#Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XVIII (NSW 2023): Indigenous­–Aboriginal Party of Australia

Prior reviews: federal 2022, VIC 2022

What I said before: “Their policy platform is really simple stuff: a community that wants to be taken seriously and not treated paternalistically. They seek the space to address their own issues on their own terms.”

What I think this year: The IAPA is not registered at state level in NSW but it is endorsing two candidates. One, Brett Duroux, is standing in the Legislative Assembly electoral district of Clarence. The other, Aunty Colleen Fuller, is running for the Legislative Council as an ungrouped independent—this means she appears in the column at furthest right of the big ballot for the upper house. Her name is second in the list of 11 ungrouped indies. Neither Duroux nor Fuller will get to specify a party affiliation on ballots. Note that Colleen Fuller is not the woman of the same name who is a Gunnedah shire councillor.

The party retains the purpose and goals described in my previous reviews to promote Indigenous communities, provide them with political representation, stop Indigenous deaths in custody, and improve services for Indigenous peoples. The very existence of some of these challenges and unmet needs should shame Australia.

All NSW voters can express a preference for Fuller, but only if you vote below the line. Fuller’s leading goal is to protect the Kariong sacred lands near Gosford. She also wants to protect the right to protest, stop child removals (she is a descendant of the Stolen Generations), and provide more affordable housing. She and two other independents were profiled as the Three Sisters of the Sacred Sites and Environment. I’m a little confused why the other two—Gab McIntosh in the seat of Terrigal and Lisa Bellamy in Gosford—do not have IAPA endorsements, particularly McIntosh because she is featured on the IAPA’s About Us page as their education spokesperson! But both the IAPA homepage and Facebook only feature Fuller and Duroux as endorsed independents.

As for Duroux in Clarence, he has a mix of local policies and statewide goals. The statewide goals concern things such as sacred site protection, better relationships between land councils and traditional owners, better housing for Aboriginal communities, no children in jail, and healthy rivers and forests. His local goals include no mining or fracking in the Clarence Valley, better mental health services in Clarence hospitals, and restoring local swimming pools and allowing kids to swim for free. It all seems positive.

Recommendation: Give independents affiliated with the Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia a good preference.

Website: https://www.indigenouspartyofaustralia.com/ and Duroux’s HTV is here

[whats-in-a-sentence]

At night, the domestic groups were spatially segmented into clusters for sleeping as either nuclear families, single men or single women (see Figure 4).

"Design: Building on Country" - Alison Page and Paul Memmott

[girl-mercury]

i just went to see furiosa, it was fun as ridiculous car chases tend to be (i will watch fast and furious 1–98) and had good worldbuilding, but there was something i was wondering the whole time

it’s made very clear that this takes place specifically in central australia after the nuclear apocalypse; it’s specifically about conflict between several violent groups attempting to hold control over scarce resources. white guys, almost exclusively. but where are the aboriginal people? indigenous people have been in australia for a very long time, and after surviving colonization i’m honestly not sure another apocalypse is going to be that overwhelming

so what i’m wondering is, assuming they’re there but not seen while the car enthusiasts battle it out, is this like a donner party situation? are there indigenous people watching these idiots explode themselves over food and water and gas from behind a rock and going “you dumb pieces of shit. if you could put down the guns for a second we’d show you where the food is. or… no? you’re just going to eat each other instead? cool cool cool. have fun. yikes.”

[25000yearcycle]

✅✅✅

Time to stop being a pawn in somebody else's chess game.

We must have our own political parties to meet our needs as the Indigenous Peoples here in North America as well as in Afrika, South Asia, Australia, South America; all over the world.

25000yearcycle.org

#politics #political #organization #ranks #unite #develop #execute #build #indigenous #aboriginal #drxi #government #rule #law #protection #25000yearcycle #poorrighteousteacher #maat #freedom #justice #equality #truth #power #control #money

[saotome-michi]

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in its constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well majorities in four of Australia’s six states.

The defeat will be seen by Indigenous advocates as a blow to what has been a hard fought struggle to progress reconciliation and recognition in modern Australia, with First Nations people continuing to suffer discrimination, poorer health and economic outcomes.

More than 17 million Australians were enrolled for the compulsory vote, with many expats visiting embassies around the world in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s poll.

The vote occurred 235 years on from British settlement, 61 years after Aboriginal Australians were granted the right to vote, and 15 years since a landmark prime ministerial apology for harm caused by decades of government policies including the forced removal of children from Indigenous families.

The referendum had been a key promise that Labor party took to the federal election in 2022, when it returned to power after years of conservative rule.

Support for the voice to parliament had been strong in the early months of 2023, polling showed, but subsequently began a slow and steady decline.

[thesorryboys-updates]

gotta love a... certain party,,, (starts with lib, ends with eral) using their one token diversity hire to be like "this will divide us" as if those spoilt fuckers won't cast this out of their minds the second it's over,, this reminds me when they were talking about gay rights "there are few other situations where, in discussing abuse, it is reasonable to consult the ones perpetrating that abuse on their opinions on the matter" like,,, 80% of indigenous people say yes that should be enough???

Tones the Aussie here; liberal in Australia is the BAD CONSERVATIVE party not the good guys ok? Don’t freak out Americans

Agreed and I don’t understand the reasons a few aboriginal people have for saying no? Like it is your life and your people so do what you want but what do you mean “I want to unite the (mods? Family’s? Parts?) first�� like??? This will help that???

Honestly don’t know why anyone would vote no, voting no is admitting your racist. And don’t do the “well I didn’t know” bs THEY MADE THE EASIEST FUCKING PAMPHLET TO READ EVER? it’s so simple???

Here’s the link to it actually for anyone who wants it /Americans : here

[psychotrenny]

Also fuck Albanese. Like I wasn't expecting to hear anything different from an Imperial Core Left Lib (especially the one in charge of a pathetically loyal vassal state of the US) but still it was so fucking infuriating hearing him go on and on about how awful and terrible Hamas was and how we stand with Israel with not even a single mention (not even in an offhanded or downplaying way) of the fucking hideous Israeli atrocities that led to this situation. I'd say that this is a classic case of how Settler states have gotta stick together but as soon as he was done talking about Israel he went on to talk about the importance of this referendum for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

And like obviously recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution and granting them some level of political representation is a good thing. It's not going to change all that much (definitely not undoing the violence at the very core of a settler state like Australia, nor will it make up for the long and ongoing history of both physically, culturally and environmentally genocidal policies or end their terrible poverty and discrimination overnight) but it's not a terrible half-step towards restoring some level of dignity and respect to Australian Aboriginals and possibly easing the path towards future improvements in their material conditions. At the very least it'll force people to recognise the immeasurable rift between the indigenous and the settler populations of this nation which appears to be where so much of the opposition to it is coming from; people from the "Vote No" campaign won't shut up about how this will divide the country but what they really mean is that they don't want to think about the divide that's existed for as long as European settlement.

And like there's something so infuriating to me about a politician calling for tepid reconciliation (although at this point it's arguably just appeasement and concession) with one group of indigenous peoples while essentially condoning the ongoing violence and impoverishment of another. I guess the difference here is that the Australian Aboriginals have to resist colonialism from a much weaker position then the Palestinians do; Australia's policies of dispossession and genocide have been going on for much longer and been much more "successful" than those of Israel. They're currently not a credible threat to state security and so don't have to be taken all that seriously, so certain concessions can be considered and even given without real risk of weakening the settler establishment. The sort of unrelenting violence as displayed by Israel just isn't all that necessary. Not to say that it isn't happening over here, but it's at a lower intensity and scale and many participants in mainstream politics are willing to condemn it and pursue measures to lessen it. Like if this referendum does pass then I'm sure various Left Lib* Aussies will go on and on about how it's a sign of how progressive we all are and how we can all come together and close "old wounds" together. But like I know for sure the Australian political establishment wouldn't be feeling so conciliatory if there was a real risk of Aboriginals mounting their own Intifada

(*as in Liberalism the ideology, which essentially describes all the major parties in Australian and really the rest of the Imperial core)

[talenlee]

So tumblr won’t let me scroll through your blog without destroying my phone right now, and I can’t remember if I saw you post about it, but what’s your take on the Voice referendum that happened recently?

So the Voice referendum, for anyone not familiar, was a simple referendum about amending the constitution in order to create an advisory body that would be required to exist, which would advise and advocate for the needs of indigenous and first nation Australians. It failed.

The reason this was a good idea is that we have this problem that keeps up happening where our modestly-left party gets into power, and funds the support network for the indigenous population that we did a lot of genocides to. Then, the right-wing party gets into power and makes a big deal out of defunding them, because get a load of these assholes, fuck that, deserving support after we spent literally centuries depriving them of shit and then also, the uh, colonialism and murder. Basically, we wanted to set up a political body that wasn't from either of those parties that could stand outside the government and give an official, clear advocated position for these people that recognised their importance and their place.

Anyway, it failed, and it's hard to say why it failed. There's a legitimately true case to be made about how much of the no campaign was literally based on total lies. Like, completely fanciful and nonsensical untruths that could be easily shown to be false. But that conversation is trying to examine a giraffe by looking at the spots, because the real problem is that these obvious pieces of bullshit being peddled by bullshit merchants were things that people heard and didn't just dismiss as meaningless. Even if people were being lied to, the lies are so obvious you only accept them, in my opinion, if they sound legit to you. And if 'the Aboriginals want to use this position to claim all the rent in Australia' sounds legit to you, you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about and probably have never met a single Indigenous person.

There was some hope that things would be okay, because the plebiscite, the gay marriage ruling, went through. But that doesn't really say anything, because all this really means is we're not as homophobic as we are racist.

The simplest way is that I'm pleasantly shocked that we, as a country, voted 40% in favour of a baseline, simple, anti-racist measure. Like, I didn't expect it to succeed at all.

[incrediblysincere]

man it's tough seeing americans make posts about australia's voice referendum 'no' result being caused by australia being horrendously racist bc. on the one hand, it is (racist, i mean). but i feel like most non australians don't know that the voice was far more complicated than just "are you racist yes/no". like a LOT of indigenous organisations including the canberr tent embassy wanted people to vote no. lidia thorpe, a prominent indigenous politician, quit the greens party over her support for a no vote (among other problems such as the greens being a racist trashfire of a party). many indigenous activists who support indigenous sovereignty see the voice as an impediment to sovereignty and indigenous liberation more than anything. like, don't get me wrong, a lot of white australians voted no for purely racist reasons, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth seeing people just leave it at that without understanding the wider context of the no vote or the circumstances surrounding it.

Black Peoples Union

Lidia Thorpe

Aboriginal Tent Embassy

[bopinion]

2023 / 41

Aperçu of the Week:

"They say in the Middle East: a pessimist is simply an optimist with experience."

(Ehud Barak, former General and Prime Minister of the State of Israel)

Bad News of the Week:

It was always such a thing when a new country was "discovered." Because that always applied only to the usually white seafarer from Europe, because - surprise! - there were, after all, in 99% of the cases already inhabitants on the spot. And in many of these places, unfortunately, the First Nations are still second-class citizens. For example in Australia. But that was about to change. At least that was the plan of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Unfortunately, he was not the only one to be bitterly disappointed. His idea was to give Australia's indigenous people more political influence with a constitutional amendment. They were to be heard only on matters that directly affect them ("voice to parliament"). Only heard - because everything would still be decided in the almost purely white parliament. So, if you want to see it that way, rather a symbolic gesture of respect. And yet a clear majority voted against the project in the corresponding referendum.

"For Prime Minister Albanese it is a heavy defeat," write the newspapers. What then is it for the Aborigines? Indigenous Australians are considered the oldest surviving culture in the world and have populated the continent for more than 60,000 years. They were there first. And yet only come last. Sad.

Good News of the Week:

Germany has a long checkered history with Poland. With dark and light chapters. One would like to speak of a community of fate. First the fall of the Iron Curtain, then accession to the European Union, all will be well. But then strange developments began in our neighbor to the east. Which can be associated with one name: Kaczynski.

The two brothers Lech and Jaroslaw with their PiS party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc / Law and Justice) have had a decisive influence on Poland's last 20 years. With their programmatic emphasis on nationalism, EU skepticism, social conservatism, right-wing populism, etc., they were a reliable partner of Hungary's omnipotent Viktor Orban and a declared opponent of Brussels and Berlin. This is also how they campaigned: they did not want to be told anything more from the European Union and especially (by name!) from Germany. A ridiculous distortion of reality. Or a bad joke.

Facing them in the election this Sunday were several opposition parties. And increasingly critical voters, who in some places took to the streets in their hundreds of thousands to take a stand for the independence of the judiciary, for example. Their figurehead, Donald Tusk, can in many ways be seen as the antipode of the Kaczynskis. Among other things, he is an avowed pro-European. Of course, after all, he served for five years as president of the European Council and another three as chairman of the European People's Party.

Tusk is now the real winner. Even if he only came in second place with his Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform) party. This is because, unlike the PiS, which is still the strongest party but suffered significant losses, he has the realistic prospect of being able to form a solid parliamentary majority with programmatically compatible coalition partners. "This is an epochal event, comparable to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump," writes the news magazine Der Spiegel. Good prospects for Poland. For its neighbor Germany. And for all of Europe.

Personal happy moment of the week:

My son is going to do more sports. And I don't mean esports. But basketball. In the coming week he will do his first workouts. With physical movement. And sweat. I also like the fact that he has already ridden his bike to school 90% of the time this school year, rather than taking the bus. Even if, I suspect, the main reason is that he doesn't have to get up until fifteen minutes later. Anyway, physical exercise is important for a 15-year-old. So I try to pay attention to that. Let's go!

PS: Now he has already been to basketball training for two hours for the first time. And seems to like it. And I like it too.

I couldn't care less...

...that families can now get a low-interest loan from the government to buy a house. For most of us (and especially in the Munich area) it is utopian to be able to afford home ownership either way.

As I write this...

...I am waiting for the new album of The Rolling Stones. For 18 years the probably longest active rock'n'rollers of all times haven't released any new songs. But next Friday the time has come: "Hackney Diamonds" will be released. I'm curious.

Post Scriptum

In the times of the Gaza war, you have to weigh your words carefully. Unlike the Ukraine war, there is no clear assignment of perpetrator and victim roles of two states here. Rather, the line must be drawn here between rulers who act irresponsibly and peoples who endure the consequences of their actions. Have to endure, there is no choice.

On the one hand, there are the terrorists of Hamas (not the Palestinians!), who, ideologically blinded, are causing inconceivable carnage among innocent civilians. On the other hand, there is an increasingly right-wing radical regime in the Knesset that denies the Palestinian people their right to exist and their territorial integrity (keyword: settlement policy in the West Bank). In between are two peoples who are experiencing unbelievable suffering.

Rarely do the EU and China agree, but their joint appeal for a two-state solution will once again go unheard. In this conflict, I cannot take sides with either side. I simply wish that the killing would stop. And that the rulers on both sides can agree on a sustainable peace in the interest of their peoples. But my hope will probably prove to be quite naive once again...

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.21

Holidays

Alzheimer’s Awareness Day

Atheist Solidarity Day

Baby Boomer Recognition Day

Banjo Lesson Day

Bill Murray Day

Create a New National Day Day

Day of the Martyrs (Togo)

Father’s Day (Egypt, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Syria, UAE)

Ferris Wheel Day

Flag Day (Greenland)

Flag Burning Day

Global MND / ALS Awareness Day

Go Skateboarding Day

Het Meetjesland Day (Belgium)

International Climate Change Day

International Flower Day

International Anirida Day

International Music Day (f.k.a. World Music Day)

International T-Shirt Day

International Yoga Day (UN)

LP Day

Martyrs' Day (Togo)

Migraine Solidarity Day

Naked Hiking Day

National Aboriginal Day (a.k.a. First Nations Day or Indigenous Peoples Day; Canada)

National Arizona Day

National ASK Day

National Create a New National Holiday Day

National Day of the Gong

National Dog Party Day

National eGiving Day

National Heroes’ Day (Bermuda)

National Jimmy Day

National Professional Medical Coder Day

National River Tubing Day

National Seashell Day

National Selfie Day

National Wedding Day

National Yard Games Day

Obscenity Day

Onion Day (French Republic)

Reaping Machine Day

Reserves Day (UK)

Shades for Migraine Day

Short Story Day (Africa)

Show Your Stripes Day

Stock Up On Antiperspirant Day

Suffolk Day (UK)

SYNGAP1 International Awareness Day

T-Shirt Day

Turner Syndrome Awareness Day (UK)

Ulloortuneq (Greenland)

World Day Against ELA (Spain)

World Giraffe Day

World Handshake Day

World Hydrography Day

World Kamasutra Day (India)

World Motorcycle Day

World Music Day (Paris, France)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Gin and Tonic Season begins

Johnnie Walker Day

Lambrusco Day

National Cookie Dough Day

National Smoothie Day

Peaches and Cream Day

Red Apple Day (Australia)

3rd Wednesday in June

National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day (UK) [3rd Wednesday]

Independence Days

Greenland (Assumed Self-Rule; 2009)

New Hampshire Statehood Day (#9; 1788)

Principality of Aigues-Mortes (Declared; 2011) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Aaron of Brittany (Christian; Saint)

Alban of Mainz (Christian; Saint)

Aloysius Gonzaga (Christian; Saint)

Day of the Crab (Pagan)

Engelmund of Velsen (Christian; Saint)

Eusebius of Samosata (Christian; Saint)

St. Henry (Positivist; Saint)

Henry Ossawa Tanner (Artology)

Leufredus (a.k.a. Keufroi; Christian; Saint)

Martin of Tongres (Christian; Saint)

Meen (a.k.a. Mevenus or Melanus; Christian; Saint)

Onesimos Nesib (Lutheran)

Ralph (Christian; Saint)

Sam Kinison Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Skateboarding Day (Pastafarian)

Solstice [1st Day of Summer in Northern Hemisphere] (a.k.a. ... 

Acophony (G’BroagFran of Anti-Music; Church of the SubGenius)

Alban Hefin (a.k.a. Litha or Midsummer; Celtic, Pagan) [4 of 8 Festivals of the Natural Year]

Aimless Wandering Day

Anne and Samantha Day

Aymara New Year (Año Nuevo Aymara; Bolivia)

Cuckoo Warning Day (it will be a wet summer if the cuckoo is heard today)

Daylight Appreciation Day

Day of Private Reflection

Day of the Martyrs (Togo)

Feast of the Great Spirit (Native American)

Fête de la Musique

Finally Summer Day/Finally Winter Day

Hump Day (Tasmania)

Indigenous New Year (We Tripantu; Año Nuevo Indígena; Chile)

International Day of the Celebration of the Solstice

Into Raymi (Incan Sun God Festival; Sacsayhuamán Andes Mountain Natives)

Jaanipäev (Estonia)

Jāņi (Latvia)

Juhannus Day (Finland)

Kupala (fertility rite)

Kupala Night (Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Russia)

Litha (Wiccan/Pagan; northern hemisphere)

Midnight Sun Festival (Nome, Alaska)

Midsomarsblog (Norse celebration of fishing, trading & raiding)

Midsummer

Midsummer Baal (Celtic)

National Celluma Light Therapy Day

National Daylight Appreciation Day

National Day of Greenland

National Energy Shopping Day

Polar Bear Swim (Nome, Alaska)

Saint Jonas' Festival (Lithuania)

Solsticio de Invierno (Bolivia)

Sommar Börjar (Sweden)

Tall Girl Appreciation Day

33-1/3 Day

Tiregān (Iran)

Wadjet (Ancient Egypt)

We Tripantu (winter solstice festival in the southern hemisphere; Chile)

Wianki (Poland)

Willkakuti (Andean-Amazonic New Year; Aymara)

World Humanist Day

World Peace and Prayer Day

Yule (Wiccan/Pagan; southern hemisphere)

Sub-Human Cannonball (Muppetism)

World Humanist Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 29 of 60)

Premieres

Ain’t She Sweet (WB LT Cartoon; 1952)

Alpocalypse, by Weird Al Yankovic (Album; 2011)

Anna (Film; 2019)

The Bling Ring (Film; 2013)

The Blue Umbrella (Pixar Cartoon; 2013)

Bon Ives, by Bon Iver (Album; 2011)

Chinatown (Film; 1974)

Cocoon (Film; 1985)

Creepin on ah Come Up, by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (EP; 1994)

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, by Richard Wagner (Opera; 1868)

Donald and the Wheel (Disney Cartoon; 1961)

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, by Elton John and Kiki Dee (Song; 1976)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Animated Disney Film; 1996)

Impact is Imminent, by Exodus (Album; 1990)

Lifeforce (Film; 1985)

Lilo & Stitch (Animated Disney Film; 2002)

The Litterbug (Disney Cartoon; 1961)

Minority Report (Film; 2002)

Mr. Tambourine Man, by The Byrds (Album; 1965)

Monsters University (Animated Pixar Film; 2013)

Moves Like Jagger, by Maroon 5 (Song; 2011)

The Parent Trap (Film; 1961)

The Promise of Joy, by Allen Drury (Novel; 1975)

Return to Oz (Film; 1985)

The Rocketeer (Film; 1991)

Smoking: The Choice is Yours (Disney Educational Cartoon; 1981)

Sweet Child o’ Mine, by Guns n’ Roses (Song; 1988)

The Te of Piglet, by Benjamin Hoff (Spiritual Book; 1993)

Toy Story 4 (Animated Pixar Film; 2019)

A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (Novel; 1956)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Film; 1966)

World War Z (Film; 2013)

Today’s Name Days

Adalbert, Florentina (Austria)

Margareta, Naum (Croatia)

Květa (Czech Republic)

Sylverius (Denmark)

Kaari, Karlotte, Karola, Karoliine, Karolin, Lota (Estonia)

Into (Finland)

Silvère (France)

Adalbert, Florentina, Margot (Germany)

Methodios (Greece)

Rafael (Hungary)

Ettore, Silverio (Italy)

Imula, Maira, Rasa, Rasma (Latvia)

Silverijus, Žadvainas, Žintautė (Lithuania)

Salve, Sølve, Sølvi (Norway)

Bogna, Bogumiła, Bożena, Florentyna, Franciszek, Michał, Rafaela, Rafał, Sylwery (Poland)

Metodie (România)

Maria, Valeria (Russia)

Valéria (Slovakia)

Florentina, Silverio (Spain)

Flora, Linda (Sweden)

Earl, Earline, Errol, Fatima, Ofelia, Omar, Omarion, Ophelia (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 173 of 2024; 193 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 25 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Wu-Wu), Day 4 (Geng-Xu)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 2 Tammuz 5783

Islamic: 2 Dhu al-Hijjah 1444

J Cal: 22 Sol; Oneday [22 of 30]

Julian: 8 June 2023

Moon: 11%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 4 Charlemagne (7th Month) [St. Henry]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 1 of 94)

Zodiac: Cancer (Day 1 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Cancer (The Crab) begins [Zodiac Sign 4; thru 7.22]

Summer [Season 3 of 4; thru 9.23]

[warningsine]

SYDNEY, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Australia on Saturday decisively rejected a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, in a major setback to the country's efforts for reconciliation with its First Peoples.

Australians had to vote "Yes" or "No" in the referendum, the first in almost a quarter of a century, on the question of whether to alter the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people through the creation of an Indigenous advisory body, the "Voice to Parliament".

Nationwide, with almost 70% of the vote counted, the "No" vote led "Yes" 60% to 40%. Australian broadcaster ABC and other TV networks have projected that a majority of voters in all six of Australia's states would vote against altering the 122-year-old constitution.

A successful referendum requires at least four of the six to vote in favour, along with a national majority.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged it was not the outcome he had hoped for but said the country would have to seek a new way forward for reconciliation.

"Our nation's road to reconciliation has often been hard going," Albanese said in a televised news conference.

"Tonight is not the end of the road and is certainly not the end of our efforts to bring people together."

Academics and human rights advocates fear the win by the "No" camp could set back reconciliation efforts by years.

The Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 2017 document crafted by Indigenous leaders that set out a roadmap for reconciliation with wider Australia.

Australia's Indigenous citizens, who make up 3.8% of the country's 26 million population, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and are, by most socio-economic measures, the most disadvantaged people in the country.

Supporters of the proposal believed entrenching an Indigenous Voice into the constitution would unite Australia and usher in a new era with its Indigenous people.

Many Indigenous people favoured the change, but some said it was a distraction from achieving practical and positive outcomes.

The political opposition has criticised the measure, saying it is divisive, would be ineffective, and would slow government decision-making.

"I'm devastated," Indigenous leader and prominent "Yes" campaigner Thomas Mayo said on ABC News.

"We need a Voice. We need that structural change."

SETBACK FOR ALBANESE

Referendums are difficult to pass in Australia, with only eight of 44 succeeding since the country's founding in 1901. This is the first referendum in Australia since voters rejected a proposal to become a republic almost a quarter of a century ago.

In 1967, a referendum to count Indigenous people as part of the Australian population was a resounding success with bipartisan political support.

This year's referendum, however, has not garnered unified support, with leaders of the major conservative parties campaigning for a "No" vote.

No referendum has passed in Australia without bipartisan backing.

The Voice has been a key feature of Prime Minister Albanese's term in office, and a referendum loss would stand out, political analysts say, as his biggest setback since coming to power in May last year.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton criticised Albanese for holding a referendum "that Australia did not need to have".

"The proposal and the process should have been designed to unite Australians, not to divide us," he told a news conference after the result was known on Saturday.

A misinformation campaign that spread through social media also sparked fear that the Voice - a purely advisory body - would become a third chamber of parliament, resulting in more federal aid to Aboriginal people, and more disputes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

Albanese also criticised some sections of the media that he said had steered the referendum debate away from the core issues.

"We have had, including in outlets represented in this room, discussions about a range of things that were nothing to do with what was on the ballot paper tonight," Albanese said.

[optikes]

Joseph Lycett (1774-1825) born in England, transported to New South Wales 1814

1 Aborigines spearing fish, others diving for crayfish, a party seated beside a fire cooking Fish (1817)  watercolour

2 Fishing by Torchlight (1819) watercolour

A     abc.net.au     For years, an album of remarkable Australian paintings languished in a second-hand book shop in London. It was the work of Joseph Lycett—a convicted English forger who was transported to New South Wales in the early nineteenth century.

The National Library of Australia stepped in and bought the book. It's now been given the highest priority in the National Archives.

On his arrival in Sydney in 1814, Joseph Lycett was seconded by Captain James Wallis in Newcastle to illustrate the new settlement with the hope of attracting migrants. Lycett also closely observed the Indigenous people.

The Lycett Album, consisting of 20 watercolours, observes in detail the cultural practices of the Awabakal people of the Newcastle region. It depicts activities, daily life and interactions that had not previously been recorded, and have since disappeared.

 B    Linda Groom      nla.gov.au

One of the items of considerable significance in the National Library’s Pictures Collection is the bound volume commonly referred to as ‘the Lycett Album’. It contains twenty watercolours painted prior to 1828 by Joseph Lycett (c. 1775-1828).

Although a number of European artists of the early colonial period, such as Nicolas Martin-Petit and Richard Browne, made portraits of Aborigines, it is rare to find paintings that show the daily life of Aborigines. Among Lycett’s watercolours are the only known depictions from the period of Aborigines engaged in activities such as spearing eels and eating meat from beached whales.

Early colonial Australia did not attract many professional artists; most paintings prior to the 1820s were made by convicts or naval officers. Joseph Lycett was a convict, transported for forgery. During his time in Australia from 1814 to 1822, he was given freedom to work as a clerk and as an artist, except for one year of hard labour in the coal mines at Newcastle . He came into contact with Aborigines on at least one documented occasion when he was wounded in an attack by them.

Lycett’s skills as a forger carried over into his art. Two of the watercolours in the Lycett album appear to have been partly copied by Lycett from other works.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Hi, born and bred Kiwi here. Can’t say I’ve seen ableism to any extreme degree here, no more than anywhere else in the western world.

The main issues here are racial, more than anything. Much like the Aboriginal people in Australia or Native Americans, the indigenous people of Aotearoa (the Māori) were pretty massively screwed over by European colonisation and the subsequent Treaty of Waitangi, that like many indigenous cultures around the world ultimately put them right at the bottom of the social pecking order, causing generational trauma and poverty. While there has been work put in to right said wrongs, casual racism is still very prevalent in modern day New Zealand, with the added bonus of attitudes like “the Maoris just need to get over it” or that the Māori language is somehow being “forced down our throats” etc, etc.

The racism in Aotearoa isn’t as outwardly violent as some other countries, but it’s there all the same and very conservative attitudes still linger. National (the main centrist-conservative NZ party) are very likely to win the upcoming election this year, and our most recent Prime Minister (Jacinda Ardern) has become a maligned figure and a target for pretty disgusting gendered based insults.

In most respects, New Zealand/Aotearoa is an amazing country to live and/or visit for many reasons, but it is by no means perfect.

Hmm….it’s very interesting and if anything a big honor that I had an actual Kiwi to speak about their country to me like you do, Anon

I appreciate the time you took to set some records straight about what goes on in your country and what must be done to right those wrongs, and being especially respectful and honest about it

Thanks for the heads up, Anon. 👍

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

What did you mean in your tags about Nyoh changing how Harry behaves in Australia because she’s on the team? Why and how would he act differently just because she’s there?

He had a Welcome to Country to open his gig - that's very much a sign that the way he behaves on indigenous land has changed. Both from the horrific mockery we saw in 2012-2013 and the complete lack of engagement last time he was in this part of the world.

For those who don't know, Welcome to Country is a formal opening to events by aboriginal elders who were the traditional owners of the land the event is on. In Australia, either a formal Welcome to Country, or a less formal acknowledgement of country is like the first step to showing you understand whose land you're on and what your obligations are.

I think the most likely explanation for this huge step forward in how he engages with indigenous culture is that he has a member of his touring party who is from a settler colony and does understand what that means and what the obligations are (obviously he has lots of people in his touring party from the most powerful settler colony, but there's no sign that any of them take that obligation at all seriously). Nyoh has a long history of solidarity with indigenous struggle. She posts about Māori struggles, including the Ihumātao occupation. She also spent time at Standing Rock.

There are other possibilities - either the venue or the promoter might have gotten better at explaining the context to international acts. But given that his response has changed as he's had someone from this part of the world who understands their obligations on his team that seems like the most likely explanation.

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XIX (NSW 2023): Ungrouped Independents

Phew! I was worried I had started my reviews too late to cover all the Legislative Council candidates before election day. Life might have got in the way, but here we go: the final review!

At the far right of your large Legislative Council ballot paper, you will find a column of 11 ungrouped independents below the line. These are people running solo campaigns without a running mate, so they do not get a separate column below the line nor a square above the line. The only way to vote for any of these candidates is to vote below the line. This means none of the 11 has a chance of winning a seat, but they’re always interesting to look at anyway.

I covered one of the ungrouped candidates, Colleen Fuller, when reviewing the Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia. She’s second in the list of ungrouped indies. Let’s run through the other 10 in ballot order.

Stefan Prasad (Facebook profile)

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Prasad has done a politics degree but he does not seem to have learnt much about how to campaign effectively. He has a limited web presence and an even more spare policy platform. A Facebook post urges people that “if you don't know who to for Vote for, Vote for me!!” This is not a very compelling pitch. In response to a reply asking for his policies, he says that “since the needs of the NSW constituents are ever changing, I didnt think it was necessary to provide a set of fixed policies, policies need to change in accordance to the needs of the people”. Yep, this is a policy-free space from a guy who does not seem to stand for anything.

Warren Grzic (Facebook)

Recommendation: decent preference

Grzic is a bit of a serial candidate—he has stood in state and federal elections before, both as an independent and for Sustainable Australia. I haven’t reviewed him previously but here’s last year’s b_auspol review. He’s a big fan of greater investment in railways—to quote from a page he made for the 2022 federal election, “Expand railway networks across Australia to fight traffic and pollution and climate change”. This is pretty much the quickest way to get me onside and he pushes railways and public transport more than anything else. Indeed, he’s not just focused on one aspect of the system but makes comments on urban commuter networks, freight rail, and long-needed regional upgrades alike.

But let’s consider his other priorities. He supports striking nurses and better investment in staffing throughout the healthcare sector. He wants better management of water infrastructure. I’m a little unsure about his attitude on development and housing—his prior SusAus involvement makes me wonder if there’s a bit of NIMBYism, but if there is, it’s not prominent. I’m also not clear exactly what he wants when he calls for the tax system to be simplified: is this an inane demand for flat taxes, or untangling arcane parts of the tax code? All in all I’m favourably disposed towards him but with some queries.

Van Huynh (website)

Recommendation: middling to decent preference

Van George Huynh—his website is votegeorge dot org but the name on the ballot will be Van Huynh—offers an ambitious and eccentric plan for NSW. The first thing you see when opening his website is that “we will win this war on inflation” but oh boy his ambitions go well beyond beating inflation. He wants to “Convert Chatswood into the new world financial capital”, create a new Silicon Valley stretching from the North Shore to the Central Coast, establish major new business centres in Sydney suburbs and the Illawarra, build more universities, found a “cinema of Australia” in Newcastle and “one of the world largest entertainment centre in the state's outback near Griffith”, and much more. He would add two new public holidays: Multicultural Day in February and “Christ Day” on 31 July (mate you are aware of Christmas, right?).

Some of his ideas are good, some are complete pie-in-the-sky, some are best left unrealised. I suggest a middling to decent preference if you’re voting below the line because he is far better than a lot of the racists and cookers clogging the ballot.

Archie Lea

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Lea stood at the 2021 Upper Hunter by-election as an independent and came last in a crowded field of 13. He had previously run for Fred Nile’s now defunct Christian Democratic Party in 2016 and 2019, a big red flag. In his entry in the NSWEC’s register of candidates, he describes himself as an “Independent Christian conservative for member of Legislative Council. Independent Candidate.” It’s hard to find much more on him. At the 2021 by-election his HTV was openly pro-coal and pro-mining. Naturally I think poorly of a conservative anti-environmental candidate.

Michelle Martin (how-to-vote card)

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Martin has not made much information available online. She was listed fourth on the UAP’s Senate ticket for NSW at last year’s federal election, so that’s a bad sign. Her HTV is in milder language than many cookers, but “ensure your health choices are YOURS” leans very much towards anti-vaxxer and anti-fluoride suspicion of effective public health measures. Her open rejection of digital IDs and “cashless society” refers to two tropes currently prevalent in Australia’s conspiracist circles. She is best avoided.

Lee Howe (website)

Recommendation: decent to good preference

Howe is running on a platform of “vote 1 homes first”. She wants a fairer and more equitable society achieved through “access to safe, suitable and affordable housing”. She highlights that only 9% of rentals in NSW are affordable for those with very low incomes and that rental stress is widespread. Expanding public housing stock is a major priority for her, alongside repairing existing public housing to modern standards. She wants new developments to contain at least 15% social and affordable housing, with specific targets for houses for elderly and Indigenous people. She would abolish “no grounds” evictions, place caps on annual rent increases, and otherwise pursue positive reforms to protect tenants’ rights. Her approach is neither urbanist nor NIMBY, but focused on addressing poverty, homelessness, and insecure housing. She’s a little bit of a single-issue candidate, which always makes me hesitant, but in this case her core issue speaks to a range of policy areas.

Mick Allen (website)

Recommendation: middling to decent preference

Well this fella is entertaining. His campaign page is “Mad Mick for a Better World”. It has links to some specific policy pages… and then just a bunch of photos of his sustainable garden and the wildlife in it. It’s wonderfully eccentric. What do his policies cover? He is concerned with climate change and wants to act on UN IPCC reports—or at least “tak[e] their recommendations into consideration”. It’s no more specific than that. He’s justly angry that women still earn on average less than men: “it is bloody stupid they haven’t got it [equal pay] yet”. He suggests “We should be learning more about Aboriginal culture”, without specifying how this might occur other than that Indigenous knowledge should inform more environmental planning. He wants to stop public housing being demolished or sold, and he has very nebulous concerns about redevelopment in Blacktown that has some possible NIMBY vibes. Finally, he wants to limit vaping to reduce how many children vape—by making it subscription-only! These are all pretty simple thought bubbles, but on the other hand there’s more here than some parties and much of it trends in the right direction. Seems harmless enough.

R Cheetham

Recommendation: weak or no preference

I can find virtually no information about the candidate R Cheetham, whose registration details with the NSWEC indicate this is short for Ruth Cheetham. I cannot find a social media profile or website for a Ruth Cheetham that is definitively this candidate. She is, however, aligned with Lee Howe: one of Howe’s HTVs is authorised for both her and Cheetham, with Howe 1 and Cheetham 2. It’s strange that Howe and Cheetham didn’t run as grouped independents to get their own column on the ballot. This alliance implies Cheetham is also concerned with the social and affordable housing issues that underpin Howe’s campaign, but it's certainly not a given. The joint Howe and Cheetham HTV indicates that they feel they both have the most in common with Labor, Greens, Animal Justice, and the Public Education Party. That’s promising but again tells the prospective voter nothing about Cheetham. In the absence of any substantive information, if you’re voting below the line and preferencing fully, I’d suggest Cheetham get a weak preference but one above the cookers, fundies, and similar crackpots. If she wanted better preferences, she should have campaigned more effectively.

Guitang Lu (website)

Recommendation: weak to middling preference

Guitang Lu, a migration lawyer who in some documents also goes by the name Luke, is running on a platform of anti-racism and anti-bullying. It is based on his own experiences, which he describes here. It is the most detailed part of his site. His policies on anti-racism focus largely on remedies relevant to his complaints, but they are beneficial more broadly and extend to gender discrimination as well as racial discrimination. A bit of a single-issue candidate, but an important issue and my initial impressions were positive.

I was, however, concerned by his how-to-vote card and his instructions to potential voters. He tells voters to “Just give me ONE – 1”, or to vote below the line 1–15. The crucial word here is “or”. There is no square above the line to just vote 1 for Lu. Any voter who interprets his advice in such a way they only vote 1 for him will not cast a valid vote, as you can only vote for him below the line, in which case you must distribute 15 preferences. Worse, his HTV’s suggestion for preferences is bizarre: he suggests preferencing the top 7 candidates from the Public Education Party, which is fine, then… the top 7 candidates from the anti-vax lunatics at Informed Medical Options. This gives me serious cause for pause. I was going to suggest a decent preference for Lu but this advice to voters is misleading and implies sympathy with cookers.

George Potkonyak (website)

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Potkonyak is standing as an independent on behalf of Capellia Children Inc. It’s hard not to view him as a bit paranoid when you read “the NSW Liberal government has sold your children into the hands of the so called ‘charities’ (private subcontractors)”, as in child protection agencies. It gets worse: he has been struck off as a lawyer on the basis of professional misconduct. He is described as misinterpreting relevant legislation, behaving offensively in court, misleading the court, and “consistently engaged” in conduct “falling short of the standard of competence and diligence expected of a reasonably competent legal practitioner”. Oooof.

I think we can safely ignore anything this guy has to say. He also has a quixotic account on academia dot edu, a for-profit site which obtained its dot edu domain before this address was restricted to educational institutions. I can’t say I’m in a hurry to read his piece about whether Jesus was born of a virgin. (h/t to the author of the aforementioned b­_auspol blog, who hasn’t had time to do reviews this election but confirmed my bad vibes here)