February 2017

Closing the gap is a dramatic policy failure, as well as a moral one | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

Enough of Closing the Gap. It only shows how governments of all persuasion can get away with fatal incompetence when it comes to the First Australians

Enough. This yearly political charade, Closing the Gap, is not saving Indigenous lives, getting more First Nations kids through school or keeping more young black people out of prison. Indeed, the very arbitrary determinants of “the gap” do not even include a measure on the number of incarcerated Indigenous Australians.

How the Indigenous art recognised by Unesco draws us into Australia's real history | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

The inclusion of the Warlpiri drawings in a Unesco collection links thousands of years of pre-colonial Australia to the modern desert Indigenous art movements

Indigenous Australian art, from the magical barks of the Yolngu to the mesmerising dot paintings of the Western Desert, grace the walls of opulent homes and legislatures, galleries and boardrooms from Sydney to New York City and beyond.