim Brooke-Taylor was a member of which comedy trio?
10. The German government last month threw which troubled airline a $15 billion bailout lifeline?
Quotes
MISNOMER
“The death of Lloyd George was a shocking and sickening act.”
The Wentworth MP and noted former diplomat offers his condolences after the killing of George Floyd in the US state of Minnesota.
HISTORY
“Australia is not the United States.”
The prime minister breaks with decades of foreign policy and declares Australia its own country.
EQUIVALENCE
“If the complaint is sustained against him, you would have to say he has had a bad day.”
The New South Wales police commissioner says he’s sympathetic to the police officer who slammed an Indigenous teenager face first into the pavement, which might also constitute a bad day.
MINING
“As a matter of urgency, we are reviewing the plans of all other sites in the Juukan Gorge area.”
The Rio Tinto chief executive apologises for his company’s destruction of two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters in Western Australia by not ruling out destroying the rest of the site.
STIMULUS
“It won’t be for everyone, no doubt.”
The Housing minister admits the HomeBuilder scheme will have eligibility restrictions. The package has disappointed social housing advocates, and every renovator who was hoping to add a sauna.
GENEROSITY
“For kids in the streets that need a bail funds for George Floyd protests matching the local energy.”
The Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director and Off-White chief executive shares a screenshot of his $50 donation, which wouldn’t be enough to buy one Off-White sock.
