I was watching a short speech by Olympic gold medallist and former Senator Nova Peris today, when she suggested March 3 as Australia’s national day. What a brilliant suggestion. March 3 1986 was the date the Australia Act took effect. I was surprised to discover that prior to this the UK...
I am 52 years old. In the half century of my life there have been dramatic shifts in the relationship between non-indigenous and indigenous Australians: the 1967 referendum to include indigenous peoples in the census and grant to government power to make decisions that positively discriminated...
Yesterday indigenous leaders gathered at Uluru released a statement calling Australians to walk with them on a journey to a better future. It’s an invitation I accept. As a follower of Jesus I think I’m called to this. One of the most significant Christian thinkers on questions of...
Pain inhabits her words, her tone, her posture. Raw. Visceral. Some pain is intense but short-lived, but not hers. This is a deep sorrow decades in the making. The pain of one who has been terribly wronged, whose loss has been incalculable, but whose pleas for redress fall upon deaf ears. There is...
A furore has erupted this week over the Prime Minister’s description of aboriginals living in remote communities as being there as a result of their “lifestyle choices”. Aboriginal leaders, even those who have been supportive of the Prime Minister, have expressed disappointment...