Why are democratic elections banned and women representation reduced to 50% in the new indigenous advisory body? It’s different rules for indigenous and non-indigenous politics, writes Stephen Hagan.
Indigenous affairs
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Peter Costello and the alleged ABC bias
Crikey readers weigh in on Peter Costello and whether the ABC does have an editorial bias, the late US Senator Ted Kennedy and the Northern Territory intervention.
Australia: the pot calling the kettle black in the pacific
Australia’s treatment of its own indigenous people seriously undercuts its credibility as a moral leader on human rights in the pacific region, says the Fiji Daily Post.
Grattan: Keeping the faith
The problems that continue to face indigenous communities, despite repeated government attempts — and failures — to address them doesn’t bode well for the latest plan, says Michelle Grattan, but both sides must retain hope.
UN envoy: NT intervention racist
The UN’s special rapporteur on indigenous rights Professor James Anaya has delivered a damning report card on the NT intervention, labeling it “discriminatory”, “demeaning” and “racist”. Read his full statement here.
New indigenous advisory body, just don’t call it ATSIC
A new independent indigenous body will elect it’s own representatives, with a 50:50 gender split, from Aboriginal organisations. But unlike it’s predecessor ATSIC, its primary focus will be advocacy.
Why don’t we hear these stories about Aboriginal Australia?
You might not guess it from the photos in the newspapers, but the largest concentration of Aboriginal people in Australia lives in western Sydney, writes anthropologist Professor Gillian Cowlishaw.
Aboriginal art reaches a crossroads under the stars in Darwin
There is nothing in the world quite like the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), with an uneasy coexistence between the commercial art world and Indigenous cultural imperatives, writes Henry F. Skerritt.
Shepparton pulls together to face up to indigenous disadvantage
The statistics paint a damning picture of indigenous disadvantage in this major regional city, writes Essendon Football Club CEO Peter Jackson.
Video of the Day: The jig is up: Peter Sutton and Marcia Langton
Author and anthropologist Peter Sutton talks to Marcia Langton about the declining standards of health and education in remote indigenous communities, and what needs to be done to address it.
Wild Rivers get murkier and murkier
Even the keywords “Crosby-Textor” have had an airing as the Wilderness Society and indigenous groups battle over Queensland’s Wild Rivers Act.
Time to start making sense, Galarrwuy
Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu has dumped a bucket on the NT intervention — a policy that only two years ago had his support Chris Graham is confused.
NT issues are pretty black and white
The political mess that is the NT continues to worsen, with a troubled public service, lack of services to indigenous communities and reliance on the federal government.
Indigenous education: a silent success story
By the end of this year, about 25,000 Indigenous people will have graduated from Australian universities. Less than three decades ago, there were fewer than 300 Indigenous graduates in tertiary education. Joe Lane documents this remarkable — but largely unreported — achievement.
A National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Authority: can it help?
A proposed Indigenous health authority would act as a third-party payer for health care for Indigenous Australians. But would it work? asks Professor Judith Dwyer and Stephanie Bell.
More to Wild Rivers than meets the eye
The Noel Pearson-Tania Major anti-Wild Rivers campaign on Cape York has just reached new depths, but at least the tactics and motivations are becoming more transparent, writes Tim Seelig.
Alice camps injunction is down to Macklin
The Federal Court has delayed acquisition of Alice Springs town camps. Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin should have seen this coming.
Why are 60% of NSW juvenile inmates Aboriginal? Anyone?
They make up only 2.2 per cent of the NSW population, but Aboriginals now make up almost 60 per cent of all juvenile inmates. Why is this being ignored?
Up to their ankles in sewage, a remote community’s patience runs out
The NT community of Ampilatwatja is overrun with raw sewage, and with complete inaction from the government, the residents have finally cracked.
Robinson: Anderson was a ticking time-bomb
NT Minister Alison Anderson’s explosive exit from the state’s parliament yesterday was inevitable, says Natasha Robinson: the “bolshie” Anderson was never going to last “watching the machine grind on as her family struggled in poverty”.
Pearson: Wild Rivers run with the stink of lobbyists
The handling of the Wild Rivers process indicates a complete disequilibrium in power, writes Noel Pearson. The indigenous community must have equal access to government.
The most eye-opening show of Aboriginal art ever
Graphic designer and culture mulcher W. H. Chong looks at ‘Ancestral power and the aesthetic’, an exhibition displaying the first shoots of the now enormous forest of the Aboriginal art industry.
Macklin’s town camp takeover derailed by big guns
Within 24 hours of Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin’s announcement, the town camp takeover had well and truly derailed.
Macklin’s town camp plans stonewalled
Indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin’s plans for sub-leases on Aboriginal town camp have hit a snag, with the Federal Court granting a temporary injunction following claims town residents were “blackmailed” into the plan.
