Aboriginal Issues
Australia: UN envoy denounced after he describes Northern Territory “intervention” as racist
By Richard Phillips, September 16, 2009
All factions of the political elite came together last month to denounce the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights after he criticised the federal Labor government’s policies towards Aborig...
Australia: Aboriginal residents of Ampilatwatja walk out over housing conditions
By Susan Allan, August 21, 2009
Residents of the remote Aboriginal community of Ampilatwatja walked out of their settlement last month. The WSWS interviewed a spokesperson.
Gurrumul: an evocative and unique musical contribution
By Tony Cornwell, August 7, 2009
The most remarkable feature of Gurrumul, the recent first album by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, is this blind Australian indigenous singer’s extraordinary voice.
Australia: Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe speaks out against Aboriginal “intervention”
By Richard Phillips, July 29, 2009
Powerful criticism of decades of deliberate government neglect of Australia’s poverty-stricken indigenous communities by former swimming star Ian Thorpe has been subjected to a virtual media black o...
Australia: Aboriginal disadvantage widens under Rudd government
By Susan Allan, July 24, 2009
According to the Productivity Commission’s latest report, the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is either static or widening across 80 percent of social statistics.
Australia: Coroner attacks as a “disgrace” Aboriginal man’s death in prison van
By Joe Lopez, June 29, 2009
A coroner has described as a “disgrace” the treatment of a 46-year-old Aboriginal elder who died of heatstroke in the back of a prison van in sweltering heat with no functioning air conditioning.
Australia: Labor moves to shut down remote Aboriginal settlements
By Susan Allan, June 27, 2009
The federal and Northern Territory (NT) Labor governments last month unveiled a series of free-market measures that will deepen the poverty and suffering in indigenous communities.
Samson and Delilah: a searing portrait of life for Central Australian Aboriginal youth
By Richard Phillips, May 14, 2009
Samson and Delilah touches on many social issues—poverty, homelessness and substance abuse in Aboriginal communities—questions that Australian feature filmmakers have, up until now, largely chosen...
Revealing Australia’s dark past—The Secret War: A True History of Queensland’s Native Police
By Mary Beadnell, December 2, 2008
The Secret War: A True History of Queensland’s Native Police is a valuable exposure of the systematic military-style violence employed against Aboriginal people in the Australian state of Queensland...
Government ignores calls for restoration of Racial Discrimination Act
Australia: Labor’s reviled Aboriginal “intervention” to continue
By Richard Phillips, November 19, 2008
In another sign of its contempt for the democratic rights and social aspirations of Australia’s indigenous people, the Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has decided to continue its polic...
Australia: Aboriginal man sentenced to seven years’ jail for protest over police killing
By Mike Head, November 10, 2008
An Aboriginal community leader was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment last Friday in the latest chapter in the shocking saga of the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died in agony on the floor of...
Darwin resident explains impact of Northern Territory intervention
June 26, 2008
June Mills, a worker for the Long Grass Association which provides care for homeless indigenous people in Darwin, spoke with the WSWS on the impact of the Northern Territory intervention.
