The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Scullion slams ‘racist’ newspaper cartoon
Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has slammed as “racist” a cartoon published by The Australian newspaper yesterday, describing it as tasteless and appalling.
A growing storm surrounds the cartoon, by Bill Leak, which depicts a police officer telling an Aboriginal man to talk to his son about personal responsibility, to which he replies “yeah righto, what’s his name then?”
Minister Scullion said although Australian cartoonists have a long tradition of irreverent satire, there is no place for depicting racist stereotypes.
Morrison defends bank inquiry plan
Treasurer Scott Morrison has defended his government’s decision to haul major banks before a parliamentary inquiry, despite Labor laughing it off as a joke.
Australia’s big four banks will be required to face parliament’s economics committee at least once a year after failing to pass the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point rate cut on in full.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described the move as a joke, calling on the government to hold a royal commission instead. Banks already regularly appear before parliamentary inquiries but that hasn’t stopped rip-offs and scandals, he told ABC TV last night.
Brandis says new Senate ‘easier’
Attorney-General George Brandis believes the new Senate will be easier to deal with than the last – despite having three extra crossbenchers to contend with.
The coalition will hold just 30 of 76 seats in the upper house, meaning it will need nine extra votes to pass laws or motions.
But Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, who has been re-elected to the upper house, isn’t as optimistic. He told Sky News last night the government would likely struggle for the numbers.
Two men charged with murder in Qld
Two men have been charged with murder after a man’s battered body was found inside a budget Townsville hostel.
The 30-year-old victim suffered severe head injuries during a fight in a room at the innercity Sturt Lodge on Tuesday night.
Early this morning police said two men, aged 24 and 30, had been charged with murder and would appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court later today.
Grannies stop traffic in Sydney CBD
A group of Indigenous grandmothers and their supporters have marched on NSW’s Parliament House calling for Aboriginal children to be protected from “abusers” in state-run institutions.
Police stopped traffic as about 100 protesters walked through Sydney’s CBD yesterday holding banners and signs and chanting “bring the children home”.
Addressing the crowd at the gates of Parliament House, Grandmothers Against Removals organiser Suellyn Tighe said her people had lost the power to guard their children from harm.
Search for missing men enters 6th day
Police and volunteers will spend a sixth day at sea near Hobart in search of two men, presumed dead, who are the final victims in a fatal boating trip.
There has been no sign of the men, a 26-year-old from Hobart and a New Zealander aged 35, since they launched a fibreglass runabout from a beach southeast of the city at Cremorne on Sunday.
The bodies of their mates – Magnus Julian Ritter, 34 and Luke William Davies, 32 – were found 3km apart in Frederick Henry Bay on Monday.
Pedestrian hit by car dies in Qld hospital
An elderly man has died a day after being knocked down by a vehicle exiting a Gold Coast car park.
The 84-year-old Tasmanian, who fell and struck his head on the pavement after walking in front of the vehicle on Wednesday evening, was treated at the scene and taken to Gold Coast University where he died last night.
Forensic Crash Unit investigations are continuing.
Winds start to ease off the Gold Coast
Gale force winds which forced the closure of Gold Coast beaches and whipped up dangerous surf conditions in southeast Queensland and northern NSW should ease today.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the strongest recorded winds were at Double Island Point, north of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, which reached 107km/h yesterday.
While the winds will weaken today, they are still expected to reach 60km/h.
