Originally published on Global Voices

Indigenous Treaty celebrations outside Victorian parliament. Screenshot NITV YouTube video: “Victoria makes history as Treaty legislation passes parliament”. Fair use

In a historic first, the State Parliament of Victoria has passed Australia’s first formal treaty with Indigenous First Peoples. It follows ten years of work with traditional owners.

First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Co-Chair Rueben Berg talked to ABC News Breakfast the next morning abou the historic treaty:

View this post on Instagram

The treaty is part of efforts to close the gap between Indigenous people and the rest of the Australian community.

The legislation establishes three key bodies: Gellung Warla (the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria as a permanent representative body), Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna (a truth-telling body that will also incorporate truth-telling into Australia’s school curriculum), and Nginma Ngainga Wara (an accountability body). Additionally, an infrastructure fund will be created to give First Peoples greater control of the development projects that affect their communities.

Ngarra Murray, elected Co-Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, explained why a treaty was needed:

Treaty recognises that Aboriginal people are the experts when it comes to our Country, culture and communities — and makes sure we can use our local knowledge to come up with and deliver practical solutions to improve health, education, and housing outcomes for our communities.

The news was greeted warmly by many Aussies. Mastodon user @susan60 joined others who would like to see it extended nationally:

Post by @Susan60@aus.social

View on Mastodon

However, not all Australians welcomed the legislation.

Some opponents believe it will be racially divisive and that it goes against the national sentiment expressed in the rejection of the Federal Voice referendum proposal in 2023. The Voice was to be a permanent consultative body written into the Australian Constitution to offer Indigenous citizens more representation in Parliament; however, it was rejected after more than 60 percent of voters voted no on the referendum.

Margaret Chambers at right-wing thinktank Institute of Public Affairs argued that:

…the treaty will function as a Voice on steroids, creating a separate and parallel parliament based on race.

[The treaty] will ensure that our democracy is transformed into a two-tier system based solely on ancestry.

Conservative parties opposed the treaty at both the State and Federal levels.
The conservative rural-based National Party and some of their Liberal Party allies doubled down on their earlier opposition to The Voice. Nationals Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie called Victoria’s treaty legislation “appalling”, while Liberal Victorian MP David Davis suggested that it would bring the state to a standstill.”

Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin was condemned for his promise to repeal the new law if elected to government in 2026. The pro-treaty “Together for Treaty” movement started an online petition calling for Battin to back down as part of its ongoing campaign.

David Anthony’s comment on a SkyNews Facebook welcomed the treaty, which he described as unifying, not divisive.

Great to see Victoria embrace the Treaty. I still lament the loss of the Voice referendum as the perfect opportunity to ‘close the gap’ and make Australia a greater place. But state Treaties will be a huge help in improving the lives of thousands of people. Victoria coming to a standstill? That’s a pretty hysterical assertion made without evidence. Time for unity, not division.

Most of the replies to Anthony’s comment were very negative, as might be expected on the right-leaning SkyNews, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Brian Wray’s response reflected many of the anti-treaty views:

I agree it’s time for unity, the rest of your rant is purely delusional. The Australian electorate voted NO. This action by the Allen government is treachery. Nothing less.

Similar arguments took place on several Reddit posts. This was a typical thread.

The official Treaty website emphasises that the new law will in no way: Change the Victorian or Commonwealth Constitution, establish a “third chamber of Parliament” in the legislative chamber or house of Victoria’s Parliament or change tax laws or provide individual financial “reparations.”

The day after the vote, Indigenous person Big T, sounded a note of optimism on BlueSky:

Yesterday Victoria signed a Treaty.Today the sun is rising, so I guess it didn't cause the end of the world.

— Big T (@big-tony.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T17:58:15.940Z

The full legislation can be read here.

Originally published on Global Voices

Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell was arrested hours after gatecrashing Victorian State Premier Jacinta Allan's press conference. Screenshot: 10 News YouTube video. Fair use.

A day of protests across Australia on Sunday, August 31, 2025, against immigration caused quite a stir after organizers allowed several well-known Neo-Nazis to speak at some of the events. The March for Australia organisers copped criticism for giving a platform to far-right groups and Neo-Nazis.

Some of the Neo-Nazis did not confine themselves to making speeches. In Melbourne, the Camp Sovereignty Indigenous protest site was attacked, with reports of four injured. Seven men were later charged over the attack, including Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell, who is facing 25 charges and was refused bail. Sewel was one of the speakers at the Melbourne rally. This ABC YouTube video shows his speech (beginning at 3:40):

At Spencer Street End, Daniel James drew a dark comparison with the treatment of Indigenous people during colonisation:

It had all the hallmarks of a massacre apart from the body count. An Aboriginal camp at dusk on the edge of town, most of its custodians elsewhere, only a few left to defend it. Out of the chilled evening gloom, a menace of figures, dressed in black, emerged to commit a planned attack steeped in hate. To claim something that was not theirs by destroying it; an act of terrorism. A scene played out hundreds of times since invasion.

The Victorian State Premier, Jacinta Allen, called Sewell and his followers “goons” after he disrupted her media conference on Tuesday following the rallies.

On Substack, well-known commentator Tim Dunlop expressed a concern shared by many other Australians:

It is hard not to feel heartsick watching a bunch of neo-Nazis marching around our cities and towns, as they did on the weekend. Whether their performance achieved anything positive for their cause is doubtful, but even if all they are doing is preaching to the converted rather than recruiting new supporters, you still hate to see them out there.

Academics at The Conversation website were quick to analyse the implications. Callum Jones, Associate Research Fellow at Deakin University, and Kurt Sengul, Research Fellow, far-right communication at Macquarie University, looked at global trends in far-right individuals being empowered to speak publicly, including the role of social media:

These movements increasingly see themselves as united by shared concerns over the defence of so-called ‘Western Civilisation’, opposition to mass immigration, the preservation of white identity, and beliefs in conspiratorial narratives such as the Great Replacement theory.

And this transnational growth wouldn’t be possible without the proliferation of social media in recent years.

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has been exploring local connections with overseas far-right groups:

A large cache of leaked private messages has revealed how Australian Neo-Nazi groups took inspiration from their counterparts overseas.

Australia's largest Neo-Nazi group — the National Socialist Network — has been following a far-right playbook as it seeks to position itself as a political movement for Australians with fringe views.

Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism at The University of Melbourne, accepted that the rallies:

…were in part anti-immigration, and it was clear from the coverage that some, perhaps most, people joined in because they were genuinely opposed to immigration for reasons not connected with race, but to do with issues such as housing.

However, he argued that:

…the leadership of the Melbourne rally was provided by the National Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi organisation, and it became clear as events unfolded, especially in Melbourne and Sydney, that the terms ‘anti-immigration’ and ‘March for Australia’ were merely a smokescreen.

Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described Thomas Sewel as “a pretty awful human being” and was not keen to see him deported back to New Zealand, his country of birth. Sewell has dual Aussie and Kiwi citizenship.

The rallies took place just a week after national action against the war in Gaza on August 24. This was the view of Sydney Harbour Bridge from a train, 3 weeks earlier, when approximately 100,000 people marched in support of Palestinians:

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s attempt to reach out to some of those who attended the marches was criticised by a fellow Labor MP:

Former Labor minister Ed Husic has rebuked Anthony Albanese’s assertion that “good people” attended last weekend’s anti-immigration rallies, saying “I haven’t seen a good fascist yet”. Ed Husic was the first Muslim elected to Federal parliament in 2010.

On Mastodon, Peter agreed strongly with Husic’s view:

Post by @CanvasesByPeter@mastodon.social

View on Mastodon

Conservative members of the Federal parliament also became caught up in the fallout from the March for Australia, including two who had supported the rallies. Federal member of the House of Representatives Bob Katter was called out for speaking on a Neo-Nazi megaphone at the march in Townsville.

He had earlier faced widespread condemnation for physically threatening a journalist who had raised Katter’s Lebanese heritage at a media conference. The Greek Herald reported that the MP has since repeated his threat.

This BlueSky user made a harsh judgment of Katter’s conduct:

Bob Katter threatened to punch a journo for mentioning his Lebanese heritage, called it racist, then days later speaks at a March for Australia rally in Townsville using a Nazi-rune megaphone. That’s not eccentric, that’s cognitive decline. An MP this senile is unfit to serve #auspol

— Patrick Gilligan (@rainingbear.bsky.social) 2025-09-01T06:32:09.627Z

Meanwhile, opposition Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price caused uproar when she claimed that the Labor government was bringing in Indian migrants to boost its voter base. She later retracted her comments, calling them a “mistake”. However, Price did not apologise, angering some of her Liberal Party colleagues.

Finally, an explainer in the Guardian sought to present the real immigration figures for Australia, refuting claims made at the rallies. Floofy shared their piece on BlueSky, but Mike Funnell’s response highlighted how pointless this approach might be:

They won’t let your facts get in the way of their feelings

— Mike Funnell (@mikefunnell.bsky.social) 2025-09-02T01:23:51.873Z

Finally, both legacy and new media need to consider how they cover news about far-right groups such as Neo-Nazis and white supremacists without giving them a platform for spreading their ideology and misinformation and helping their recruitment. A Guardian podcast raised this issue. The discussion starts in earnest at 8:38 minutes into the video version:

Originally published on Global Voices

Australian National Dictionary Second Edition 2016. Photo by author. Used with permission.

All the Australianisms in this story have been verified in the hard-copy 2nd edition of the Australian National Dictionary. Where necessary, meanings are given in parentheses.

Many Aussies are shitty (upset) about an attack on our cultural heritage. I’m also mad as a cut snake (angry) with the Australian National University's (ANU) recent proposed funding cuts to the Dictionary of Australianisms, an annual record of Australian English.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation summed up the issue in an audio interview with the director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, Amanda Laugesen.

The Australian National Dictionary Centre (NDC) conducts research into Australian English, and provides Oxford University Press with editorial expertise for their Australian dictionaries.

But now the centre could be shut down.

It's been earmarked as part of proposed cuts at the Australian National University.

The NDC maintains a website with a selection of Australianisms and other related resources. The Centre is jointly funded by the ANU and Oxford University Press (OUP). It helped with the publication of two hard-copy editions by OUP of the Australian National Dictionary in 1988 and 2016.

The two-volume 2016 edition has 1,864 densely-packed pages with “16,000 headwords, phrases, compounds, idioms, and derivates …illustrated by 123,000 citations”. My two volumes weigh 4.512 kgs (9.947 lbs) in total.

Its “word of the year”, such as the 2016 winner, “democracy sausage”, always draws public interest both in Australia and internationally. The dictionary contains many words borrowed from First Nations peoples, such as galah (fool, idiot), which comes from an Aboriginal word for cockatoo, a common bird down under (Australasia). Dingo (an Australian wild dog) is another word that is sometimes used to describe treacherous people. Both words could well be applied to those responsible for the decision.

There are proposed cuts to the National Centre for Biography (NCB) and the School of Music, among several other areas of the humanities.

On The Conversation, Monash University academics Howard Manns, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, and Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, put forward a case for why the dictionary matters:

Dictionaries help define and reflect a nation’s identity.

The Australian National Dictionary (AND) grounds our words, and their meanings, in their historical and cultural contexts. The AND tells us where words have come from, when they were first used and how their meanings have changed over time. In short, the AND is a living, breathing and evolving record of how language is wrapped up in who we are as Australians.

Former Chancellor of the ANU, Gareth Evans, was “gobsmacked” with the planned cost-saving measures.

Evans was the Labour foreign minister from 1988 until 1996. The current Chancellor, Julie Bishop, served in that role from 2013 to 2018 for the conservative Liberal/National coalition government.

On BlueSky, Melbourne academic Dominic Kelly posted concerns about the cuts:

Tom Griffiths and Mark McKenna: 'ANU’s recent announcement to slash three full time positions at the Australian Dictionary of Biography and “disestablish” the Australian National Dictionary … represent cultural vandalism on a breathtaking scale.' inside.org.au/the-jewel-in…

— Dominic Kelly (@dominickelly.bsky.social) 2025-07-22T03:07:14.417Z

Tom Griffiths, Professor Emeritus of History at the ANU, and Mark McKenna, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Sydney, penned a strong response on Inside Story. They are both on the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB). They argued that:

ANU’s assault on the ADB and the Australian National Dictionary is taking place in the context of a sustained attack on the humanities in Australia.

…What do we, as Australians, value? Who else will nurture and defend the languages, cultures and histories of this continent, who else will tell the life stories of this place, who else will cultivate our capacity to share a common reference point of understanding…

They also joined other commentators in wondering why the Federal government's AUD 200 million (USD 130 million) National Institutes Grant is not being used to maintain these programs.

The ANU's use of “disestablish” to refer to its cuts must join the list of “weasel words”, a term popularised down under by Aussie author Don Watson‘s books “Dictionary of Weasel Words” and “Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language”.

A thread on Reddit, when the cut to the DNC was first flagged in July, brought a swift condemnation by user MindlessOptimist:

Comment
byu/PlumTuckeredOutski from discussion
inAnu

In a “Day of Rage” against the cuts, ANU students protested against Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell and Julie Bishop’s management, calling for their sacking (firing):

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by S.O.S. ANU: Save Our Studies, Save Our Staff (@s.o.s.anu)

The leadership of the ANU has been under fire over a range of issues recently. Chancellor Julie Bishop has faced allegations by ANU demographer Liz Allen of bullying and harassment. These were aired at a Senate inquiry into the quality of governance at higher education providers. Allen resigned from the ANU Council earlier this year. Another council member, Francis Markham, has also resigned over “concerns about governance practices within the council”.

One Sydneysider was particularly critical of Bishop on BlueSky:

Its like bullying your hostage that is suffering PTSD after years of Government abuse and cuts that Bishop was part of.ANU academic accuses Julie Bishop of shocking bullying and threats during Senate inquiry into university governance abc.net.au/news/2025-08… via @ABCaustralia #auspol #abc730

— (@chrishehim.bsky.social) 2025-08-12T06:31:31.610Z

In a recent development, the Federal government's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has launched an investigation into ANU's governance and financial management. According to an Aunty (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news article, the agency has:

… demanded the university defend the conduct of its council members amid concerns they failed to competently oversee the institution's operations.

Finally, a Victorian from Gippsland used a few old Australian phrases in their response on BlueSky, which indicate surprise and disgust, plus the suggestion of craziness in the decision-makers:

Australia will be much poorer culturally for years if ANU Humanities, Music and Art are disbanded.And, as for defunding and closing down the Australian National Dictionary… stone the crows, fair suck of the sauce bottle, mate, they must be a few kangaroos short in the back paddock!

— (@gwenoc.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T08:39:21.225Z

Many Aussies like myself have found the potential cuts “chunderous” (sickening in the extreme). Let's hope the stoush (fight) to restore funds will lead to a uey (U-turn) by the ANU. We don't want to end up a country of nongs (fools).

Originally published on Global Voices

Screenshot – ABC News YouTube video Dec 2024: Melbourne synagogue fire treated as terror. Fair use

Since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, there has been a debate about the nature and causes of and responses to antisemitism in Australia.

The war in Gaza has been the focus of the often heated controversy, with protesters often accused of antisemitism. Attacks on synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses and property have also brought urgency to the issue.

In July 2025, the Australian Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, released a plan to combat antisemitism. However, some observers are concerned that the plan will instead be used to silence criticism of Israel over its ongoing genocide against Palestinians and other human rights violations:

She took the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism as her own, which states:

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

She elaborated:

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.

Segal gives the definition a key role in her plan:

The Envoy will work with state and federal governments to require the IHRA working definition of antisemitism to be used across all levels of government and public institutions to inform their practical understanding of antisemitism.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an elected peak body representing the Australian Jewish community, gave the plan its full support, as did many other Jewish groups:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Executive Council of Australian Jewry (@ecajoz)

However, the IHRA definition has been a very controversial one and has been rejected by many human rights organizations and Jewish groups.

Deakin University academic Matteo Vergani canvassed the plan at The Conversation, finding the recommendations were “broadly reasonable and make practical sense.” However, he had reservations regarding how the plan might be used:

The document ignores the elephant in the room: whether the plan could be used to silence legitimate criticism of Israel.

He also had issues with the definition:

In my experience as a researcher working on online hate (including antisemitism), even members of the Jewish community adopting this definition often disagree on how to apply it.

Many other commentators took a more scathing view of the plan. At online journal Pearls and Irritations, Bernadette Zaydan raised several concerns with the plan:

Under the guise of combatting antisemitism, new laws risk eroding core democratic principles, silencing legitimate dissent and redefining free speech as hate speech.

…The community ought to be concerned as we are now facing the prospect of a national database labelling individuals as antisemitic, not for inciting hatred or violence, but for expressing dissenting political views.

…Her proposals would expand powers over universities, workplaces and digital platforms, coercing institutions into adopting an unchallenged definition of antisemitism that has been condemned by the very experts who authored it.

The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) describes itself as a “Jewish voice that supports Palestinian freedom & justice and opposes antisemitism & racism.” It shared several posts on Instagram, including the following, which said the plan was “straight out of Trump's authoritarian playbook”:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish Council of Australia (@jewishcouncil)

JCA board member and prominent Jewish anti-Zionist, Louise Adler, caused a stir with her opinion piece in The Guardian, accusing organizers of aiming to “weaponise antisemitism”:

The publication of the special envoy’s plan is the latest flex by the Jewish establishment. The in-house scribes have been busy: no institution, organisation or department is exempt from the latest push to weaponise antisemitism and insist on the exceptionalism of Australian Jewry.

Her article received many favorable responses on the social media site BlueSky.

Journalist Antoun Issa summarized many of the objections to the antisemitism plan in this video for Deepcut News:

Cartoonists soon joined the debate. Guardian regular First Dog on the Moon (aka Andrew Marlton) took a strong position:

 

Post by @firstdogonthemoon@aus.social

View on Mastodon

 

The Envoy is however keen to dictate the politics of people engaging in protest, as well as visa applications, school curriculum, content in the media, and also funding for universities and the arts to name just a few. Who knows where it all might end.

‘Put that cartoonist in the van!’

The release of the plan was followed by revelations that Jillian Segal’s husband was linked to a AUD 50,000 (USD 32,500) donation to Advance Australia, a right-wing lobby group. Jillian Segal has denied any involvement.

Cathy Wilcox raised the question of conflict of interest:

Post by @cathywilcox@theblower.au

View on Mastodon

Scott Morrison's conservative government endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in 2021. Anthony Albanese's Labor government is currently considering its response to Jillian Segal's recommendations. Its latest criticism of the Israeli government reflects growing international outrage over the state-driven starvation in Gaza. Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported:

Israel has ‘quite clearly’ breached international law by limiting food deliveries to starving civilians in Gaza, Anthony Albanese has declared in a notable escalation of his criticism of the Jewish state.

Originally published on Global Voices

Michael D’Agostino and Khaled Sabsabi – Screenshot SBS News YouTube video: Creative Australia's chief executive refuses to resign following Biennale scandal.

An about-face by Creative Australia, the government’s principal arts investment and advisory body, has been welcomed as a win for freedom of expression. The controversy started when Creative Australia removed artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s nominees for the 2026 Venice Biennale, a prestigious international art exhibit held in Venice biannually.

On July 2, 2025, the Guardian reported the latest development in the controversy:

Creative Australia has reinstated the artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s artistic team for the 2026 Venice Biennale after an independent external review of the decision.

The pair had been dumped from the prestigious art exhibition earlier this year after Creative Australia’s board took the unprecedented decision to revoke their appointment.

The cancellation took place only days after they were first selected in February 2025. Khaled Sabsabi is a Lebanese Australian artist. This news came just a couple of weeks after an Australian court decided that Lebanese Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf was unfairly removed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in December 2023. This came after she reposted a Human Rights Watch Instagram video about the use of starvation as warfare in Gaza.

Joshua Byrd shared his relief on Mastodon:

Post by @phocks@bne.social

View on Mastodon

The revoking of their appointment as Australia’s representatives centred on two of Sabsabi’s much earlier artworks. YOU (2007) contained footage of then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Thank You Very Much (2006) featured a video of the 9/11 attacks and President George W. Bush.

The latest board decision followed a Senate committee hearing and an independent review by consultancy firm Blackhall & Pearl.

The review found that “a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities” had taken place in the Creative Australia Board's original processes.

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In June, only weeks before the change of heart, Alison Croggon canvassed aspects of the controversy in the Meanjin Quarterly:

When Creative Australia tore up its contract with Sabsabi and Dagostino, it was widely seen as a betrayal of its fundamental purpose.

… This seems an outrageous stance for the nation’s supposed chief advocate for the arts, and dangerously close to the informal blacklists and ‘loyalty reviews’ of the anti-communist McCarthy era of 1950s America, which destroyed the careers of many left-wing artists and activists.

There was considerable criticism of the Creative Australia board following the February cancellation. Artist Lindy Lee quit as a Creative Australia board member, and staff members also resigned in protest.

Federal Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, was accused of influencing the February board decision but denied trying to exert political influence. He gave this answer at a press conference in February:

In June, the board chair, Robert Morgan, retired more than a year before his term was to finish. The Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Collette, has remained in place despite ongoing criticism. However, the calls for his resignation have continued after the backdown:

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A post shared by _hego (@_hego)

Samuel Cairnduff, Lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of Melbourne, sees challenging times for the arts:

Sabsabi and Dagostino’s reinstatement is not just a symbolic correction. It is a test.

Can Creative Australia rebuild trust with a community that saw it falter? Will future risk processes be used to support bold programming or suppress it? And will this moment mark the beginning of a stronger, more principled approach to cultural leadership, or a drift into safer, smaller territory?

With hindsight, Creative Australia’s reasoning in February that “a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity”, was self-fulfilling.

Originally published on Global Voices

Norfolk Island jail with local pines – Photo courtesy Steve Daggar, via Wikimedia CC BY 3.0

US President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs seem like a late April Fools’ joke for people down under. Norfolk Island, an Australian external territory, has been hit with a 29 percent tariff, even though the tiny island, with a population of approximately 2,000 people, has no exports to the USA.

This Reuters YouTube video has a quick summary:

What it does have is a lot of Norfolk pine trees.

Pine trees on Norfolk Island. Image via Flickr. CC BY-ND 2.0

These are a major part of the picturesque scenery that makes it a key tourist destination. In fact tourism is its main industry.

It is also known for its lack of crime, boasting just one murder in the last 150 years in 2002. It had been a British penal settlement until 1855.

Seems it was a terrible case of mistaken identity, if posts on BlueSky are accurate:

We've solved the mystery on why all those remote and uninhabited islands were targeted for tariffs by Trump – they show up in US trade data due to mislabelled shipments. eg mixing up Norfolk, Virginia or Norfolk UK with Norfolk Island!

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne…

[image or embed]

— Nick Evershed!? (@nickevershed.bsky.social) April 4, 2025 at 2:15 PM

The Heard and McDonald islands, an external Australian territory which is uninhabited except for penguins and other wildlife and can only be reached through a two-week sea voyage, faced a similar fate and was slapped with a 10 percent tariff.

Donald Trump just put a 10 percent tariff on the Heard Island and McDonald, which has a population of zero people and is inhabited only by penguins.

[image or embed]

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts.bsky.social) April 3, 2025 at 9:46 AM

LostNotDamned took a light-hearted approach to the news on a popular Reddit post, referencing Trump's Diversity, equity, and inclusion phobia:

Let's just hope they're hard working and not some woke DEI penguins!!

Perhaps the President had read Global Voices’ story from 2023: “Gay penguin parenthood stories ruffle some conservative feathers.”

There was a lot of social media interest on Mastodon as users rushed to mock the mix-up. Just a couple of examples:

 

Post by @Jinjirrie@mastodon.social

View on Mastodon

 

 

Post by @Snowshadow@mastodon.social

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While Trump's tariffs caused chaos to the US and global economy, penguins were going wild on TikTok. Chelsea Gabrielle posted a crowd-pleaser:

@chelseagabriella0

Damn no one is safe from the tariffs put on them #penguins #tariffs #heardisland #comedy#trending #penguin #foryoupage

♬ Gangsta's Paradise (feat. L.V.) – Coolio

With Russia not on the tariffs list, even Rolling Stone couldn't resist the headline: “Trump Launches Trade War With Penguins, Not Putin”:

Trump is placing tariffs on countries around the globe — including even remote Antarctic islands inhabited only by penguins — while exempting the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin.

Even Chuck Schumer, US Senate Democratic leader, got in on the act on Threads:

Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin.

Anyway, despite the jabs, Trump's tariffs are no joke:

The fact this isn't an April Fools spoof is just wild. He tariffed penguins.

— StrawberryVotes (@verymerryberry.bsky.social) April 4, 2025 at 9:42 AM

Originally published on Global Voices

Sam Jones with baby wombat. Screenshot ABC News video: ‘Come forward': Wombat Rescue calls on US influencer to hand herself in.

A video of a so-called “hunting influencer” from the United States has caused a furore down under. Sam Jones, aka Samantha Strable, posted footage of herself snatching a baby wombat away from its mother on an Australian roadside. Jones has since removed the video from her Instagram account (samstrays_somewhere), but not before countless social media users saved the post:

@g0ldl33f

An American woman in Australia took a baby wombat from its mother for a video. After that, she was criticized by the country's prime minister, immigration services began checking her entry documents, and a petition calling for the woman to be deported has gained thousands of signatures. Woman #wombat #american #australia

♬ original sound – g0ldl33f

An American woman in Australia took a baby wombat from its mother for a video. After that, she was criticized by the country's prime minister, immigration services began checking her entry documents, and a petition calling for the woman to be deported has gained thousands of signatures.

Jones has around 96,000 followers on Instagram and describes herself as an “outdoor enthusiast and hunter”. She has claimed she has received thousands of death threats since the video went viral.

Social media platforms that pride themselves on their respectful content saw heated condemnation of Jones’s behaviour. BlueSky users were very forceful in their criticism. Some shared Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's sarcastic suggestion to tackle a baby crocodile next time:

“Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother.”

[image or embed]

— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 2:31 AM

Sam Jones left Australia soon after the incident, following the Immigration Minister’s threat to review her tourist visa. He was quoted as saying, “There's never been a better day to be a wombat in Australia.” She posted an apology and justification for her actions on Instagram, claiming she was trying to protect the baby wombat and move it so it wouldn't get hit by cars:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Jones (@samstrays_somewhere)

Many critics were unimpressed by her apology and attempt at an explanation:

“Baby wombat-snatching US influencer apologises and says she was ‘concerned’ for Australian animal”

Concerned for its welfare my arse. Just learn when to shut the fuck up.
www.theguardian.com/environment/…

[image or embed]

— Jenny Frecklington-Jones (@joneshowdareyou.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM

“Wombat grabber” soon became a popular term:

“Wombat grabber” is now the greatest Australian insult. To grab a wombat — look there’s just no coming back from that

[image or embed]

— Andrew Stafford (@andrewstafford.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM

However, not all animal lovers were on board. At The Guardian, Victorian Animal Justice parliamentarian Georgie Purtell accused other politicians of hypocrisy:

The irony of our country’s leaders condemning the actions of a young tourist’s treatment of a wombat while shamelessly sanctioning their slaughter is impossible to overlook.

Kangaroos, native birds, possums, black swans and emus are just a few of the many native animals that landholders are granted licences to kill…

These sentiments echoed a statement by Sam Jones on Instagram. Soon after her apology, she pivoted to critiquing the Australian government for permitting “the slaughter of wombats”:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Jones (@samstrays_somewhere)

It is illegal to kill wombats in Australia, and trapping is only allowed with a Federal permit.

Due to the controversy, it's unlikely that Jones will be welcome back in Australia in the near future. This viewpoint was common on Oz social media:

Sam Jones, you will not be forgotten for this act of cruelty. You are not welcome here.

— Jane Smith (@janehappywife.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM

Originally published on Global Voices

Far North Queensland highway bridge collapse. Screenshot from 9 News Australia video: “Prime Minister heads to flood emergency zones”. February 6, 2025.

Australia is facing increased destruction from natural disasters and seeing a growing number of endemic species threatened due to the worsening climate crisis. The Australian summer, running from January to February, has been particularly difficult this year as the climate crisis has hit Aussies on many fronts, with heatwaves, bushfires, storms, and floods disrupting life across the continent.

The impact of bushfires

Bushfires broke out through Southeastern Australia in late December 2024 and weren't contained until mid-January this year. The fires endangered numerous species of rare plants and animals. Amid the disaster, scientists rushed to the fire-ravaged Grampians National Park on a mission to help conserve the Grampians globe-pea, a very rare and endangered species of plant. The Guardian reported:

The Grampians globe-pea, a critically endangered wiry shrub, had finished flowering and was fruiting when fires tore through its home in the Grampians national park, in western Victoria. The spiny plant with vibrant orange and yellow flowers is extremely rare and restricted to a handful of sites.

However, the mission faced delays as a second outbreak merged with the original fire a fortnight later.

The bushfires broke out again in western Victoria, with major outbreaks in the Little Desert National Park and new fires in the Grampians National Park. The Little Desert Nature Lodge facilities were destroyed, with concerns for local threatened species such as the Malleefowl.

Bluesky user Lyndall Terrier expressed her concern:

Bluesky screenshot — user Lyndall Terrier expressed her concern about Malleefowl

Another continuing casualty of increasing temperatures is the Great Barrier Reef. Coral bleaching reached alarming levels in 2024 in the southern reef, an area previously spared mass bleaching. According to researcher Shawna Foo:

Seeing the impacts on a reef that has largely avoided mass bleaching until now is devastating. The high rates of mortality and disease, particularly in such a remote and pristine area, highlight the severity of the situation.

A bleached coral in the Great Barrier Reef. Image from YouTube.

Extreme weather events

In addition, severe floods broke out during Northern Australia's wet season from November to April, especially in Far North Queensland. This news report in early February captured the extent of the disaster:

However, the monsoons did not come to Darwin, Australia’s northernmost capital, until very late in the season. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) reported:

The monsoon arrived in Darwin on 7 February 2025. It's the latest known arrival since records began. The previous record was 25 January 1973.

Before the onset of the much-anticipated monsoon, northern Australia endures the build-up – a time of extreme heat and humidity.

The monsoon is associated with increased rainfall and some relief to the oppressive heat.

In Northwestern Australia, Category 5 Cyclone Zelia brought heavy rain and floods, making landfall in mid-February:

In December, intense heatwaves covered most of the continent. The Early Warning Network (EWN) summed up temperature trends last year:

2024 was Australia’s second-warmest year on record, with temperatures 1.46°C [2.65 °F] above the long-term average, bringing with it several significant heatwaves. December’s heat events, including a peak of 47.2°C [117 °F]in Birdsville, were a reminder of the challenges posed by rising temperatures.

These natural disasters underscore the urgency of the current climate crisis and back up the warnings contained in several recent international climate reports.

State of the climate

The State of the Climate 2024 report highlighted the challenges the continent is facing:

The warming has led to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events… 2023 was one of Australia's largest bushfire seasons in terms of area burned.

In contrast, northern Australia has been wetter than average over the last 30 years.

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Extinction Wrapped 2024 report:

In 2024, 56 Australian species and ecological communities were newly recognised nationally as
being threatened with extinction or moving closer towards extinction.

Climate change is a major threat to our threatened species and ecosystems. In 2024, new information identified Australian and New Zealand species as being among the most at risk of extinction globally due to climate change.

The impact on humans is taking many forms. Many people are being forced to move homes. On Bluesky, Patti Mac was just one of the concerned:

Bluesky screenshot. User Patti Mac shared concern about flood impacts on housing

The study referenced on Bluesky indicated that the disasters are disproportionately impacting poorer Australians:

Every year, an average of around 22,000 Australians move home after climate disasters, according to demographers.

The figure mostly impacts poorer Australians but the study doesn't capture the extent of residents becoming trapped in risky towns they can't leave.

In addition, insurance is becoming beyond the reach of many in high-risk areas. All property insurance costs are rising steeply nationwide. Overseas events like the recent California fires are also adding to the costs worldwide:

In Australia — frequently ravaged by wildfires and flooding — 15 percent of households are experiencing ‘home insurance affordability stress,’ which means they're plowing more than four weeks of their annual income into premiums.

Independent think tank, the Australia Institute, reports that:

Around the world, climate change is increasing the costs of insurance and Australia is no exception.

Between 2022 and 2023, the average home insurance premium in Australia rose by 14 percent, the biggest rise in a decade.

The potential disasters continued into the last week of summer, with Victoria facing wild weather and bushfires. Other states also faced heatwaves and a couple of potential cyclones brewing up north.

One of the cyclones has travelled south from north Queensland:

A weather event not seen in 33 years has put in the AFL on notice with fears the opening game of the season might have to be cancelled.

Experts are predicting Tropical Cyclone Alfred will make landfall near Brisbane on Thursday and Queensland isn’t the only state now in the firing line.

…The NSW SES, in an alert issued on Sunday afternoon, warns the cyclone could produce flash flooding and river floods, damaging winds and heavy rainfall across much of northern NSW.

Meanwhile, southern Australia is witnessing one of its worst recorded droughts, with a bushfire season extended to late autumn.

Originally published on Global Voices

Screenshot: ABC News video. YouTube on January 9, 2025. The hikers who found Hadi Nazari share his amazing survival story

Australians delighted in a rare good news story at the start of 2025. While Californians were grappling with devastating winter fires, the rescue of a lost hiker was welcome relief both locally and overseas.

Cartoonist for the Guardian, Fiona Katauskas, enjoyed the breaking news on the social media site Bluesky:

Cannot get enough Hadi Nazari rescue content. Shoot that sweet sweet good news right into my fkn veins

— Fiona Katauskas (@fionakatauskas.bsky.social) January 8, 2025 at 6:07 PM

The 23-year-old medical student from Melbourne, Hadi Nazari, was found safe and well after 13 days of being lost in a remote bushland in Australia’s Kosciuszko National Park. He was walking with two friends on the Hannels Spur trail.

The joy of readers as the news broke was clearly unmistakable. The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s TV presenter, Joe O’Brien, couldn't keep the smile off his face. He went off-script several times: “Wow!” “So cool to bring you this news” “I’ve got goosebumps.”

Tim Richards was clearly pleased on Mastodon:

Post by @timrichards@aus.social

View on Mastodon

The Hussaini Society of Victoria, a non-government organization with an educational focus, posted its excitement on Instagram:

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A post shared by Hossaini Society of Victoria (@hossaini.societyofvictoria)

Hadi was hiking with two friends but was separated from them on Boxing Day on December 26, 2024. He survived on creek water, wild berries, and a lucky find of two muesli bars. Apparently, before Hadi went missing, another hiker had left muesli bars in a cabin near where Hadi was walking.

Despite an extensive search by hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers, Hadi eventually found some campers 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from his last sighting. Earlier, he left a video camera message for emergency services on his camera, which was discovered by searchers.

Amit Sarwal, co-founder of The Australia Today online news outlet, posted on TikTok:

Screenshot of TikTok user Amit Sarwal's post about Hadi Nazari

Inevitably, a couple of commenters ridiculed the story:

Ds : He was hiding the whole time… no way could you be lost or unseen in that part of the park

Barry Bushcha: I’m calling Bs here comes a Tv and a book called… I’m not very bright.

You can’t please everybody.

Please click on the image to view the post and comments.

On Reddit, Purpington67 was one of several people who questioned Hadi’s survival skills:

Good news that he survived but he pretty much did everything else wrong. Bushwalking’s is safe and enjoyable IF you are well prepared and have the right gear and don’t do dumb stuff.

SBS News interviewed a number of emergency and bushfire experts about what we might learn from Hadi’s ordeal. Bushcraft and survival instructor Rick J Petersen praised Hadi’s determination:

You could be equipped with all of the fancy survival gear you like, but if your attitude of giving up or quitting with the first couple of nights of no shelter… So without knowing all the circumstances, he's done well. And it would've had to have been his mindset of just not giving up. There might be some other mistakes he's made, but his mindset ultimately has kept him not giving up.

The positive story was a great outcome during Australia's bushfire season, which has already burnt out large parts of the iconic Grampians National Park.

Originally published on Global Voices

Njeri Wnagari speaking at Mozfest Kenya 2023 on mass surveillance – Image used with her permission

Kenyan poet Njeri Wangari writes and performs poetry as well as being a writer and storyteller both online and in print. She has been a Global Voices author since 2008. We first chatted about her life and times sitting on the lawn at the 2012 Global Voices Summit in Nairobi.

We revisited some of those themes recently for the 20th anniversary of Global Voices:

She shared her changing interests and thoughts about a range of issues, including Kenya today, the future of social media, and citizen journalism. Njeri also touched on her passion for running, the outdoors, and fitness, plus her involvement in promoting wellness.

You can find more about Njeri at kenyanpoet.com She has a children’s book coming out later this year.

You can watch the original 2012 interview, When Change Comes, here:

Originally published on Global Voices

Haigh's chocolate Easter Bilby (dark chocolate) with Bilby mug on a white bench – Courtesy Nicole Kearney Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

The chocolate Easter bilby is a very Aussie approach to raising awareness about one of the country’s most endangered animals. Haigh’s Chocolates, a fourth-generation Australian-owned family firm, produces a range of these bilby products.

Chocolate bilbies are a local alternative at Easter, as Australian Geographic explains:

There are few Aussie marsupials as instantly recognisable as the bilby — or more specifically the greater bilby. It’s those ears, of course. But then the bright spark who started the push to replace the pesky introduced European rabbit with the charismatic native bilby as Australia’s Easter chocolate treat of choice may have also had something to do with it.

Macrotis lagotis, the greater bilby, is one of Australia’s iconic mammal species. It is threatened with extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species classifies it as vulnerable. It resembles a mouse but is closer to the size of a rabbit. Before the European settlement, bilbies could be found in 80 percent of Australia. This has been reduced considerably. Its population is estimated to be as low as 9,000 mature animals.

Bunnies are an invasive species down under and have decimated local ecosystems since their introduction in 1859. However, they are not the only feral danger to bilbies. Cats and foxes have also had a major impact. The biblies’ habitat has been further reduced by land clearing and grazing animals such as cattle and sheep.

Feral dangers poster – Charleville Bilby Experience – Author's photo

The bilby is primarily active at night. The Charleville Bilby Experience in rural Queensland has a nocturnal house with timing switched so the animals can be viewed during the day. It is part of the Save the Bilby Fund’s projects. It is one of several captive breeding programs using fenced, predator-free areas as a way of fostering bilby numbers by protecting them from predators.

Charleville Bilby Experience – Author's photo

The ABC’s Back Roads program visited the centre in 2023:

Ever since the Save The Bilby fund was set up in 1999 by the late founders Peter McRae and Frank Manthey known fondly as The Bilby Brothers, their work contributed greatly to a National Recovery plan to pull bilbies back from the brink of extinction and created this breeding program a safe haven at a national park.

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy has six of these sites. The latest was established in 2022:

In 2022, a new population of Bilbies was established at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary outside of Alice Springs. Ecohealth surveys late last year indicated that the population has successfully adapted to the new environment and the first photo evidence of a juvenile was recorded on camera trap in November.

Within the next few years, AWC properties will protect an estimated 5,000+ Bilbies.

Some of its work is explained in this video:

The Wild Deserts project is located in the Australian outback in the Sturt National Park near Cameron’s Corner, where the State boundaries of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland intersect. It is reintroducing many locally extinct mammals. ABC TV’s 7:30 reported on their efforts:

They shared more detail in their online story:

Bilbies, bandicoots, bettongs and quolls once dominated these arid plains and they are now reclaiming the area, thanks to a team of scientists trying to address Australia's mammal extinction rate — which is the worst in the world.

The Australian government has a Recovery Plan for the Greater Bilby. It includes working with Indigenous rangers.

The National Indigenous Times reported earlier this year:

One project will support land managers undertaking feral cat control across more than 3.2 million hectares of west Queensland.

In Western Australia, the funding will support Warla-Warrarn Indigenous protected area rangers to detect populations of bilbies on Martu Country.

The second project is the Kimberley Bilby Project in North Western Australia's Kimberley region.

Bilbies have their own national day in September. Environs Kimberley, a partner in this bilby project, was just one of many to celebrate the occasion on Instagram:

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A post shared by Environs Kimberley (@environskimberley)

The Happy Vale Wildlife Centre is a private trust in Queensland which also cares for bilbies shared:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hidden Vale Wildlife Centre (@hiddenvalewildlifecentre)

Save the Bilby Fund also sent birthday greetings:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Save the Bilby Fund (@savethebilbyfund)

Conservationists are using online tools to help highlight the plight of endangered species. Australian National University ecologist Ana Gracanin has created a live stream of Greater Glider possums in a tree hollow. Ana explained the reasons for the stream:

Most Australians don’t know that the species even exists, so we are getting a world-first exclusive into the secret life of greater gliders

The tree is located in the Tallangada National Park. There is not much movement to see during daylight hours in New South Wales, as the gliders are also nocturnal.

Originally published on Global Voices

Toad Fish (and other sea creatures), Michael Norman. Author’s photo. Used with permission.

Abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a global threat. Fishing nets, in particular, continue to trap fish and other sea creatures (often referred to as “ghost fishing”).

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF):

It’s estimated that ghost gear makes up at least 10% of marine litter. This roughly translates to between 500,000 and 1 million tons of fishing gear abandoned in the ocean each year. Ghost gear impacts marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and more, and is the type of debris that has proven to be the most lethal.

A highlight of the 2024 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) was the Ghost Nets artwork on display. This form of art uses abandoned fishing nets and other discarded materials found on beaches.

Ghost Net Art CIAF 2024: Left: Ray – Sweetness, Florence Gutchen, 2024; Right: Crayfish on the reef – Eric’s Home Reef, Jimmy John Thaiday, 2024. Images courtesy of CIAF. Used with permission.

It is an art form that has been growing since the early 2000s. GhostNets Australia was started in 2004 and is part of the Ocean Earth Foundation’s programs. It has been promoting solutions since then.

This video outlines the extent of the problem and their work with the Erub and Darnley island communities in the Torres Strait:

CIAF also held a sell-out Ghost Nets Masterclass workshop with Erub Arts’s Lavinia Ketchell.

Australian museums have featured artworks extensively. The Australian National Maritime Museum mounted a collection in the Au Karem Ira Lamar Lu — Ghost Nets of the Ocean exhibition. This timelapse video presents its installation in 2018:

The Australian Museum in Sydney has ghost net sculptures in its collection.

Ocean Earth Ghosts Nets Australia has been promoting ghost nets art for more than 20 years. Their video, The Young Man and the Ghost Net, shows not only the first puppet show in the Torres Strait but also illustrates how nets are damaging the environment there:

It is not hard to find materials for artwork. This abandoned crab net was spotted from the mangroves boardwalk near Cairns airport in 2024:

Abandoned crab net in Cairns, July 2024. Author’s photo. Used with permission.

Mylene Holroyd from Pormpuraaw Arts and Culture Centre used a similar net in this artwork below at CIAF 2024. It shows thread fin and salmon, local totems. A totem is a natural object which has special significance for individual Indigenous people.

Sea Turtle in Ghost Net, Mylene Holroyd: Author’s photo. Used with permission.

This large sculpture, Nga’a Pinporro, was created by the Pormpuraaw Aboriginal Community and is located in the Barramundi Discovery Centre at Karumba on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria:

Nga’a Pinporro – Barramundi Discovery Centre, Karumba Queensland. Author's photo. Used with permission.

There are projects in other countries that use ocean debris as art. Washed Ashore was founded in Oregon USA in 2010 by Angela Pozzi. It has created over 66 large sculptures such as this one shown on Instagram:

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A post shared by The Washed Ashore Project (@washedashoreart)

Not only does ghost net art highlight the issue, it helps to support individual artists and their communities financially and well as providing funding for initiatives to remove the waste from the environment. The Hunter Gatherer Network Oceans Art program is one initiative, which helps “Indigenous women artists, providing equipment and training programs for recovery, repurposing and recycling of marine debris.” It is funded by the Plastic Collective in partnership with Charles Sturt University (CSU). The network had a stall at the CIAF Art Market:

Hunter Gather Network — Dr Anwaar Ulhaq (CSU), Lousie Hardman, Jeremy Sheehan (Hunter Gatherer Network) — at Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. Author’s photo. Used with permission.

Nets are found on the remotest beaches in Australia. Chilli Beach is on the east coast of the Cape York. Even 12 years ago abandoned rubbish was scarring the shore and contributing to the spread of microplastics:

There are numerous other efforts to rid the oceans of fishing debris, especially global initiatives such as Ocean Conservancy. Its Trash Free Seas program mobilizes volunteers, conducts research and public awareness campaigns. It also works proactively at prevention:

We prevent trash from entering the waters by working with everyone from individuals to businesses to change the products, practices and behaviors that lead to ocean trash.

Originally published on Global Voices

Libby Harward artwork: Stolen Culture Everywhere – Author's photo

The 2024 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) showcased artists from across Queensland, especially the far north of that Australian State. The fair was celebrating its 15th anniversary.

The art fair was established in 2009 as part of the Backing Indigenous Arts initiative of the Queensland government. Its aims included supporting:

• IAC [Indigenous Arts Centres] business development and growth that aligns with the centre’s strategic plan.
• Increased employment and professional development opportunities for First Nations arts managers, workers, and artists.
• Strengthened First Nations leadership of the First Nations visual arts and crafts sector.
• Increased capacity of artists and organisations to meet cultural obligations and market demand.

CIAF became an independent entity in 2013.

The artworks featured a diverse range of media including paintings, works on paper such as etchings and linocuts, fashion, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and 3D creations using a wide variety of materials, and multi-media.

Live events included the Fashion Performance, Country Speaking ‘Light the Fire’, and Indigenous music and dance at the Opening Night. There are some highlights in this video:

The CIAF YouTube channel has a playlist featuring individual designers. Artist and designer Delvene Cockatoo-Collins worked with students from the Queensland University of Technology to create this collection:

This video features photos of a range of artworks at Cairns Exhibition Centre and satellite venues. All photos were taken by the author:

The winners of the CIAF annual awards included Matilda Nona, an artist from Badu Island in the Torres Strait (TI) who won the Innovation prize:

Matilda Nona, winner of the Innovation award, with some of her art – author's photo

The Cape York Weekly reported:

When artist Matilda Nona’s unique work speaks about her Country from its stretched canvas stage, it is impossible not to listen in awe.

The Badu Island artist uses natural pigments found on her Torres Strait home in her work, a technique that resulted in her claiming the $10,000 Holding Redlich Innovation Award at the 2024 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair

The major Excellence Prize went to another TI artist Joel Sam for his piece:

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A post shared by Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (@cairnsindigenousartfair)

Joel also comes from the Torres Strait, namely Thursday Island. His profile at the Cairns Art Gallery sums up his diverse artworks:

Joel creates intricate carvings and sculptures made from shell and marble. He is also a printmaker, using etching and linocut to create works that are inspired by his Torres Strait Islander culture and way of life. Joel’s designs are largely based on totemic and clan markings, and often include plants and animals, creatures from the sea, and astral constellations.

Indigenous people in Cairns face similar issues to those facing many first peoples in other parts of Australia, including a lack of employment opportunities, healthcare access, housing availability and youth detention.

Cairns is the holiday capital of the north, a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree forest, both UNESCO World Heritage areas. It is also a stopover on the way to the remote Cape of York, the Torres Strait Islands and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Originally published on Global Voices

Julian Assange home in Australia. Screenshot from video “How Julian Assange’s plea deal and release was negotiated | 7.30″ on the ABC News In-depth YouTube channel. Fair use.

Home free at last! This was the overwhelming sentiment of Australian and global supporters of Julian Assange, following news of his release from prison and return down under.

Assange's plea deal with the United States came after 1,601 days in the United Kingdom’s Belmarsh Prison and nearly seven years of political asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy. He had been fighting extradition to the US.

The deal involved pleading guilty to one felony charge of espionage, namely conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents. In 2019 Greg Myer, a national security correspondent for NPR, weighed the allegations and their possible damage to national security:

…many in the national security community say the leaks were harmful to a broad range of people. However, they generally say the damage was limited and has faded since the first big WikiLeaks dump in 2010, which included hundreds of thousands of classified documents from the U.S. military and the State Department.

Guatemalan lawyer, advocate and campaigner for Assange, Renata Avila, tweeted with delight, showing characteristic optimism:

Julian #Assange is a free man. He and everyone behind @wikileaks worked tirelessly to defend our right to know. Now, it is time for gratitude, solidarity, and hope.

— Renata Avila (@avilarenata) June 26, 2024

Assange's conflict with the United States government has a long history, as Global Voices reported in 2022:

Assange drew the ire of the US government in 2010 when he published thousands of sensitive documents that he received from whistleblower and former US Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning. The documents contained information about The Baghdad Airstrikes, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and confidential cables between US officials and embassies around the world.

Most recently, WikiLeaks published emails showing the US Democratic National Committee favored then-candidate Hilary Clinton over her competitor Bernie Sanders, just weeks ahead of the 2016 election. And then, in 2017, WikiLeaks published more documents detailing the CIA's electronic surveillance and cyber warfare tactics.

Assange has been a controversial person, even in his home country, with many people regarding him as either a hero or a villain. Some have argued that his Wikileaks disclosures endangered lives and national security. Rape allegations in Sweden continue to damage his reputation. Swedish prosecutors closed the investigation in 2019. Alleged complicity with Trump and Putin before the 2016 American presidential elections still cast a shadow over his reputation as a fighter for truth. This exchange of views on X-Twitter captured some of the concerns:

Mainly, that Assange as unalloyed hero of the left is deeply problematic. As you say, he exposed war crimes. He also got a bunch of innocent people killed, assisted authoritarian dictatorships, helped Trump win the presidency, and oh yeah may be a rapist

— Snooty & Flouffy McSausage (@SnootySausage) June 27, 2024

Assange is a member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the Australian union representing journalists. MEAA President Karen Percy greeted his release but warned:

The stories published by WikiLeaks and other outlets more than a decade ago were clearly in the public interest. The charges by the US sought to curtail free speech, criminalise journalism and send a clear message to future whistleblowers and publishers that they too will be punished.

This was clearly in the public interest and it has always been an outrage that the US government sought to prosecute him for espionage for reporting that was published in collaboration with some of the world’s leading media organisations.

Max Blumenthal, editor at Grayzone News, dismissed these accusations, coming out strongly for Assange and those who worked for his freedom:

Many high-profile people deserve credit for mobilizing in Assange's defense, especially when the corporate press was destroying his reputation, smearing him as a Russian asset and rapist to cultivate support for his arrest. But his freedom is also a testament to the everyday… https://t.co/YcQPb59CST

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 26, 2024

Prominent among those people were current Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, former Prime Minster and current Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, and former Foreign Minister and current High Commissioner to the UK Stephen Smith. Albanese had joined calls for an end to Assange’s incarceration and worked behind the scenes to bring about the deal. Stella Assange expressed her thanks to Albanese, retweeting this message from Assange’s lawyer Jen Robinson:

Prime Minister @albomp called us the moment we landed in Australia – and Julian told the PM that he had saved his life.

An incredibly emotional and moving return home pic.twitter.com/ADUvfnbJ9K

— Jen Robinson (@suigenerisjen) June 26, 2024

The conservative opposition's shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, attacked Albanese for welcoming Assange home:

This call is neither necessary nor appropriate. Julian Assange was not wrongfully detained like Cheng Lei, Sean Turnell or Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

For 12 years Assange chose to avoid facing justice in countries with fair judicial systems. He is underserving of this treatment. https://t.co/I8zDNFZ66V

— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) June 26, 2024

He was echoed by former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Denis Richardson who criticized a homecoming phone call as political grandstanding.

Though Assange has been hailed as a fighter for free speech and the freedom of journalism, many media commentators have disputed his credentials as a journalist. SkyNews Australia hosted this debate between the Australian newspaper's Washington correspondent Adam Creighton and their Histories Editor Alan Howe, who have very different views. Howe strongly asserts that Assange “is neither an editor nor a journalist”:

Economist and former Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis is also a citizen of Australia. He clearly sees Assange as a journalist:

Exactly as Stella put it: By pleading guilty in federal court in Saipan “he was pleading guilty to committing journalism. This case criminalises journalism – journalistic activity, standard journalistic activity of news gathering, and publishing.” https://t.co/bOuGc77zKR

— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) June 27, 2024

John J. Mearsheimer, an American political scientist and academic, put the case for Assange in this video in February 2024:

My friend and distinguished @UChicago Prof. @MearsheimerJ on Julian Assange:

“Assange is a journalist and he did not break the law, as it is commonplace for journalists to publish classified information that is passed on to them by government insiders.” pic.twitter.com/p5NiVxDvj3

— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) June 28, 2024

Respected Australian journalist Margaret Simons canvassed the nature of modern journalism and Assange’s place in it:

It’s an arid debate, which overlooks the obvious truth: he and the technological revolutions of which he is part have changed journalism, forever.

Much of the media coverage has focused on high-profile personalities, political insiders and behind-closed-doors lobbying. However, the campaign to free Julian Assange has been a global movement involving tens of thousands of people. His brother Gabriel Shipton thanked all those who participated in the grassroots movement over many years:

“I have to give credit to everybody out there who has been advocating for this for so long… this wouldn't have been possible without them” – @GabrielShipton, #JulianAssange‘s brother

Thank you to everyone who has supported Julian! pic.twitter.com/q8sD7HDmM9

— Free Assange – #FreeAssange (@FreeAssangeNews) June 25, 2024

Peter Greste had his own experience of being imprisoned in Egypt for his journalism for Al Jazeera. He reflected on Assange’s ordeal:

I also understand the weird blend of elation, confusion and disorientation that sudden release brings.

Assange’s journey home will be much longer than his flight back to Australia.

…This case has undeniably had a serious chilling effect on public-interest journalism, and sends a terrifying message to any sources sitting on evidence of abuses by the government and its agencies.

Originally published on Global Voices

Wombats Xing road sign- Photo courtesy Flickr user Jeff Boyd (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Good news stories about the environment are sometimes hard to find. Enter Australia’s northern hairy-nosed wombat, which has stepped back from the edge of extinction. Wombats are being relocated to Queensland's Powrunna State Forest, the third such site in the nation. The three locations have restricted access to their eucalypt forests which need ‘a specific ratio of sand and clay in the soil to support their burrows’.

The Queensland Minister for the Environment, Leanne Linard, was keen to trumpet the latest developments:

In a magnificent moment for conservation, the first northern hairy-nosed wombats have been released to explore their new home at Powrunna State Forest near St George in south-west Queensland.

Though it is the world’s rarest land mammal, its number has increased from 113 in 2003 to more than 400 in 2024. In the 1980s there were only 35 left in its remaining habitat, Queensland’s Epping Forest.

They are marsupials like the kangaroo and koala, with a pouch to nurture their undeveloped young. They can be 35 centimetres (14 inches) high, up to 1 metre (3.3 feet) long and can weigh up to 40 kilograms (88 lbs).

There are three species of wombat. The critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat has an estimated population of 400. The near-threatened southern hairy-nosed wombat 60,000 to 300,000. The common wombat (aka bare-nosed or coarse-haired wombat) is rated as least concerning with stable population numbers. No recent national population estimates are available. 2020 research conducted in Victoria estimated over 400,000.

This Midjourney AI-generated image of a decorative Wombat was shared by Mastodon user PaperCuts in Canada in 2023:

The wombats face numerous deadly threats including habitat loss for agricultural, land clearing, and urbanisation purposes; competition for food through introduced species such as cattle and sheep; feral predators such as wild dogs and cats; cars; disease; and climate change.

Collisions with cars and trucks are far too common. Jeff Boyd commented on his photo at the top of this post:

Sadly, every time we saw one of these signs, there was a dead wombat on the opposite side of the road.

Popular writer of both children's and adult books, Jackie French, has many stories about wombats and long-extinct species such as the giant diprotodon. She shared her delight in the news on X (formerly Twitter):

Northern Hairy-nosed #Wombat numbers have now reached 400!! pic.twitter.com/AH3b9dREI1

— Jackie French (@jackie_french_) May 11, 2024

They dig extensive burrow systems, which became the focus of an Aussie myth during the devastating bushfires of 2019–2020. Popular memes at the time claimed that wombats were rescuing other animals in danger by herding them into their burrows.

Apparently wombats in fire effected areas are not only allowing other animals to take shelter in their deep, fire-resistant burrows but are actively herding fleeing animals into them.

We’re seeing more leadership and empathy from these guys than the entire Federal government. pic.twitter.com/LGcpSu9x0M

— Riff Raff (@RichardAOB) January 11, 2020

Although this turned out to be misinformation, scientific research reported at The Conversation has revealed that the burrows may play an important role in the survival of other animals during fires:

So, even if wombats don’t shepherd wildlife into their homes, their burrows might act as “fire refuges” — providing vital shelter, food, and even drinking water during and after a bushfire.

This video summarises their findings:

Wombats have a backward pouch which helps when digging burrows with their large rodent-like teeth. Despite being herbivores, wombats’ powerful claws pose a threat to campers as Wallaroo Adventure Store gave this warning on its blog in 2023:

Wombats may appear cute and cuddly, but nobody wants to wake up with a hole in their tent. Unfortunately, hungry wombats are notorious for tearing through them in the middle of the night.

Wombat Every Day posts photos of wombats each day on the Bluesky social media platform. This one arrived for the winter solstice down under:

Screenshot of wombats: Bluesky user Wombat Every Day

Finally, a toilet fact. The wombat is the only animal that has cubic feces:

Certified Wombat Faeces – Photo courtesy Bjørn Christian Tørrissen (CC BY-SA 3.0)