For very many Aboriginal Australians the phrase 'Australian justice system' is an oxymoron. There are any number of reasons, many of which are justified, why we as Aboriginal Australians think…
My apologies for my tardiness in updating Blak and Black over the last week or so, I’ve been reviewing evidence with a former colleague and equally concerned citizen relating to…
Pius wrote in ALP corruption, a suicide in the AFP and death threats made against a three year old – Human Rights Australian style about the actions of certain Australian…
The following post has been written by a colleague of mine from Papua New Guinea (PNG). I first met Pius in 1996 when I was working for the Papua New…
The request for assistance was then referred on to the [Australian] Federal Police but they said they didn't have the resources to respond. (Serco Regional Manager John Hayes) The above quote from Serco Manager…
One of my pet issues on Blak and Black is what befell the former Commissioner for ACT Revenue (“the Commissioner”), a Wiradjuri and member of the Stolen Generation(s), which made…
An interesting comparison drawn from the Bolt judgement. Yesterday marked a line in the sand in Australian journalism. It’s just one line, but a significant one, with the finding of…
There is no question about racism being a profound form of ignorance, but when it becomes something that informs employment decisions by one of the world’s biggest accounting firms, Ernst…
Little men with little minds and little imagination go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds. (Zig Ziglar) The following two comments…
The following article appeared in Friday’s Jakarta Post: Maj. Gen. Wisnu Bawatenaya has been appointed to become commander of the Indonesian Army Special Forces (Kopassus) replacing Maj. Gen. Lodewijk F…
The following is a modified version of an article which first appeared in the Fiji Sun on 12 September, 2011 and which Blak and Black has linked to since publishing…
“Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris” (Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.) I have long loved John Donne’s Meditation XVII; it remains pause for…
Callahan and colleagues (2002)[i] suggested that organizations must focus on three trust-building tactics – accountability, reliance, and aspiration – to cultivate helpful internal whistleblowing procedures. These principles provide people and…
It was pointed out to me last night that I had missed Mr Gary Lee-Rogers from my list of serving AFP/APS officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for insisting…
“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…
I’m writing this post in response to some comments that have been left on Blak and Black over the last week or so. The comments are interesting from a number…
I have borrowed the title from Michael Stolleis' oxymoronically titled book Justice within Injustice which is about, oxymoronically, justice in the Third Reich. After having read Stolleis' essays, in which…
In the 1960s Donald Horne observed, "Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck." This observation was followed in the 1990s by Paul Keating when…
In 1896 J. B. Moore, with what turned out to be prophetic insight, drew attention to the possibility of the immigration laws of the United States being utilised for the…
The following is a letter I received from a reader of Blak and Black and the Fiji Sun, talking about his experiences as a Pakistani/Australian living in Australia’s Capital, Canberra: Dear…