Media
Remote school shifts gears for brighter future
THE last time Tony Abbott visited Aurukun, a remote indigenous community on the west coast of Cape York, a young and angry girl pulled a kitchen knife on him when…
Cape York residents protest ‘wild rivers’ laws
Traditional owners in Cape York have staged a protest rally against environmental laws they say prevent economic development in the impoverished region. Dozens of residents of Aurukun and Coen held…
Fighting for their country: inside the battle for Cape York
This week’s Federal Court ruling that the Wild Rivers declarations introduced by the former Queensland Labor Government were rushed and invalid was the long-awaited result many Cape York Indigenous groups…
Noel Pearson: Constitutional reform crucial to Indigenous wellbeing – The Australian
I HAVE been close to the epicentre of indigenous policy for 20 years now. During this time I have dealt with premiers and prime ministers, ministers and public servants, both…
Remote dream a self-built reality
THE country around Hope Vale in far north Queensland is stubbornly equivocal. It can’t decide whether to be rainforest or desert. The mangroves and thick vegetation nod to the tropical…
Symbolism is not enough: Pearson
CONSTITUTIONAL recognition of Aboriginal Australians should go beyond symbolism and drive a new approach to indigenous policy that is capable of transforming lives, according to the Cape York Institute led…
LNP to change Wild Rivers laws: Newman
Queensland’s Liberal National Party will overhaul the state’s controversial Wild Rivers legislation if elected at next year’s poll, leader Campbell Newman says. Mr Newman yesterday said the controversial environmental protections…
When outsiders stir up tensions in tribal societies
I HAVE just put down Jason Stearns’s book, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters. It tells the hidden story of what has gone on in the Democratic Republic of Congo…
Job-service parasites get rich living off the unemployed
UNEMPLOYED people have invisible bar codes tattooed on their foreheads. This makes them commodities in the employment services industry. When the unemployed sign up with one of the legion of…
Government defends ‘revolutionary’ Indigenous welfare reform model
Cape York Institute director Noel Pearson has hit back at a Queensland Opposition MP who questioned the value of welfare reform trials in Indigenous communities. The State Government defended the…
Down payments on a hope-filled future
THIS is Shaunica Lee Cheu from my home town. She is now a Year 10 student at St Patrick’s, a Catholic girls boarding college in Townsville. The photograph was taken…
Cape mayors ‘shocked’ by Fielding backflip
Family First Senator Steve Fielding’s decision to withdraw support from a bill which would have overturned Queensland’s controversial Wild Rivers laws has shocked and outraged indigenous leaders. Mayors of four…