20 Years of friends in the Australian Federal Police

Some days demand that we pause to reflect on an event on the same date in the past. For Blak and Black that day is 9 May and this year marks 20 years since Angel Marina wrote his now widely recognised letter of racism against the ACT Government’s then most senior Indigenous employee.

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The Legacy of ACT Labor, 20 years of lazy government

Labor has led government for two decades in the Australian Capital Territory. With the impending election on October 17 many Canberrans should be considering what substantive benefits their leaders have…

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The ACT Barr Government, ducking the hard calls for another term

On October 17, voters in the Australian Capital Territory will finalize their decisions regarding who should govern them for the next four years. In that decision, they will no doubt…

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Jon Stanhope, the man who washed his hands of Mullins

“Jon Stanhope appeared to see the world as both binary and polar. All that is good in the world was embodied by the Labor party, and all that is bad…

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A fish rots from the head

The most recent public airing of a racist attack on a Korean man and his aunt visiting from his homeland has prompted another round of self-reflection on the Australian psyche.…

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Hypocrisy underscoring the ACT’s Bill of Rights

''Quite often before they get there [to court] they have done something quite serious. It becomes quite difficult because the offending behaviour is the first point that you've got to…

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A Contributing Life: the reality of Australia’s first people

“… people with mental health problems want the same thing as everyone else. Even the disadvantaged should be able to lead a contributing life. This can mean many things. It…

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The rule of law and the democratic process

“No-one ever argues that governments should have less integrity, that elected officials should not be accountable, or that public servants should behave unethically. Broad statements of the value of integrity,…

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Mob rule and the ‘gentle’ nations of the West

You can talk a mob into anything; its feelings may be – usually are – on the whole generous and right; but it has no foundation for them; you may…

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