The extraordinary struggle of five survivors of human trafficking and sexual slavery culminated last week in victory in Australia's highest court. After years of legal wrangling, six judges of the High Court upheld a brothel owner's conviction and 10-year goal sentence for slavery.
A police raid on a legal brothel in inner Melbourne in 2003 resulted […]
A short documentary has appeared on the internet about Scott Parkin, the nonviolent US peace activist who in 2005 was detained in Australia for 5 days and then deported for being a 'direct or indirect risk to Australian national security.' Greenpeace Australia's communications director, Dan Cass, is depicted describing Parkin as Australia's first political […]
Amnesty International called it "shocking and preventable." On 27 January 2008, Australian indigenous leader and land rights activist Ian Ward — "one of the last nomads born in the Gibson Desert" — died in custody.
The Warburton man was being driven 915km from Laverton in the Western Desert to Kalgoorlie for a mention in relation to […]
Australia has had a change of government since Donna Mulhearn (39), Jim Dowling (52), Bryan Law (52) and Adele Goldie (31) were convicted under the never-before used 1952 Defence (Special Undertaking) Act for breaking into the US military facility on Australian soil called Pine Gap in December 2005. And it would appear the courts have […]
There were so many fine moments on Wednesday (immediately dubbed ‘Sorry Day’). Much joy, much sorrow, much poignancy. Awe at the extraordinary well of generosity evident in Aboriginal Australia. Stolen survivor Archie Roach singing his incredibly moving ‘Took the Children Away‘ in Melbourne, an award-winning song that pre-dates the Bringing Them Home report, at a […]
What a great day. Australia has apologised to the Stolen Generations. Prime Minister Rudd, in the presence of the new parliament, most surviving former Prime Ministers, and about 100 survivors of the Stolen Generations, delivered an apology that acknowledged the "profound grief, suffering and loss" caused by successive governments. He did not presume to ask […]
Watch tomorrow’s historic apology live online at 8:55am, Canberra time. Find your time zone here.
[Spoiler alert!]
Here’s the text of the apology, released today. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to say:
"Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on […]
Debate continues as to whether a national apology to the Stolen Generations will expose the government to compensation claims by survivors. Or whether wording the apology in a certain way can limit that exposure (as the government claims). Surely, this is to miss the point. If compensation is owed, it should be paid. Justice demands […]
Australia awaits with anticipation next week’s long-overdue apology to the survivors of the Stolen Generations, their families and descendants. This landmark step towards reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is something the previous Prime Minister, John Howard — that formidable opponent of human rights — conspicuously failed to do, despite the 1997 Bringing Them Home […]
Peter McGregor, Australian pacifist and ‘education radical activist’ for over 40 years, died yesterday.
An academic by trade, McGregor was also a convener of the Australian Anti-Apartheid Movement along with Meredith Burgmann. Last year he attempted to arrest senior members of the Australian government on suspicion of war crimes.
According to Queensland anti-war activist Ciaron O’Reilly, McGregor […]