Arts minister Simon Crean’s newly released cultural policy, Creative Australia, represents a refreshing change. It is underpinned by an understanding that not only are the arts closely linked to each other…
Tasmanians have yet to engage fully with the unspeakable in their history.
Nina Matthews Photography
Is Tasmania at a tipping point? Over the next two weeks The Conversation, in conjunction with Griffith REVIEW and the University of Tasmania, is publishing a series of provocations. Our authors ask where…
Robert Bagie, Olive Bagie, adopted son Ramsley Woosup and Mimia Whap were afraid of flying after losing a family member in the Lockhart river crash.
AAP/Jade Bilowol
A couple of weeks ago, Justice Henry of the Queensland Supreme Court handed down judgement in favour of the families of five people killed in the tragic Lockhart River plane crash in 2005. The court awarded…
Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon discuss the Closing The Gap report in June.
AAP/ Penny Bradfield
It almost goes without saying, but stable, well-paid employment remains one of the key ways to protect people from poverty and exclusion. And that’s never truer than for our Indigenous population. Aside…
Understanding the stingray’s significance can help us understand opposition to James Price Point gas plans.
Joy VanBuhler
For overwhelming economic, social, cultural and environmental reasons the LNG precinct proposed for Walmadany (James Price Point) should not be built…In sum, such a project is against the national interest…
Government policy affects which languages flourish, and which languages die out.
iambents
Indigenous communities are devastated when languages are lost. This was the conclusion of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs last month. The…
Why did the government drop the ball on constitutional recognition?
AAP/David Crosling
The Gillard government has finally confirmed it will not be asking Australians to vote in a referendum for the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples in this term of parliament. Although agreeing…
A new parliamentary report has called for urgent action to protect Indigenous languages.
Flickr/Rusty Stewart
It is not often that the opportunity comes along to make a real difference, but a new report into Indigenous languages in Australia has the potential to do just that. Our Land, Our Languages has already…
The government can’t wait any longer, it needs to make changes now to improve Indigenous education.
Aboriginal Art image www.shutterstock.com
In all the discussion, media releases, press conferences and TV coverage of this week’s government response to the Gonski review, it was fascinating that the issue of Indigenous education rated such little…
Terry Mills has been sworn in as new chief minister of the Northern Territory.
AAP Image
The recent Northern Territory election attracted an unusual amount of media attention amongst the “politically informed public”, especially in the south-eastern states of Australia. Media reporting saw…
Prominent indigenous activist Bess Price is standing for election for the CLP.
ABCTV
The Northern Territory Legislative Assembly is unique among Australia’s parliaments for its proportion of Indigenous members. They are drawn from both the Labor (ALP) and Country Liberal (CLP) parties…
Indigenous policy takes a generation to change … what will the next 30 years hold for communities?
yaruman
Last week, the Stronger Futures legislation passed through the senate - laws which extend the Northern Territory Intervention for another 10 years. The relative merits and faults of the legislation aside…
Alcohol restrictions will stay in place until 2022.
librarianidol
The last sitting week of parliament before the winter recess may well be remembered for the historic senate vote made late into the night. This legislation, with bipartisan support, agreed to the extension…
Treatment for mental illness can break the ‘revolving door’ cycle among inmates, researchers say.
Flickr/:Dan.
Aboriginal people in custody are in urgent need of improved mental health services, according to the authors of a study that found many Indigenous adults in Queensland jails have at least one mental disorder…
Eddie Koiki Mabo (left) and Jack Wailu on the Torres Strait Island of Mer during the High Court challenge.
AAP/National Archives of Australia
Australians have just celebrated Mabo Day – this year marking the 20th anniversary of the landmark High Court decision that changed the course of land rights in Australia The case has special resonance…
Government-erected signs separate Indigenous people from their neighbours across Darwin.
AAP Image/Xavier La Canna
The sun is setting as I drive home from my work at Charles Darwin University. My route runs between Nightcliff, a funky beach suburb with old-style Darwin elevated houses, and new high-rises springing…
Non-Indigenous Australians should say sorry because they feel sympathy for the plight of the Stolen Generations, not because it was their fault.
butupa
As we are about to mark the 14th National Sorry Day and the fourth since the National Apology was delivered by former prime minister Kevin Rudd, I can’t help but wonder if much has changed since the days…
Indigenous community jobs aren’t part of the mainstream economy, but they fit the needs of the community well.
Kayt Davies
Among all the school payments and defence cuts, last week’s federal budget also quietly committed an additional $5.2 billion to the government’s Closing the Gap program. It’s a vote of faith from the government…
Melbourne footballer Liam Jurrah returns to Melbourne after being charged with attacking a man in Alice Springs.
AAP/David Crosling
Imagine if the indigenous people of this country didn’t play Australian football, the only truly unique sport this continent country has ever created. As a percentage of the population, indigenous people…
Liam Jurrah’s involvement in a violent incident in an Alice Springs court last week has captivated the Australian media for days. The 23-year-old forward at the Melbourne Football Club recommenced training…
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University
Chair and Member from North America of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) and Professor in Political Science, Public Policy and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia