Indigenous

The Guardian • Indigenous

Issue #1946

Does NEVER AGAIN mean NEVER AGAIN?

On 9th December 2020, an interim report was released on the parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The report was titled Never Again.

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Issue #1965

Grave containing 215 Indigenous children evidence of Canadian residential school genocide

Indigenous communities across Canada and throughout North America are reeling following the disclosure last week that the remains of at least 215 children, some as young as three years old, have been found buried in a mass unmarked grave.

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Issue #1946

“No Trees, No Treaty”: Land Rights and the Class Struggle in Australia today

The ongoing struggle at the Djab Wurrung Embassy has garnered serious media attention in the past year. The issue centres on the Victorian government’s proposal to upgrade the highway between Ararat and Buangor in central Victoria by creating a bypass through Djab Wurrung country.

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Issue #1946

Frontier war stories – The great lawman, Dundalli

Boe Spearim, a Gamilaraay, Kooma, and Marrawarri radio host has brought out a groundbreaking podcast series, Frontier Wars Stories, which is dedicated to truth-telling about the side of Australia which has been left out of the history books.

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Don't celebrate invasion. Issue #1946

Restrictions used to redirect focus off invasion day protests

On this year’s Invasion Day, COVID-19 restrictions will be in effect throughout the country to minimise gatherings.

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Issue #1946

No cashless debit card! – No more economic control!

Early in December 2020, the racist and punitive Cashless Debit Card (CDC) trials were extended for another two years, a compromise on the attempts to make the CDC trials permanent.

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Issue #1946

The over-representation of First Nations People in the judicial system

The incarceration rates of Indigenous people and their deaths in custody continues to be a national disgrace. It is a problem that the government, both at the state and federal level, alongside the ruling class, is unwilling and incapable of being able to address, let alone solve.

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Issue #1964

Australia’s age of criminal responsibility is “archaic”

Australia is being urged by 31 countries of the United Nations to reconsider our archaic laws regarding the age of criminal responsibility.

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Issue #1947

The CPA attends invasion day rallies nationwide

Around the country, Communist Party of Australia (CPA) branches attended Invasion Day rallies and marches in a solidarity effort with First Nations people.

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Issue #1958

30th anniversary of Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report

The 15th of April marks the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) report.

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Issue #2046

IWD SA

In her welcome at Fidel’s, a venue belonging to the Workers’ Club, Sally Mitchell, president of the Port Adelaide Workers’ Club and the Port Adelaide...

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flag of Chile Issue #2015

Chile’s new constitution recognises Indigenous rights

Chile’s new constitution will make it the third plurinational country in South America, after Ecuador and Bolivia. It is part of the sweeping reforms of...

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Issue #2063

LETTER

Dear Comrade Editor I’ve heard a lot about the possible limitations of the Voice to Parliament. All I’m really hearing is that if a Voice...

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Issue #1948

Neo-Nazis gather in the Grampian Ranges

At least forty neo-Nazis gathered at the Grampian ranges in Victoria over the long weekend prior to Invasion Day.

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Issue #1951

Qld Labor government’s misguided crackdown on juvenile crime

The Queensland Labor government announced on Wednesday, 9th February, that it will be cracking down on juvenile crime, a move many legal advocacy groups have immediately and roundly condemned.

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Issue #1983

Conservation, climate and communities

The Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) held its Annual Conference.

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Issue #2032

Huge union delegation supports Gomeroi rights against Santos’s First Nations and environmental destruction

The union movement has mobilised in solidarity with the Gomeroi people’s struggle against the climate-wrecking Pilliga/Narrabri coal seam gas mining operation on Gomeroi lands in...

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Issue #1990

Protest against uranium mine proposal – Mulga Rock, WA

On Friday, 26th November, fifty anti-uranium mining protesters, including traditional owners, attended a rally outside the headquarters of Vimy Resources in South Perth.

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Issue #1993

CPA rallies at invasion day protests across the country

The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) , standing in solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the country, rallied against the celebration of “Australia Day”, calling for...

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Issue #1975

Dylan Voller reflects on Indigenous incarceration

Systemic abuse in NT detention received widespread attention in July 2016 after the ABC’s Four Corners’ exposé “Australia’s Shame” sparked global outrage and prompted the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT.

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Issue #2021

Treaty authority established in Victoria

On 16th August, the Victorian Parliament passed legislation creating an independent body to oversee treaty negotiations between the Victorian government and the state’s Traditional Owners....

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Issue #2023

Juvenile justice a system in crisis

With frequent unlawful lock downs of over twenty hours per day, ostensibly caused by staff shortages, incarcerated youth are being denied access to formal education,...

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Sky News helicopter. Issue #2061

Sky News

On 29th June Alexander Voltz of Sky News attacked the Palaszczuk government for wanting to change the name of Brisbane and its main streets to...

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Issue #1947

Australia’s human rights record is a joke

 Last month, at the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of human rights, Australian officials faced tough questions over its human rights violations. The...

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Issue #1976

Querying Carrolup: Stolen Generations, art and healing through truth

Carrolup Native Settlement was established near Katanning in the Great Southern region of Western Australia in 1915 under the auspices of the Aborigines Act 1905

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Issue #2071

Time to Listen: An Indigenous Voice to Parliament

A new book explores the need for the Voice, and the background of the ‘great Australian silence.’ Monash University researchers, Professor Melissa Castan and Professor...

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Issue #1977

Green ban lifted on Sydney heritage site

Despite a four-year campaign, Willow Grove and St George’s Terrace will be removed in accordance with the NSW state government’s plan to build the new Powerhouse Museum on the land.

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Issue #2014

Queensland comrades organise! the CPA and the lower-northern Qld tour

See Part One In the last part of our report, we left readers with a brief outline of our travels on Friday 24th June. That...

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Weasel Words heading Issue #2027

WEASEL WORDS

CONTROVERSIAL /ˌkɒn.trəˈvɜː.ʃəl/ You can probably guess the weaselly use of this word. Controversial and controversy are easy to use weaslishly because they’re so open-ended. Strictly...

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Issue #1985

Rally to protect Aboriginal heritage – Perth

After Rio Tinto infamously blew up the Juukan Gorge in 2020 in the Pilbara gained worldwide attention

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Issue #1986

“Justice for JC” Protest, West Perth

On the steps of the West Australian Parliament House on Thursday 28th October, I attended a protest with about 100 other people, mostly Indigenous, calling for justice for JC.

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Issue #2031

Cassius Turvey vigil

Below are some images of one of the many vigils held across the country for Cassius Turvey. Solidarity with the Turvey family. Read our editorial...

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Issue #1989

The cashless debit card – a “public whip”

What is a cashless “welfare” card?

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Issue #2021

Stalin and the national question: a first nations case study

To say that the Indigenous Voice to Parliament has caused consternation among Australia’s far-right would be an understatement. Earlier this month, speaking in the Senate,...

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Issue #1977

The fight continues

Fifty-five years ago, on 23rd August, 1966, about 200 stockmen and their families walked off the Wave Hill cattle station, owned by British Lord Vestey, in protest at the appalling wages and conditions they were forced to endure.

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Issue #2012

South Australia: Cuban solidarity and party building on the agenda

Over the course of the last period, CPA South Australia has been involved in a litany of tasks to strengthen our Party and promote working...

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Issue #1962

Telstra fined for unsavoury practices

Stunningly, but not surprisingly, Australia has found more ways to exploit Indigenous people.

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Issue #1981

SA bans spit hoods

On 23rd September, the South Australian parliament voted unanimously to ban the use of spit hoods ...

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Issue #2043

African slaves in colonial Australia

The Melbourne Gaol is famous for being the place where the bushranger, Ned Kelly, was hanged in 1880. In the early 1970s I saw a...

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Issue #2027

Canberra branch celebrates formal launch

On Saturday, members and friends met to celebrate the official launch of the Canberra branch of the CPA. Having formed earlier this year, its first...

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Issue #2038

DINGO

As the Albanese government pours billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money into fuelling the war in Ukraine it is offering the fossil fuel miners $500...

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Issue #2010

Watershed events in Australian First Nations history

This year marks several anniversaries in the fight for Indigenous struggle, coinciding with the election of an Albanese government planning reforms for First Nations rights....

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Issue #1957

Stop black deaths in custody rally – Sydney

On Saturday, the 10th of April, a CPA contingent attended Stop Black Deaths in Custody rally in Sydney.

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Issue #2012

Open letter to the Prime Minister of Australia

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP Prime Minister Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 21 June 2022 Dear Prime Minister Albanese, The Communist Party of Australia wishes...

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Burrup Rock art Issue #2056

Burrup desecration

Could the destruction of priceless 40,000-year-old art work in the great land of Australia ever happen today? The deliberately planned Juukun cave explosion of 2020...

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Issue #1988

NSW police block efforts to protect remote Indigenous communities

It has been brought to light that one of NSW’s most senior police officers influenced the state government to reject proposed health measures designed to protect remote Indigenous communities.

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Issue #2018

Listen to the science! State of the environment report

During the 2019-2020 bushfires thirty-three lives were lost, more than seven million hectares were burnt, more than 3,000 home destroyed. In the most recent floods,...

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Issue #2033

Change in the name of Cassius rally – Perth

In Forrest Place in the heart of Perth over 1000 people gathered to remember Cassius Turvey, the fifteen-year-old, Noongar/Yamitji boy who was ambushed and attacked...

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Issue #1965

Stand with traditional owners against fracking!

Letter by Seed Mob

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Issue #2063

Vinnies for the Voice

The Vinnies for the Voice better known as Vinnies, supports the Yes vote in the coming Voice to Parliament referendum. “The Society urges all Australians...

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Issue #1992

Tent Embassy 50th anniversary

The establishment of the Tent Embassy came as a retaliation to the McMahon government’s commitment to assimilation policies and refusal to recognise Indigenous land rights.

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Issue #1954

Blak death cells – three more black deaths in custody on eve of royal commission 30th year anniversary

Three First Nations people have died in custody this month, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. These three deaths – two in New South Wales (NSW) and one in Victoria – add to the already 440+ black deaths in custody that have occurred over these thirty years, leading families of the victims to declare a national emergency.

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Issue #1994

Aboriginal flag ownership remains divisive

While some First Nations Australians are celebrating the now unrestricted right to use the flag, others are wary and sceptical. Earlier in January, the Australian...

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Issue #2052

Indigenous People ask Charles Windsor to apologise for colonisation

They ask the British monarch “to acknowledge the horrific impact and legacy of the genocide and colonisation of Indigenous and enslaved peoples.” Indigenous organisations and...

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Issue #2010

DINGO

On 3rd June 1992 the High Court of Australia recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, held ownership of Mer...

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Issue #2026

Generations of the Stolen

Aboriginal people see the process of stolen generations going back to the early days of the brutal British colony, which was soon centred around Parramatta....

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Issue #1963

Australian government continues to exploit Indigenous land

The federal government’s “gas-fired recovery” plans fly in the face of any reason ...

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Quill and ink . Issue #2072

LETTER

Voice for the young As a Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man I am supporting the yes vote for the Voice. Say Yes so...

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Issue #1984

Indigenous Australians continue to be left out of the conversation

In a controversial move earlier this year, the Senate voted down a proposal to establish a parliamentary committee to investigate truth-telling and treaty-making processes – two of the three key recommendations of the Uluru Statement From the Heart.

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The second NASA launch from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Issue #2015

Dangers of space launches

A second NASA rocket was launched into space from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory on 6th July. It follows the first NASA launch on...

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Issue #1964

Remembering the Lock Hospitals of Bernier and Dorre Islands

The Bernier and Dorre Islands are two narrow islands located fifty-two km from the Western Australian port city of Carnarvon.

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Issue #2017

State of the Environment report

“Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating as a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss,...

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Issue #1965

New insights into the Stolen Generations

A recently updated report released a staggering increase in Indigenous people disclosing themselves as Stolen Generations survivors.

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Issue #2035

Hear her voice

This article contains references to examples of experiences of First Nations peoples, and language that is disrespectful and offensive to their culture, history, people and...

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Issue #1956

Art in the name of exploitation: Dark Mofo’s Union Flag controversy

On 20th March, the organisers of the creative arts festival Dark Mofo put out a chilling call to First Nations people on Instagram: “we want your blood.” Once you read the text beneath the picture, they began to specify that they were asking for blood donations to be used for one of the festival’s performance pieces. The idea behind the “artwork” in question entitled “Union Flag” was to drench the British flag in the blood of First Nations people. This immediately drew swathes of criticism from First Nations peoples and was roundly condemned in the arts community and beyond.

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Issue #2019

It’s fine to protest, so long as you pay for it

Daniel Andrews’ Victorian Labor government has once again proven its deep commitment and thoughtful approach to environmental sustainability by pushing a bill through parliament that...

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Issue #1976

Covid crisis in outback NSW: Indigenous communities at risk

The COVID crisis deepened this week as New South Wales began recording over 800 cases a day, and regional Victoria went back into lockdown.

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Issue #2039

Invasion Day rallies demand “Treaty before Voice”

As many as 100,000 people took to the streets with rallies and marches in every state and territory on Invasion Day, 26th January. Protestors held...

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Issue #2042

Talking About Land Rights

To sustain life people have to produce food, clothing, shelter and other necessities. The process of production takes place within the interaction between human society...

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Issue #2013

NAIDOC Week

National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) can trace its origins back to 1938 when at one of the earliest human rights protests anywhere...

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Issue #2027

Dumping on First Nations People

“That dump would poison the water and poison everything else, the food, the cattle, and everything else that’s gonna live off of the water.” Eileen...

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Issue #2031

Justice for Cassius

Content Warning: Racial Violence Last month, a fifteen-year-old boy, Cassius Turvey – a Noongar boy – was brutally murdered. It is alleged that Jack Steven...

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Issue #2063

DINGO

The union movement extended its thoughts to the loved ones of the food delivery rider who tragically lost his life in Sydney last week working...

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Issue #2019

DINGO

The proposal by the Albanese government for an Indigenous Voice in parliament would be a body which makes representations to parliament on matters that affect...

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Issue #1969

Heal country! – Protecting Indigenous land and culture

Last week was NAIDOC week, a week held across Australia every July, which celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ history, culture, and achievements.

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Issue #2039

DINGO

How to fund endless war? That is the question. That ‘tis better to grab workers’ retirement funds to build Australia’s military industrial complex and pour...

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Issue #2026

End racism in sport!

The shocking allegations regarding the treatment of three Indigenous football players and their families at Hawthorn Football Club – the so-called family club – are...

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Issue #2047

Nuclear waste in South Australia

Holding the largest single deposit of uranium anywhere in the world located at Olympic Dam, inevitably, South Australia has been set on the road to...

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Issue #2019

Bail laws are not fit for purpose

In early August, the Final Report of the Inquiry into Children Affected by Parental Incarceration was tabled in the Victorian parliament. The Report made damning...

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Issue #1974

Stolen Generation reparations welcome, but do not match the real costs!

The Morrison government has announced $378mil in reparations for survivors of the Stolen Generation in the Northern Territory (NT) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as part of a $1bil commitment to the Closing the Gap framework.

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Issue #2020

Stage set for Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Last month, at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land, prime minister Anthony Albanese released the draft wording that would be inserted into the constitution that...

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CPA supports a Issue #2052

Thomas Mayo speaks on the Voice

Maritime workers around Australia are hearing from the Union’s National Indigenous Officer, Thomas Mayo, at meetings around the country, about the union’s long-term support for...

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Issue #1964

MUA stands with Traditional Land Owners

The MUA has once again shown how, with militant leadership, the trade union movement can be a vehicle for taking the workers’ movement to social issues.

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Issue #2037

Awabakal: A Recovered Language

Although we will never know for certain, it is estimated that before invasion there were about 400 First Nations languages in the land now called...

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Issue #2064

DINGO

A new political force uniting left and progressive parties and other organisations with a clear pro-people agenda is needed urgently. The Communist Party is convinced...

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Issue #2009

Feet on the ground

After nine years of corrupt, anti-people, climate deniers in office, the newly elected Albanese Labor government faces many challenges. Expectations of real change are high,...

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The oil and gas platform Northern Endeavour. Issue #2053

Govt’s toxic plan for Timor Sea

The Federal government has announced plans to dump undisclosed amounts of radioactive material, oil, and other toxins into the Timor Sea, just 155 kilometres from...

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Issue #1964

“THE INEQUALITY VIRUS”

“COVID-19 has been likened to an x-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.”

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Issue #2015

Policy-induced violence

At least one child is killed by a parent every month; one woman is murdered every week by a partner or former partner; another hospitalised...

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Issue #2047

Right to housing

On any given night in Western Australia over 9,000 people can be considered homeless, though many more are homeless and not counted as such. How...

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youth behind fence Issue #2052

ATSILS alert

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) around Australia are calling on the federal government to deliver a $250 million emergency support package to...

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Issue #2062

Voice and action

The Closing the Gap strategy was set up in 2008, as part of Kevin Rudd’s Apology to Indigenous Australians. The fact that Closing the Gap...

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Stop fracking rally. Issue #2063

Mega-fracker now on site

Water is life. But right now, Tamboran Resources is on the fast track to frack the Northern Territory, and water is at risk of being...

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youth behind fence Issue #2049

NT: Jailing your way out of crime never works

Lawyers are concerned that new bail laws recently passed in the NT will not reduce crime and will disproportionately affect Indigenous people. The Criminal Lawyers...

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Burrup rock art. Issue #2050

“No empathy, no morals”

The following is a statement from Murujuga traditional custodians responding to the announcement today (25th April) that Perdaman will begin the immediate removal of sacred...

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Wyndham Youth Aborignal Corporation Staff. Issue #2064

Youth corporation in Kimberley lacks funds

A Youth Aboriginal Corporation in the Kimberley has told Ngaarda Media that it would have to close its doors temporarily due to a lack of...

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Issue #2037

INVASION DAY

The Communist Party of Australia acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of the land throughout Australia. We acknowledge that this is Aboriginal land, always was,...

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Issue #2040

The Communist Party of Australia Calls for a YES vote to the Voice in the upcoming Referendum

The Communist Party of Australia Central Committee at its meeting in January 2023 came out proudly in favour of a YES vote in the upcoming...

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Issue #2072

So much for the ‘Canberra Voice’!

The NSW vote is shaping up to be crucial for the Voice referendum, so members of the Canberra Branch decided to tour peripheral towns near...

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Issue #2058

Aboriginal housing: Australia’s biggest policy failure?

The inadequate if not negligent response of governments around Australia to the critical issue of Aboriginal housing – perhaps the country’s biggest policy failure –...

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CPA supports a Issue #2045

“Yes” to the Voice

Recently, CPA General Secretary, Andrew Irving, spoke with members of the NSW Hunter branch. The topic: the CPA’s support for a “yes” vote in the...

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Issue #2039

A lesson in neglect and discrimination

Bans on alcohol sales in the Northern Territory were lifted on July 16, 2022. Almost six months later, the media is filled with alarmist stories...

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“Port Adelaide for Yes” meeting, showing Uncle Mickey O’Brien with his long black cord of Australian history. Issue #2071

Port Adelaide for Yes

Unionists and Yes supporters gathered in the historic Waterside Workers Hall in Port Adelaide on Thursday, 7th September to show their solidarity with First Nations...

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Issue #2052

In their words: “No fracking”

Amid opposition from Indigenous owners and in the face of a growing environmental crisis, the NT government has given the go-ahead for fracking in the...

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Issue #2068

Class interest and Voices

One really bad argument against a Yes vote for the Voice to Parliament is that that a small group of Australians – Indigenous people –...

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youth behind fence Issue #2044

CRIMINALISING CHILDREN

Australian governments are quick to point the finger at human rights abuses in other countries, but Australia’s record is nothing short of disgraceful when it...

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Issue #2060

Why we support the YES campaign!

On 19th June 2023, Parliament passed a bill for a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution,  and to give them a Voice to...

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Issue #2065

Tricks and Treaties

Are you scared yet? Australia’s conservative opposition wants you to be frightened. Scares are second nature to the Liberal Party. Only four years ago, they...

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Issue #2072

On 14th October vote YES!

Vinnie Molina On 14th October the Australian electorate will decide whether to amend the Constitution for recognition of Indigenous Australians and a Voice to Parliament...

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Astronaut working outside of craft. Issue #2051

Military uses for Arnhem Space Centre

Last year the Guardian reported on the development of the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) in north-east Arnhem Land in the remote Northern Territory. We warned...

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Issue #2057

Maritime Union of Australia launches Voice to Parliament film

The documentary film COME WALK WITH US premiered on 7th June, introduced by executive producer Thomas Mayo. Mayo is a former wharfie, an author, a...

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Issue #2055

The Voice in context

In 2007, Operation Outreach, involving 600 Australian Army soldiers was launched against Indigenous communities to implement the Howard Coalition government’s Northern Territory Intervention policy. The...

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