Politics

As well as being chairman of the Cape York Group, he is an outspoken commentator who shapes policy as part of the Abbott government's inner sanctum advising on Indigenous affairs.

Many believe Noel Pearson's Cape York reform trail has established him as the father of a policy movement, but where is the evidence of any real improvements. [node:read-more:link]

None of the recognition proposals confer any right on Aborigines to sue, nor do they impose any obligation on government to act, writes First Nations Activist, Michael Mansell.

"New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have already recognised indigenous people in their state constitutions and the Federal Parliament passed the Act of Recognition in 2013. Not a single benefit to anyone has flowed from those measures, writes Michael Mansell, a Lawyer and First Nations Activist from Tasmania." [node:read-more:link]

Matt Thistlethwaite MP responds on behalf of his local First Nations community to Tony Abbott's claim that Australia was unsettled prior to British investment. Published on Jul 17, 2014

Matt Thistlethwaite Labor MP - 'Kingsford Smith electorate' covers the South-Eastern corner of the Sydney Inner Metropolitan area. The electorate area covers approximately 127 sq km from La Perouse in the south to Randwick and Coogee in the north. [node:read-more:link]

Yolngu Nations Assembly (YNA) urges the Commonwealth Government and Indigenous communities to consult carefully before considering entering into 99-year township leases ... The Traditional Owners only made an agreed to negotiate. "When Yolngu say, 'yes, we understand' that doesn't mean 'yes, we can go ahead'."

To force our people to accept 99 year leases for their land as the only way for them to achieve any form of economic advantage from their homelands is a crime. [node:read-more:link]

... it just will not deliver long-term gains

It seems like a bizarre kind of double-think that the government can abandon the Gonski funding model, which would have most helped disadvantaged students; cut $534 million in funding for Indigenous community health and education programs; and then turn around and claim that a sparkly new program will somehow "fix" First Nations literacy.

First Nations people across Canada celebrate Tsilhqot'in First Nation's win in Supreme Court ruling. The significant victory gives hope to other First Nations peoples 'nations-wide'

Tony Abbott's policies reveal him to be in thrall to the voices of wealth and privilege, and for all his claims of conservatism, he is actually leading a party that does not believe in community, writes Tim Dunlop.