The Guardian • Indigenous
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.
Read moreGrave 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.
Read more“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.
Read moreFrontier 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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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.
Read moreNo 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.
Read moreAustralia’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.
Read more30th 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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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...
Read moreNeo-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.
Read moreQld 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...
Read moreDylan 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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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...
Read moreAustralia’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...
Read moreQuerying 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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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 #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,...
Read moreThe 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.
Read moreSA 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....
Read moreStop 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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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...
Read moreNSW 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 #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...
Read moreTent 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.
Read moreBlak 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....
Read moreAustralian 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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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...
Read moreIndigenous 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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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...
Read moreRemembering 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...
Read moreArt 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...
Read moreCovid 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...
Read moreStolen 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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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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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...
Read more“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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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