In The News May 30
CELEBRATIONS
Canary Islands Day Spain
Harvest Festival Malaysia
Indian Arrival Day Trinidad & Tobago
Mother's Day Nicaragua
Croatian Parliament Day Croatia
El dia del arbol Honduras
Water a Flower Day https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/water-a-flower-day/
Loomis Day https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/loomis-day/
Mint Julep Day https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/mint-julep-day/
More about May 30 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_30
ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
Indigenous advisory body will set Tent Embassy in stone, Pearson says
Noel Pearson tells Q&A the Aboriginal representative body called for in the Uluru Statement would formalise the voices of Indigenous Australians, placing them at the centre of democracy.
Joyce's comments show he 'misunderstands' Uluru statement
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's comments that an Indigenous chamber of parliament "will not fly" are met with derision from a policy adviser, who says the Nationals leader "misunderstands" the proposal.
'We are coming to the table, you come and meet us halfway'
Indigenous Q&A panellists Nakkiah Lui and Stan Grant respond to a question asking about politicians warning about "the overreaching nature of putting a recognition question to a referendum".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-29/we-are-coming-to-the-table,-you-come-and-meet-us/8570748
Child in NT Government care absent from school for four years, royal commission told
A child in the care of the Northern Territory Government did not attend school for four years and no-one in the relevant department intervened, the royal commission into child protection hears.
Why it's a good time of year for The Blak Matriarchy
A new exhibition from Indigenous art collective Real Blak Tingz celebrates the strong matriarchs in the artists' lives.
Indigenous aspiring politicians rub shoulders with political elite in Canberra
Young Indigenous aspiring politicians, who travelled from the farthest reaches of Australia to Canberra for the National Indigenous Youth Parliament, will today return home to their communities.
Coalition Uluru Statement split
Key figures in the Coalition are at odds over a plan to include an indigenous advisory body in the constitution.
‘Society to blame, not Constitution’
Former deputy PM John Anderson has warned against significant changes to the nation’s founding document.
Significant milestones recognised
THE 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum and the 25th anniversary of the Mabo decision in the High Court have been celebrated on Hobart’s Eastern Shore.
Mabo lawyer urges 'gutless politicians' to support decision
Wyatt a man to the mana born
The PM used the Maori word mana to describe the first Aboriginal man elected to the House of Representatives.
‘Carer locked me in basement’
Woman tells inquiry how as a child in care she was prevented from going to school and caught scabies from unwashed sheets
Artist goes long way to deliver message
AN indigenous artist from the Red Centre has painted his way into the history books — scooping first place in the first national Footscray Art Prize
Driving unlicensed: Indigenous people stuck between a rock and hard place, inquiry told
Liberals won't accept Indigenous recognition model, Institute of Public Affairs warns
Head of libertarian thinktank rejects proposal put forward at Uluru talks as an attempt to ‘enshrine racial division in the constitution’
Enhancing training advantage for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners
National Centre for Vocational Education Research
Social media amplifies Indigenous voices, even if they don't always agree
Luke Pearson for Awaye!
Indigenous people are taking to the tweets as well as the streets — presenting a whole world of otherwise unseen Indigenous voices and perspectives.
The Indigenous Uptake of the NDIS is Low And This Must Change
Fran Connelley
There are 250 Aboriginal languages, 560 dialects and not a single word for “disability”... so perhaps it’s not surprising that the uptake of the NDIS by Indigenous people is low
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/05/indigenous-uptake-ndis-low-must-change/
Would 90 per cent of Australians vote yes for the 1967 referendum if it was held today?
Canberra Times editorial
While our parents and grandparents often held views on race that are wildly politically incorrect by today's standards, they lived in a country committed to the "fair go".
Look at all the advice from white people. It must be Reconciliation Week!
First Dog on the Moon
Recently I discovered my childhood home has been knocked down and turned into townhouses. I was having feelings and it got me thinking
ASYLUM SEEKERS
Voters back deportation of asylum seekers if refugee claims fail – Guardian Essential poll
Labor maintains lead over Coalition as disillusionment with politics dominates survey results
Advocacy with heads and hearts: Three recent refugee books reviewed
Kevin Bain
Kevin Bain reviews three new books about Australia and the world's intractable and contentious refugee crisis.
CHARITY AND WELFARE
Tudge locates, won't release legal advice on Andie Fox case
https://www.crikey.com.au/2017/05/29/tudge-locates-wont-release-legal-advice-on-andie-fox-case/
CHILD ABUSE
Live-streamed child sexual abuse contributing to global crime 'pandemic'
Advances in technology are contributing to ‘pandemic’ levels of online child sexual abuse, according to research by Anti-Slavery Australia.
Convicted pedophiles to lose travel rights
The federal government will crack down on convicted pedophiles from travelling overseas, in what could give Australia the toughest anti-child sex tourism laws.
Travel ban for sex fiends
Herald Sun editorial
SHAMEFULLY, Australian sex offenders have been freely travelling overseas to, in some cases, continue their sickening abuse of vulnerable children.
Anthony Foster: A colossus between sex abuse victims and the church
Tess Lawrence
A farewell to the unwavering advocate for Catholic Church victims of child sex abuse, Anthony Foster.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
New power to get sex abusers’ DNA
Victorian police will get new powers to take DNA and fingerprints from convicted sex offenders without a court order in a major overhaul.
Chief judge: Rehab, not jail, the end solution
MORE than a third of offenders jailed for drug, assault and domestic violence offending return to prison within two years, SA’s chief magistrate has revealed.
Tougher penalties for cowardly cop bashers
NT police union officials want cop bashers to be dealt harsher punishments after officers were assaulted with steel bars and rocks and threatened with spears in separate weekend attacks
The 'revolving door' between prison and homelessness spins faster: research
Victorian youth justice centres 'falling apart', former insider reveals
A former worker at the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre speaks out about a system she says is "falling apart", as a parliamentary inquiry is told the "inhumane" treatment of young inmates is creating hardened criminals rather than rehabilitating them.
She's got the media's attention, but could Schapelle make a profit?
Legal expert Bill Potts says it would be illegal for Schapelle Corby to profit from her drug smuggling past, but there are other ways around the legislation which could see her make the most of her celebrity status.
Why jailing offenders is our last resort
Mary-Louise Hribal
THE Magistrates Court has a long history of providing access to programs in appropriate cases to assist defendants in addressing their criminal behaviour
DEATH AND DYING
Health officials apologise over teen's suicide in NSW mental health unit
Health officials in the NSW Hunter Valley admit failings and apologise to the family of a teenager who took her own life in a mental health unit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-29/officials-apologise-ahlia-raftery-suicide-inquest/8568438
We all need decent care when we are old
Age editorial
End-of-life care can be confronting and emotionally charged. But the pivotal person is the one commissioning and receiving the care; their voice must be determinant wherever reasonable.
DISABILITY
Labor promises Royal Commission
A SHORTEN Labor Government will establish a Royal Commission into violence and abuse against people with disability, Opposition spokeswoman for disability and carers Carol Brown says.
DIVERSE SEXUALITY
SSM opponents aren’t victims. Stop letting them be
Sarrah Le Marquand
THE hostile reaction to Margaret Court is playing into the hands of those who oppose same-sex marriage,
DRUGS
Stopping drug abuse can reverse related heart damage
Methamphetamine abusers saw cardiac function improvement after quitting drugs, receiving medical treatment
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/acoc-sda052517.php
Legalizing marijuana will harm health of youth in Canada
The federal government's bill C-45 to legalize marijuana in Canada will jeopardize the health of young people and Parliament should vote against it, argues the interim editor-in-chief of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in an editorial
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/cmaj-lmw052417.php
More butt out but fight on cigs goes on
Advertiser editorial
THE dramatic reduction in Australian smoking rates over a generation is a great public health success.
We have waged war on drugs for a century. So who won?
Alex Wodak
Extrajudicial killings in the Philippines show how prohibition has made a global problem far worse
ENVIRONMENT
Sky-high carbon tax needed to avoid climate catastrophe, say experts
Economists, including Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Stern, say taxes of $100 per metric tonne could be needed by 2030
Hotspots Show That Vegetation Alters Climate by Up to 30 Percent
A new study that analyzes global satellite observations shows that vegetation alters climate and weather patterns by as much as 30 percent. The researchers used a new approach and found feedbacks ...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170529133705.htm
Arctic peatlands may release potent greenhouse gas as permafrost thaws
Arctic peatlands may become a substantial source of a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide when they thaw, a new study suggests.
Australians say climate change is catastrophic risk, even as government turns blind eye
Three in four Australians understand that climate warming poses a “catastrophic risk,” even as the Australian government turns a blind eye.
Renewables grow to 17% of electricity mix as sector calls for certainty
Clean Energy Council report says while Australia is on track to deliver the 2020 renewable energy target, ‘clear policy direction and support is required beyond 2020’
The world is running out of sand.
It’s one of our most widely used natural resources, but it’s scarcer than you think
https://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/-4426583696647304780
'Heat Island' Effect Could Double Climate Change Costs for World's Cities
Overheated cities face climate change costs at least twice as big as the rest of the world because of the 'urban heat island' effect, new research ...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170529133714.htm
Urban Emissions Could Be Cut by Seventy Per Cent
A researcher has developed a mathematical model that determines the optimal conditions for sustainable urban distribution. The model can reduce logistical pressure in cities and make goods transport ...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170529090010.htm
Sustainable shopping: for eco-friendly jeans, stop washing them so often
Alice Payne, Queensland University of Technology and Susannah Kate Devitt,Queensland University of Technology
Our clothes are cheaper, flimsier and shorter-lived than ever. But jeans, a staple of the modern wardrobe, are actually designed to be long-lasting – provided you take proper care of them.
The awful truth of our mastery over nature
Peter Boyer
Peter Boyer asks whether mankind has blithely pushed into a new epoch.
Fact v fiction: Adani's Carmichael coalmine
Video
The myth that Adani coal is boom or bust for Queensland economy
Giles Parkinson
Adani Power’s latest big loss underlines the fact that its Carmichael coal project makes no sense. One myth is that the local economy would be devastated if the mine doesn’t go ahead. But it’s simply not true, given the huge pipeline of solar, wind, storage, biofuel and battery
https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-myth-that-adani-coal-is-boom-or-bust-for-queensland-economy-39757/
Black lung: The proof we have failed our coal miners
John Birmingham
FAMILY
Might monogamy be the real sexual revolution?
Mark Manolopoulos
Many of us assumed free-love promiscuity was radical — but is it?
FINANCE AND INEQUALITY
How our tax system doesn't hurt the ultra-rich
Michael Pascoe
Taxing the unhealthy isn't the path to a happy society
Aubrey Perry
Women rely on the family home to support them in old age
Rachel Ong, Curtin University and Siobhan Austen, Curtin University
On top of a gender wealth gap, Australian women have less diversified investment portfolios than men. This leads to bigger risks and reduced resources in retirement.
https://theconversation.com/women-rely-on-the-family-home-to-support-them-in-old-age-76703
Financial Review Rich List 2017 and Twiggy Forrest's 'philanthropy'
John Passant
The 2017 Rich List is out and no amount of "philanthropy" can disguise Australia's disproportionate wealth divisions.
HOUSING AND HOMELESS
‘Liveable’ Sydney has clear winners and losers
Roberta Ryan, University of Technology Sydney and Yvette Selim, University of Technology Sydney
Justifying Sydney’s ranking as a liveable city requires greater recognition of the inequality of Sydneysiders' access to jobs, wealth, transport and housing.
https://theconversation.com/liveable-sydney-has-clear-winners-and-losers-78030
The Broader Social Impact of Secure and Affordable Homes For Women
Jeanette Large
A long-term, affordable and secure home creates a new beginning for a woman who is facing homelessness, with every dollar invested in housing creating more than $11 of social value
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/05/broader-social-impact-secure-affordable-homes-women/
HUMAN RIGHTS
Fair use copyright reforms vital in world of change
Rod Sims
IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURALISM
Migration agents, lawyers hit back at claim they made 457 visa a 'proxy permanent pathway'
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection Secretary accused migration agents and lawyers of using the 457 visa as a 'proxy pathway' to permanent migration.
Migrant riffraff make fools of us
Nick Cater
Faceless umpires defy Minister Dutton, and so foreign criminals litter our streets.
INTERNATIONAL AID
Government Boosts African Humanitarian Aid
The Campaign for Australian Aid has welcomed a federal government move to provide an additional $19.3 million in humanitarian assistance to people at risk of starvation in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/05/government-boosts-african-humanitarian-aid/
MIND
How self-regulation can help young people overcome setbacks
Helping young people at risk of social exclusion to develop skills such as self-regulation helps them to bounce back from adversities and do better in life
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/f-hsc052417.php
RELIGION
'Worship your God with love, not terror': Muslim anti-terrorist Ramadan advert goes viral
The video featuring Emirati pop star Hussain al-Jassmi has registered over two million views on Zain's YouTube page and more than 4,000 shares on Facebook.
Trudeau invites Pope to indigenous apology
Pope Francis has been urged by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to apologise to indigenous peoples in Canada for the Catholic Church's treatment of children there.
TRANSPARENCY
Brandis spent $20k on flights in ONE day
ATTORNEY-General George Brandis racked up a small fortune on the taxpayer’s dime in a single day -crisscrossing the eastern states using military and private jets.
WORK
The computer revolution is just beginning, and most of us are unprepared
Nicholas Stuart
You might not be interested in technology, but technology is very interested in you. Or, perhaps more specifically, in taking your job.
Unpaid Work Experience is modern slavery
Phuong Le Thi Ngoc
A staggering 58% of surveyed respondents aged between 18-29 have participated in at least one UWE, making this very common in Australia.
https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19058
To those who claim Australia's unemployment data is dishonest – please stop
Greg Jericho
Journalists should be wary of arguing that government data is lying. They risk falling down the rabbit hole of making up facts
WHAT’S MORE
Explainer: the rise of naked tourism
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles
Some travellers may forget that where they travel is not their home, and that cultural sensitivities may differ greatly.
https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-rise-of-naked-tourism-76933