Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal, Custodian of the land Minjerriba, Peace Prosperity and Healing, Sacred Treaty Circles

A new blogging adventure.
I will continue with “Unlearning the problem” as my own personal blog, but I will also be editing a new blog “Treaty Now” on behalf of Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal, Custodian of the land Minjerriba, Peace Prosperity and Healing, Sacred Treaty Circles. This will be a group blog, or at [...]

Guest post – International Womens Day 2008 by Fiona Noble

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH 8, 2008
To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn…
There Is A Season, Turn, [...]

Reflections on indigenous issues by a non-indigenous person for the consideration of non-indigenous people.

This is a post I have written for the blog “Public Polity” which is Run by Sam Clifford who is an active member of the Queensland Greens.  http://publicpolity.wordpress.com/   I will be writing regularly for Public Polity. 
 Firstly a note on vocabulary.  When I use the word “white” I am speaking of culture and worldview, I am not talking [...]

Kevin Rudd’s Sorry statement has to say why the government is sorry – press release from Michael Anderson

Press release:  Michael Anderson, Goodooga, NSW, 29 January 2008
In a statement from Goodooga in NW NSW, Michael Anderson said today:
“In our family’s experience, my grandmother taken from Angledool, NW NSW in 1914 and had to find her own way home. She always wanted recognition of the government’s cruel judgement to breed out the colour and culture [...]

N.T. Aboriginal Intervention extended to Qld’s Cape York

“The Federal Government has thrown its support behind a plan to quarantine the
welfare payments of families in some Queensland Indigenous communities.”   From ABC news Govt backs Indigenous welfare quarantine
PRESS RELEASE
from Queensland Aboriginal leaders Les Malezer, Terry O’Shane, Bob Weatherall, Jacqui Katona, Victor Hart
ABORIGINALS TO FIGHT QUEENSLAND INVASION
21 December 2007
We will join with other Aboriginal leaders in [...]

Aurukun rape, gaol and customary law

It saddens me greatly to see the chorus of Aboriginal people calling for the Aurukun rape perpetrators to be sent to gaol.  Some of those same spokespeople were calling for Aboriginal people to stay out of gaol in the 90s.  The dominant colonial paradigm has only offered gaol or total neglect as the options to [...]

It is still O.K. for Australian police to kill Aborigines

The 2004 Palm Island death in custody, where an Aboriginal man was unlawfully arrested and died of massive internal injuries inflicted while in police custody, remains unresolved. The arresting officer and the person who delivered the fatal blow was aquitted on charges of manslaughter but the deceased’s family is still pursuing civil charges and compensation [...]

The Carers Alliance – election message

The following message is from Robert Gow, Qld Campaign Manager of the Carers Alliance. The Carers Alliance are running candidates for the senate around Australia
more info – http://www.qld.carers.org.au/
Hello all,
Many thanks for the support you have all given, the election draws near
 and we are getting many contacts from carers who are desperately
 seeking a better deal.
Carers are [...]

The Progressive Spirituality movement.

This post was inspired by the recent ABC Compass program on the Uniting Church in Australia, “The Uniting Church” highlighting a divergence of opinion within the church between conservative Christian traditionalists and a new movement emerging called “progressive spirituality” (P.S.).  P.S. is challenging traditional Christianity at its core by questioning key doctrinal concepts such as the [...]

Maori and peace activists rounded up in N.Z. anti terror operation

                                                           Maori Sovereignty activist Tame Iti was one of the 17 people arrested yesterday.  Background on Tame Iti here
Yesterday New Zealand Police broke into several houses, raided a Maori community and arrested 17 people including peace activists and charged them with various firearms offences.
The raids were the culmination of a police operation which had been [...]

John Howard’s referendum on assimilation

Yesterday John Howard announced that he will, if re-elected, hold a referendum to amend the preamble of the Australian constitution to include a “statement of reconciliation” and to “recognise indigenous Australians”
The first thing to note about the proposed change to the constitution is that it is legally meaningless. The preamble of the constitution contains no specifics [...]

Hearts and minds

As readers may know I am an occaisional writer for the greenish leaning “Dead Roo” blog. I have also begun writing for  “Leftrights”, a leftish leaning blog.
My first post on Leftwrites is entitled “The Eurocentrism of Australian Socialism”
Here is my most recent comment on that discussion……
The point of real connection with Aboriginal Australia is [...]

Free Burma!

Today is international bloggers day for Burma. 
Thousands of bloggers around the world are simultaneously publishing posts entitled “Free Burma”.  More information here – www.free-burma.org

Michael Noonan controversies continued…..

As many may be aware there have been new complaints about Michael Noonan’s film work.
I have been reluctant to publish them until now but since Noonan has now publically responded to the allegations  I am re-opening the discussion.
Background to the controversy here
Aboriginal Elder Ted Watson, acting on Behalf of May Dunne, the Aboriginal woman in Noonan’s Boulia [...]

The Carers Alliance – A new party contesting the senate election.

“Our purpose is represent, raise and monitor issues affecting unpaid family Carers through the representative participation of Carers as candidates in Federal and State parliaments. The Carers Alliance will represent the rights of unpaid Carers of people with disabilities, mental illness, chronic illness or issues of frail age who need assistance at differing times in [...]