Mabo – what it means, what it doesn’t mean

Most Australians would be aware, at least, of the High Court’s decision in Mabo, which was handed down on 3 June 1992. Many would also recognise the phrase terra nullius and would know that it has something to do with the Mabo decision. However, there has historically been a lot of misinformation about the meaning [...]

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A little activism against the Intervention

Fire Fly has more detail. Basically: Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has announced that there will be a compulsory acquisition of Alice Springs town camps. She has wonderful [that's sarcasm] timing, today being the start of National Reconcilation Week and all. Fire Fly has a good roundup of information, including the text of a statement [...]

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How our system protects rights – an example

I was cheered to see the report of the decision of a judge of the Land and Environment Court, upholding the decision of a commissioner of that court, granting approval to an Islamic school in Bankstown. I don’t particularly agree with the idea of religious schools at all, but the real issue here is the [...]

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Scholarships and support for indigenous students

I was chatting to an indigenous uni student the other day. I’m going to call her Alice for the sake of this piece. Alice can (and sometimes does) “pass” as totally “white” and from what she told me, she grew up with a pretty similar set of privileges as many non-Aboriginal suburban Sydney kids (at [...]

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Demonisation and the nature of evil in our society

Demonisation (from answers.com – the OED definition was too literal): “to represent as diabolically evil”. Lauredhel has written this morning about some of the public discussion about the Churchill arsonist – specifically, about the way everyone is attributing his arsonist behaviour to the fact he was once jilted by a woman. I agree with her [...]

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We’re on our way…

… to numerical equality and happiness, uh-huh uh-huh… Ok, that doesn’t quite scan. But that’s fitting, since numerical equality isn’t everything. Still. three out of seven isn’t too bad. [Sorry for the .pdf link - also, for some reason, I couldn't find a direct link to any media release from a government source. But I [...]

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Exactly!

Julie Bindel says something that is not new, but needs to be said again and again until everyone gets it: Let’s be clear; women have the right to go out dressed outrageously and be gagging to pull a man for sex. Consensual sex. Women do not want to be raped. Ever. All rape is “real [...]

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WYD “annoying” regulations struck down

The Full Court of the Federal Court has struck down the World Youth Day Regulation 2008 (NSW) which proscribed the annoying of WYD participants. Note that only the part of the clause referring to “annoyance” has been struck down. The relevant clause was this: Clause 7 (1) An authorised person may direct a person within [...]

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