International Women’s Day: For ALL Women and Girls
This International Women’s Day, we are facing challenges making women and gender diverse people more vulnerable than ever. Bizzi Lavelle writes, how can this day go back to its UN roots supporting intersectional feminism, and steer away from the corporate day it’s become?
Indigenous organisations need more support to respond to climate change, and the disasters it causes
As we make our way into 2025, Australia has been battling multiple climate change driven disasters. Bhiamie Williamson writes, Indigenous people bear the brunt of damage to our lands, amidst governments and the general population turning a blind eye to climate change affecting all of us.
Women and gender diverse runners Take Back the Track from fear of violence
Sissy Austin, a long time runner, writer and activist, has launched the Take Back the Track movement, a call for women and gender diverse people to demand the right to run in safety. Sissy writes of her journey to establish the movement, and while also navigating the currents of healing; the low tides, high tides and all the swell and waves in between.
Jailed at 10, Sheltered at 16: The Double Standards of Growing Up in Australia
Children as young as 10 can be jailed, and this is a symptom of a systemic failure that criminalises Aboriginal children and makes them more vulnerable to an unfair justice system. But in this recent discourse on teenagers’ interactions with social media, children are seen as impressionable, in need of protection, and too young to understand the potential harm of their actions. Shawna Pope writes, why is there such a stark difference in how Australia views kids, based on their race?
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Soar in NSW: A Growing Crisis of Injustice and Indifference
In 2024, twelve Aboriginal people have died in custody across New South Wales, Lindsay McCabe writes, this underscores a troubling rise in deaths and the ongoing failure to prevent them, despite decades of calls for change.
Survivance: How can mob protect cultural narratives in our arts and practices?
Earlier this year, Wiradjuri Blak Queer artist Clinton Hayden was confronted with cultural and professional harm at the hands of an arts organisation he was commissioned to exhibit with. His experience, Clinton writes, is not an isolated incident, and shows a need for not just acknowledgement of cultural significance, but guaranteed survivance for First Nations artists and cultural practitioners in so-called Australia.
Keeping the Fire Burning: Collective Resistance, Sharing Culture, Creating Community and Speaking Truth to Power
From colonised Australia to the ethnic-cleansing of Eelam Tamils and the occupation of Palestine. University students across the world have expressed their solidarity in standing against the genocide in Gaza. Here in so-called Australia, university students have been doing the same, with the establishment of camps on campuses. Udaya Shanmugam and Jaala Ozies share the stories behind the solidarity.
The NT election is a lesson for Labor: Govern for the good of people and planet or make way for progressives who will
Historically, people elect Labor governments because they want better conditions for people and planet. Larrakia artist Laniyuk and Māori political organiser Te Raukura write, when Labor politicians prioritise policies that favour multinational corporations while neglecting vital public services, they lose trust and votes.
Beyond the Horizon: Imagining Utopian Indigenous Futures
There’s been a lot of talk about Indigenous futures lately, particularly faraway futures beyond the immediate time horizon. Indigenous futurism has been described as a form of activism that dismisses the idea of a still-colonised future, unsettling settlers by breaking free of colonial conditioning and refusing to be frozen in time. When asked to forecast the life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in 2050, most of us are lost for words—this silence is telling, this silence is troubling, and this silence needs examining.
Yoorrook Justice Commission: Jarvis’ Story
The Yoorrook Justice Commission has been travelling across Victoria as part of its work to put the true history of the state since colonisation on the public record. The Commission has heard from thousands of First Peoples during the truth telling process – the first of its kind in Australia. Commissioner Maggie Walter shares one of the testimonies being presented today, from a First Nations man named Jarvis. Commissioner Walter has shared this with his permission.
Impact statement from Nathan Booth’s family
Nathan Booth was reported missing in July 2019, and after months of inaction from the police, his body was found in December that year, in the Murrumbidgee. After five years of waiting, the inquest into Nathan’s death is continuing this week. Yesterday Nathan’s family made a statement, which we have published with their permission.
“They just rounding us up like cattle” The catastrophic failure of emergency services in Borroloola.
Monash University researcher and Euahlayi man Bhiamie Williamson has been yarning with Borroloola residents, and learnt that emergency evacuation orders have been poorly planned, disorganised and distressing for community.
