Journalism student Clare Negus writes about the fight for true reconciliation and the individuals taking ‘closing the gap’ into their own hands in indigenous WA townships.
Indigenous affairs
Beyond the despair part II: the communications barrier in black Australia
Yesterday in Crikey, journalism student Clare Negus reported from aboriginal townships in mid-west Western Australia. In the second chapter of a three-part series, Negus looks at the communications barrier.
Mining: not that great for indigenous Australia
Much of the talk around the RSPT and the mining industry is about how valuable mining is to indigenous communities. But that depends on what you define “progress” as, says Sarah Burnside.
Beyond the despair: just another white fella with a notepad
A pervasive and profound sense of hopelessness has settled over much of indigenous Australia. Journalism student Clare Negus visited townships in Western Australia to report on how communities keep the faith.
Crikey Says: Where to from here?
As we hit the publish button, Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin is announcing the passage of the welfare reform bill, thereby restoring the Racial Discrimination Act.
NT intervention three years on: government’s progress report is disturbing
Today we are halfway through the Howard government’s original normalisation phase for the NT intervention and the latest six-monthly report is both serious and disturbing, writes Professor Jon Altman.
Art dealers slam ‘meaningless bureaucratic bullshit’ for indigenous industry
From the managers of the remote art centres to the big-city galleries that deal in the fine-art end of the Aboriginal art market, all are still saying that the Resale Royalty scheme will prove to be a financial disaster.
Council bans Aboriginal street artists — racist or just dumb?
The Alice Springs Town Council is enforcing a local by-law banning Aboriginal street artists from selling their art in downtown Alice. Is it racist or just a stupid move?
‘Save VCA’: indigenous centre in crisis as money dries up
Storied Victorian College of the Arts Indigenous institution the Wilin Centre is in crisis after the centre’s founding director and an administrative staff member were told their contracts would not be renewed.
How five “top blokes” beat an Aboriginal man to death
Five young men were recently sentenced to only four to six years in prison for beating an Aboriginal man to death in the NT, because the judge believed them to be of “good character”. It’s disgusting, shameful, and an attack on all Indigenous Australians, says Michael Brull.
Income management evidence trivialised in a lemonade solution
Jenny Macklin’s response to the latest evidence that Income Management doesn’t work is only the latest example of anti-evidence based decisions in the welfare system, writes Eva Cox
Macklin’s twists truth on income management
Jenny Macklin has dismissed a new study revealing the government’s income management policy is not making an impact on tobacco and health food sales in indigenous communities. The study’s authors hit back.
Has Indigenous health reform been dropped?
A “radical change” in the organisation of health care for Indigenous Australians was one of the highest priority recommendations from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, but the government appears intent on ignoring it, reports Melissa Sweet.
The NSW media blackout over deaths in custody
There were three tragic deaths in custody in NSW in 2009. So why did the media only report on that of Mark Holcroft? asks the Indigenous Social Justice Association’s Ray Jackson. Could it be because he was the only one with white skin?
Deaths in custody: did the Royal Commission get it wrong?
Public knowledge of aboriginal deaths in custody is warped. Aboriginals are less likely than non-Aboriginals to die in custody and being imprisoned actually reduces likelihood of death, writes former head of research into the Royal Commission, David Biles.
Part five: money, power and uncertainty in a disadvantaged town
In the fifth and final chapter in a special report into the family feud in the indigenous Noongar community, Kayt Davies sums up an enduring environment of unemployment, disadvantage and race-fuelled tension.
Part four: race relations in WA — is Narrogin a redneck town?
In part four of a special report into the family feud in the indigenous Noongar community that made national headlines, Kayt Davies examines the prickly issue of race relations.
NITV’s “shotgun wedding” to end in tears all ’round
We’ll call it now — the federal Budget to be handed down in six week’s time will recommend that the troubled indigenous TV broadcaster National Indigenous Television be folded into an expanded ABC Indigenous media unit.
Part three: Hatred and retribution after gunfire in town
In part three of a special report into a family feud in the indigenous Noongar community that made headlines around the country, Research Journalism’s Kayt Davies examines the aftermath of the gun fight.
Part two: The family feud that made national headlines
In part two of a special report into the family feud in the indigenous Noongar community that made national headlines, Kayt Davies details the night in question.
The simmering family feud in a WA town
Shots fired during a brawl last November in a tiny Western Australian township made national news. In the first in a series of special reports on the incident, Kayt Davies explains what they’re fighting about.
Crikey Clarifier: What’s with Welcome to Country?
Aboriginal people have for thousands of years formally welcomed people onto their country. When other Aboriginal nations visited to trade, it was accompanied by welcoming ceremonies, explains Chris Graham.
God and Aborigines under Abbott
The “Welcome to Country” skirmish was a call to Howard’s lost battlers: voters who deserted the Coalition for Labor at the last election, writes Dr Leslie Cannold.
Welcome to Country: a token debate
The Mad Monk has got the nation arguing again this week, after labeling Indigenous “welcome to country” ceremonies as “tokenism”.
Holding their breath for Palm justice
This latest inquest into the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee is being watched by Indigenous people around the nation for one simple reason: it represents the best chance yet for justice over an Aboriginal death in custody.
