Indigenous

Local state Member for Condamine Pat Weir has revealed he will be voting no at the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum. In the past, when asked how he will vote Mr Weir has said he would take time to look at both sides of the debate before making an informed decision. Among his concerns was if the issue warrants amending the Constitution.

As the referendum draws closer the tensions are rising. With a constitutional change that many believe will undermine the one person, one vote system, it now seems the very notion of one person one vote is in question. On X (formerly Twitter) a question was posed to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). @tickymcgrath wrote: “I voted today. Was asked if I’d voted already. What’s to stop someone from voting at numerous venues?”

The Victorian government has not replied to the RFA Major Event Review 18 months after it was submitted despite its 37 recommendations on forest management after the devastating 2019-20 bushfires ... Dr Tony Bartlett AFSM, as a science adviser to Forestry Australia, took the fight to the National Bushfire Preparedness Summit in Canberra last week.

A DA for a 36-lot subdivision at Orion Drive, Yamba, over an area that is predominantly water, has been deferred for one month by Clarence Valley Council to allow consultation with the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation ... this was the second time the DA had been on public exhibition ... the initial DA was lodged in September 2020.

Nazis in the Wheatbelt, hidden nests of white supremacists, who would have known that our sleepy regional country towns are nests of Neo-Nazi racism? ,,, our WA farmer Labor member for the Agricultural Region, Darren West MLC claimed opponents of the Voice were "voting with" Nazis and white supremacists, both during debate on the proposed Indigenous advisory body in Parliament and in an online Facebook post.

Patricia Gill. Noongar Elder Lester Coyne ... spoke at the Six Seasons Dijlba Field Trip on Sunday at Parry Beach ... He believes a Yes result in the referendum would enable his people to design their own programs based on their needs and not on what the Government of the day saw fit. “Many programs are short-term, designed by bureaucracy for the benefit of the Government,” he said.

Brace yourselves for the triumphant return of the Indigenous Australian Datathon (IAD) as it gears up for its third consecutive year in Cairns, from the 3rd to the 5th of November 2023. Spearheaded by KJR in collaboration with James Cook University (JCU), tech pioneers and communities, IAD is set to create waves of innovation uniting Traditional Owners, technologists, data professionals, start-ups, and students in an extraordinary quest to revolutionise the future of Australian communities.

The Cook Government announced the appointment of 10 Aboriginal people to the State's first system-level Aboriginal Advisory Body to advise on the Department's progress towards reconciliation and creating a culturally responsive education system. The Aboriginal Advisory Body will provide independent advice to the Minister for Education and Director General…

SOURCE Hydropanel technology is bringing reliable drinking water to the underserved community, Irrkerlantye (White Gate), in the Northern Territory. Children’s Ground – a First Nations community-led organisation – is working in partnership with SOURCE to improve drinking water access in remote communities.

Gamblers playing the pokies in Alice Springs clubs and pubs lost almost $14m in 2022-23. This doesn’t include the poker machines in Lasseters Casino whose data “cannot be provided due to commercial-in-confidence,” according to the  Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade. That is clearly a huge multiple of the disclosed figure.

You are all aware that the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 (WA) is still in force, at least I hope you are, as nothing has gone through Parliament yet to reverse it ... The problem is the new Act is still live and could remain so well into next year if the State government runs into problems with its amendments with an Opposition that has woken up to the politics of the issue.

Vic Jurskis. Koala plagues and megafires go together. Koalas are breeding faster than ever on all the soft young growth generated by Black Summer. The scrub development is unprecedented. Our next extreme fire season will kill more people and animals than ever before. But the koala is in no danger of extinction.

A reader has questioned the appropriateness of the place name ‘Munyang’ in relation to the Snowy Mountains, as referenced on the new sign at Farrans Lookout on the Great River Road ... "My research goes back to notes I discovered in the Mitchell Library in Sydney written in 1838, a few years after Europeans first entered the district": John Murphy.

A recent inquiry into Victoria’s duck hunting had more than 10,500 submissions, a record for a Victorian parliamentary inquiry. Labor chair Ryan Batchelor said Victoria should end recreational native bird hunting on all public and private land from 2024 ... The report did also recommend transforming hunting reserves into state recreation reserves, and excluding non aboriginals, whilst allowing traditional owners to continue to hunt ducks.

Wooli Public School welcomed more than 170 kindergarten to Year 2 students from several Clarence Valley schools when they hosted the 2023 K-2 Traditional Indigenous Games at Wooli Sports Oval on September 6 … participants took part in a number of modified activities and games which were based on the skills and learning resources taught to First Nations children hundreds of years ago.

Wingecarribee’s Aboriginal community had an exciting opportunity to take part in a cultural burn within Gibbergunyah Reserve last weekend. The burn was conducted by Gundungurra Traditional Owners and our First Nations community in partnership with Yarrabin Cultural Connections Fire Practitioner Den Barber and his team, also supported by the NSW RFS and Wingecarribee Shire Council.

Desert Mob 2023 exhibition showcases 35 Art Centres and is an invitation to view hundreds of works by artists who are members of Aboriginal-governed community art centres across Central Australia. Exhibiting alongside emerging and mid-career artists...

Bob Constantine. It was wonderful to see the Chairwoman of the Baaka Corporation, Rhonda (Lee) Hynch celebrate the Ground-breaking Ceremony on the site of the future Baaka Cultural Centre. I thought it a memorable occasion for all citizens of Wilcannia ... The Aboriginal owned and operated centre provides the opportunity to revitalise Baakantji culture, create jobs and boost tourism.

Recently, two mature peppercorn trees in White Cliffs were removed to make way for water pipes. Shirley Evans (nee Riley), who now lives in Wilcannia, was born under one of those trees in 1937. She says, 'When I was an adult I went back to that tree a few times with Mum ... I was really disappointed to think that they'd cut that tree down.'

Nine murals on nine overpasses on the Pacific Highway between Woolgoolga and Ballina have brightened the drive. The artworks depict nine stories from three Aboriginal nations of the region – Gumbaynggirr, Yaegl and Bundjalung.