indigenous affairs
indigenous affairs
indigenous affairs March 16, 2019
In December last year, Aunty Tanya Day’s death in custody came to public attention with the beginning of a coronial inquest into her death. A year earlier, the Yorta Yorta grandmother was kicked off a train from Echuca to Melbourne by a V/Line staff...
indigenous affairs January 26, 2019
When I wrote my debut novel, Terra Nullius , back in 2015, I couldn’t have imagined it would lead to January becoming a month during which I cannot breathe. It is January when I am busiest. While kids are on school holidays, and their parents take...
indigenous affairs December 8, 2018
In the past year, the impact Me Too has had on the lives of Indigenous women has been subject to sparse debate – beyond Meanjin ’s controversial decision to strike out its Turrbal language masthead in favour of “#MeToo” for a special edition,...
indigenous affairs December 22, 2018
Australia Day: Past, present and future
Noel Pearson says there are three narratives that make Australia – the story of the longest continuous living culture on Earth; the tale of the British colonial project and the institutions that have helped shaped our society; and the narrative of...
indigenous affairs November 17, 2018
Kids on country, not in custody
When I first saw footage on Facebook of Darwin’s Don Dale detention centre in flames after a rebellion I was heartbroken and very scared for the kids inside. The video showed riot police entering the prison with shotguns and tear gas. This was...
indigenous affairs October 20, 2018
During the 18th century, a European travel writer visiting the colonies in what is now South America was astounded to stumble upon a town where a biracial governor was casually going about his business. More astounding still was how completely...
indigenous affairs October 6, 2018
Getting the people behind the Uluru statement
Recently, I read Laura Tingle’s Quarterly Essay, Follow the Leader . I was seething with anger at the time, having just read that the member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, had lectured Indigenous leaders about realpolitik from his comparatively...
indigenous affairs September 22, 2018
Why I won’t stand for the national anthem
It took me quite a while before I decided not to stand for the national anthem at school. I started talking with my family about the anthem, and the words in it. We talked about what it might mean to different people, and I started to feel as if...
indigenous affairs September 15, 2018
Abbott’s envoy appointment derisory
As an Aboriginal person, a leadership spill is an interesting phenomenon to observe. There is a lot of earnest frustration – this isn’t who we voted for! – and there is a feeling that important decisions are being made about your life without you...
indigenous affairs August 25, 2018
No one with a revulsion for the influence of the alt-right or neo-Nazis in our body politic would be surprised to learn that an aspiring Aboriginal candidate for the House of Representatives could graduate from the role of children’s entertainer “...
indigenous affairs April 14, 2018
Royal commission into police needed
Has Victoria Police lost control over the behaviour of its members? Has it tolerated excessive force, non-compliance with ethical standards and failure of duty of care for so long that its members now regularly cross the line of legal behaviour in...
