Joe Dortch, The University of Western Australia; Anne Poelina, University of Notre Dame Australia; Jo Thomson, The University of Western Australia et Kado Muir, Indigenous Knowledge
Western Australia’s Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2021 is set to become law. But the new legislation states one elected official will decide whether heritage sites are destroyed for development.
The most important thing to avoid is intrusive, probing questioning straight away. The media and the public should also refrain from speculative, premature comment.
Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, it’s an offence to use a ‘carriage service’ — which includes phone, videoconferencing or email —for the purposes of conveying ‘suicide related material’.
Revelations that WA police accessed data from the state’s QR code contact-tracing app threaten to put a serious dent in the public’s trust. And this trust is a crucial element of our COVID defences.
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2021 is ‘More than a word: reconciliation takes action’. Engaging with Aboriginal knowledges is a way to pursue reconciliation as more than a buzzword.
With Mark McGowan’s government set to control both house houses of parliament, there will be questions of accountability. For the Liberals, there will be questions of relevance.
Perth and surrounds will spend the next five days in lockdown, as authorities scramble to prevent a single case – a quarantine hotel security worker – from escalating into a full-blown COVID cluster.
A spear-thrower, a shell, a bowl, a vase, a bucket. Five very different items tell us much about the history of collecting, the role of Indigenous experts and the shadow of colonial violence.
Palmer has lost his challenge to the closure of the Western Australian border in response to COVID-19. But it still remains unclear whether the border closure was and remains valid.
With Justice Rangiah finding the border closures are safer in stopping the spread of COVID-19 than alternatives, Palmer will now take his challenge to the High Court on constitutional grounds.
By trying to circumvent the courts, the government is undermining both the rule of law and separation of powers. There is also collateral damage to the rule of law.