Remote art centres are central to the Indigenous contemporary art industry. They typically have a white art centre manager and other staff overseen by an Indigenous board.
John McKinnon/Australian Information Service/National Library of Australia
Feminism helped power the tide of change carrying Gough Whitlam to power in 1972. What were his government’s historic achievements for women? And what do Australian women need to fight for next?
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is travelling to China to mark the half-century anniversary of a relationship that has ridden the vicissitudes over that time.
On December 2 1972, after 23 years in opposition, Gough Whitlam led the Labor party back to government. What followed was three tumultuous years of crisis and transformation, after which Australia would…
This is a vote that is too important to be let fail. Yet you would be an optimist – despite the good support it is getting in the opinion polls – if you rated its prospects at 50-50
Oppositions have two key jobs: to hold the government to account and prepare to take office themselves. At the moment, Liberal oppositions are failing on both counts.
Penny Wong’s first trip as foreign minister appears to have been a success. But there is a long road ahead – and lessons from 50 years ago may be useful.
The 2022 election is the most important national choice to be put before voters since Gough Whitlam’s history-making ‘It’s Time’ campaign.
Gough Whitlam delivering the 1972 election policy speech at the Blacktown Civic Centre in Sydney, 1972.
National Archives of Australia via Wikimedia Commons
Years ago, Kevin Rudd sold himself as a version of Howard-lite, as he sought to reassure voters he wouldn’t be scary. This week, Anthony Albanese invoked a Labor icon to soothe fears of change.
This year, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is set to celebrate its 50th year of continuous occupation. Its presence is an ongoing call for land rights, sovereignty and self-determination.
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh with Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen and Lady Stephen at Government House, Canberra, 1982.
National Archives of Australia
While many of the letters are quite candid, their release after so many years is hardly damaging, and the efforts to keep them secret for so long are again shown to be absurd.
On the relatively rare occasions Labor has won victory from opposition, it has done so with a strong reform agenda. So far, Albanese is taking a big – and risky – departure from that.
Since the 1970s, Australian immigration policy has changed dramatically, meaning Afghan refugees face far greater hurdles than those who fled Saigon after the Vietnam War.
In 1971, then-Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam made a significant trip to China. Now, with tensions between the two countries showing no signs of abating, it may be time to look to his example.
In the midst of our present crisis, this week’s release of the Palace letters has taken us back to the debate about another crisis, massive at the time and of lasting significance but rather put into perspective…
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne