As Australia moves toward January 26 this year, I do so with a heavier heart than usual. There are a few reasons for this. The history of January 26 is indelibly inked, yet what comes next remains a challenge. The result of the 2023 Indigenous Voice referendum, where Australia decided Aboriginal people should not be … Read more
Every country has an argument that seems to divide the nation in some way. With the advent of social media, these arguments all seem to have taken on a more culture war tone: Brexit, Trump, climate change, J.K Rowling, to name a few. Whilse those topics all render in the national lexicon somewhere, nothing ignites … Read more
The Voice referendum in Australia proposed a modest reform, one that would have given Indigenous Australians — the oldest continuous living people in the world – an independent voice to Parliament, as well as constitutional recognition. When it failed on October 14, in the words of Dr. Hannah McGlade, it confirmed that Australia remained a … Read more
Magazine “Aboriginal communities have been given a clear message by the majority of Australians that they are not respected, and that Australia remains a racist country.” A pedestrian walks past a vote Yes poster for the Voice referendum in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 11, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker In October, 60 percent of Australia voters … Read more
Advertisement On Sunday, both metaphorically and literally, it all went silent. After – in the words of Indigenous woman Professor Marcia Langton – reconciliation was pronounced “dead,” Indigenous campaigners for the Voice to Parliament, who had seen their referendum defeated, announced a week of mourning. Yes23, the campaign supporting the Voice, called the 61-39 referendum result … Read more
A man, right, waits as a woman drops her ballot into a box a polling place in Redfern as Australians cast their final votes in Sydney, Oct. 14, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File Advertisement Australia’s Voice to Parliament Referendum went down in flames in the October 14 vote. An overwhelming majority of Australians voted … Read more
Podcasts | Politics | Oceania A conversation with Jill Gallagher. Advertisement Jill Gallagher is a senior elder from the Gunditjmara nation, a spokeswoman for the Aboriginal community in the southeast Australian state of Victoria and a key advocate for the yes campaign and the Voice to Parliament, which will be decided through a referendum this Saturday. She says non-indigenous … Read more
Advertisement For the second time in 2023, the Labor government in Queensland has brought in legislation they admit is incompatible with the state’s Human Rights Act. This time, the law– introduced by Minister for Police, Fire, and Emergency Service Mark Ryan with little oversight or warning – will allow children to be imprisoned in police … Read more
Advertisement The “Massachusetts of Australia” is how former Australian Prime Minister John Howard once described the state of Victoria. His comment, a criticism mired deeply in his unwavering commitment to the increasingly conservative Liberal Party, was aimed at a state that has had a center-left Labor government for all but four years of the 21st … Read more