Let’s not put too fine a point on it. Without question, Aboriginal Australia is afflicted with enormous problems, not least of which are law and order and health issues. Add…
In fact, the worst offender of institutionalised discrimination and marginalisation of Aboriginal people is the government.—Neil Gillespie, head of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc, South Australia ('Poor health, racism…
I was contacted over the weekend by a colleague in the United States who pointed out to me the similarities in the nature of the crimes I described in my…
Earlier this week Sydney City Council voted to include the term ‘invasion’ in the Preamble to the city’s vision for 2030. It’s even made news in India. It’s caused a…
“Rio Tinto played an active role in military operations that ultimately led to a civil war in which 15,000 people died. Because of Rio Tinto’s financial influence in Papua New…
Blak and Black has been following the program "Go back where you came from" on SBS. Anyone in Australia watching the trending topics on Twitter tonight and eagerly last week…
The heading of this post is not at attempt at an inscrutable Oscar Wilde type conundrum, it is a statement of fact for indigenous people unfortunate enough to inhabit land…
While speaking with Mr Julian Moti QC, the former Attorney-General for the Solomon Islands recently, he pointed out to me that few people in the Pacific know about the current plight…
Slavoj Žižek, is a philosopher and psychoanalyst, is a senior researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, in Essen, Germany. He is the author of, among many…
Julia Gillard, in one of her more outrageous moments, has declared that her carbon tax would be “shyster” proof; to which, the Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) quickly countered with…
97 Quite rightly, the accused regarded ASIO and the AFP as arms of the state. He quite rightly assumed that they were acting together. The notion that he would be…
In essence criminal law theory is based on the notion of personal responsibility; people are punished for their crimes because they could have chosen not to commit them. The choice…
Australian Vietnam Veteran, Bill Johnson, appeared in a Solomon Islands court on Tuesday 30th January, 2007 charged with conspiracy to murder. His alleged victim was to be none other than…
“I’m really starting to understand how the Aborigines feel … this country has to stop stealing other people’s land!” (‘Daryl Kerrigan’, The Castle) I was having a chuckle a few…
The same sentencing principles are to be applied, of course, in every case, irrespective of the identity of a particular offender or his membership of an ethnic or other group.…
Firstly I want to dispel any illusions that my heading might have created about Mr Grant being in any way connected to the Organisasi Papua Merdeka. The connection between the…
An interesting advertorial appeared in last Friday's The National in Papua New Guinea. This advertorial appears to be a copy of a letter written by Mr Niwia Sawabarri, Chairman of…
“A State cannot claim to be operating under the rule of law unless laws are administered fairly, rationally, predictably, consistently and impartially.” (Chief Justice Spigelman, as he then was, in…
‘ Will there be sugar after the Rebellion?’ ‘No,’ said Snowball firmly. ‘We have no means of making sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will…
"The pattern from the 1980s right through to Haneef is a culture of obsessive secrecy... where the AFP's major objective has been to look good whilst at the same time…