Edition 821 on sale NOW!

Edition 821 on sale NOW!

In our latest edition, ON SALE NOW, you’ll read about:

• ELECTRIC Fields – featuring vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboard player and producer Michael Ross – must have been bursting inside while keeping the secret that they have been selected to represent Australia at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. The pair performed most recently at the Treaty Day Out concert, held in Ballarat, on Wadurrung Country, Victoria, on March 2.

• AN ex-policeman who shot dead an Indigenous teen during an arrest told an inquest he had ‘certificates’ to prove Northern Territory Police handed out a racist award at former Christmas parties. Zachary Rolfe shot Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker, 19, three times as he resisted being handcuffed while armed with a pair of scissors in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.

PLUS – Check out our Sydney Mardi Gras picture spread, pages 22-23!

In SPORT:

• AUSTRALIAN sport leaders must stop downplaying racism amid a fresh wave of vilification claims, the nation’s sport integrity chief says. Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) chief executive David Sharpe says athletes guilty of racism should face the same lengthy penalties given to fans in similar situations.

Latest News Stories

Electric Fields vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding.

Electric Fields to represent Australia at Eurovision 2024

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 11:56 pm

ELECTRIC Fields must have been bursting inside while keeping the secret they have been selected to represent Australia at the this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

If their performance earlier this month is anything to go on, this might be our best chance ever of winning this competition.

The pair performed most recently at the Treaty Day Out concert, held in Ballarat, on Wadurrung Country, Victoria, on March 2.

A highlight of their performance was when Zaachariaha invited a young fan up on stage.

Ada-Oola Holten, who was celebrating her eighth birthday, will enjoy a cherished memory for the rest of her life after Zaachariaha led…

Leah Purcell will deliver the Keynote address.

Blak & Bright Festival Celebrates First Nations storytellers

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 11:52 pm

FEATURING a deadly lineup of 80 First Nations artists, Melbourne’s biannual First Nations literature festival Blak & Bright returns this month with more than 30 events spanning five days, the largest contemporary festival of its kind in Australia.

From March 13-17, Blak & Bright will showcase the multifaceted expressions of First Nations writers with a program ranging from songs and essays to oral stories and epic novels, and plays and poetry – including new events and cherished favourites.

With the aim of empowering and celebrating First Nations writers and storytellers, the festival will unfold across Melbourne’s…

Ezra Mam was the target of a racist comment made during the recent NRL match in Las Vegas.

Stop downplaying racism: integrity boss tells sports

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 11:51 pm

AUSTRALIAN sport leaders must stop downplaying racism amid a fresh wave of vilification claims, the nation’s sport integrity chief says.

Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) chief executive David Sharpe says athletes guilty of racism should face the same lengthy penalties given to fans in similar situations.

Sharpe is particularly critical of the downplaying of racism by influential people in Australian sport.

“Attitudes won’t change until the narrative changes,” Sharpe said on Sunday.

“Sport and sponsors’ brands are being aligned with poor behaviours, yet these brands have the power to drive a cultural shift to eradicate these poor behaviours.”

Sharpe’s comments come after a week when the AFL joined the NRL and Football Australia in being linked to racism…

Goonellabah jarjums Rara Jones, Harlon Duncan and Tye Walker in the park.

Magpies seek healing for local youth after floods

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 11:50 pm

WHEN the ‘magpies’ gathered under the trees in Elders Memorial Park, it was all about trying to get a local youth centre established in the heart of Goonellabah.

The ‘magpies’, are a collection of local Bundjalung Elders and jarjums (children), along with representatives from local council, social service organisations and the wider community.

Together they shared tucker and had a yarn about how to help the local Aboriginal community – and give the young people a place to gather and call their own.

Event organiser and Bundjalung man Bradley Walker called this first community meeting a ‘healing on Country’.

“There’s lot of sorry business in our community – a lot of unhealthy stuff happening,” Bradley said.

“We come from a town (Lismore)…

Khan Symonds-Magee, Ranald Link, Stewart Smith, Pearce Parsons, Jon Carter. Picture: Christopher Dahmen.

Warriors chase their dreams in Thailand

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 11:49 pm

TWO teams of First Nations Warriors – all young men – travelled to Thailand last month to chase their dreams and create new ones.

It was the second year in a row the First Nations Warriors Sports Academy, who were solely funded by sponsors and community, made the trip with their charges – one under-16s and one under-19s rugby team – to compete in the Bangkok International 10s tournament, which was held over two days.

The under-16s went through both days undefeated, and the under-19s – their second year in the tournament – were runners…

Shelley Ware.

Shelley Ware: Cable-tie trauma will never leave

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 11:48 pm

“THE horror that filled my body and heart will never leave me, when I first read about and saw the photo of the three young Aboriginal children, that had been allegedly cable tied by their hands, for taking a swim in a pool, in an empty house.

This happened in Broome, Western Australia and the person who allegedly decided to do this act was a tradie, who was visiting the empty home to do some work.

The tradesman called the police as clearly in his mind, he was in the right, he obviously believed that these children trespassed and deserved to be cable tied, while waiting…