Opposition Indigenous Australians spokesman Julian Leeser says the Labor Albanese government needs to clarify the definition of Aboriginality to determine who can sit on a voice to parliament. In a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton asked 15 questions of the proposed voice, including whether the government will confirm the definition…

The Australian federal government has announced the country’s First Nations ambassador in an attempt to elevate Indigenous rights to the world stage. The move comes as the Labor government continues to push for greater Indigenous representation in politics, despite it already having an Indigenous Australians Minister and 17 major Indigenous organisations and programs at the…

Commentary Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s proposed constitutional change to give Aboriginal people a “Voice to Parliament” is well-intentioned. However, as the proverb says, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Albanese’s Voice proposal challenges the very foundation of our nation as a representative democracy. Like other representative democracies, this nation is constituted by…

The official “Yes” campaign has been launched to support changing Australia’s Constitution to include an “advisory body” for Indigenous peoples. The campaign was launched at the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide on Feb. 23 by the From the Heart organisation. Semara Jose, a member of the campaign, said the launch would send a…

An Australian Indigenous academic has argued that the Queensland government’s decision to legislate an Indigenous treaty won’t benefit the livelihoods of most ordinary Indigenous Australians. The comment comes after Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would introduce a treaty proposal with Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to parliament next week. The bill would establish…

Commentary Things are awfully out of balance when youths can hold a community for ransom or have them living in fear. This is the unfortunate, indeed devastating, social scenario playing itself out in areas of Australia—think the Northern Territory and Queensland in particular. Crime rates are soaring, communities live in fear, and service providers refuse…

The head of the Australian television network, Channel 10, has discouraged staff from celebrating Jan. 26 as Australia Day, arguing the date marks the beginning of a “turbulent history” for Indigenous people, according to an internal note. Channel 10 is one of five national free-to-air networks and is part of Paramount Australia and New Zealand…

Commentary A wise Rabbi from Nazareth once said you should take the plank out of your own eye before you attend to the speck in another’s. It is a principle that Australian Netball should have remembered in its recent controversy over Hancock Prospecting and its, now former, sponsorship of the Australian Netball team. A number…

Experts say Indigenous communities are paying the price for the New South Wales (NSW) government’s delayed response to the drug inquiry into the ice epidemic in the state, two and a half years after it was delivered. The commissioner who led the inquiry, Prof. Dan Howard, said he was distressed by the effects of the…

The Northern Territory government has cancelled almost $70 million (US448.8 million) in rental debt for remote Indigenous communities amid allegations the housing is not up to scratch. Treasurer Eva Lawler, in late June, scrapped the debt following court action by Aboriginal residents at Laramba and Santa Teresa in central Australia, near Alice Springs, not-for-profit litigators…