Key posts
- Indigenous affairs ministers back Voice to parliament
- Not my job to tell anyone about Morrison’s secret ministries: GG
- This morning’s key headlines at a glance
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Indigenous affairs ministers back Voice to parliament
In case you missed it, Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney yesterday met with her state counterparts regarding the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The Labor frontbencher says all state and territory ministers back a First Nations Voice to parliament.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney. Credit:Wolter Peeters
As regular readers of this blog will know, the Uluru Statement called for a truth-telling commission, treaty and Voice to parliament.
Here’s what Burney had to say in a statement last night:
The ministers agreed to continue to back the Australian government’s work towards an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to the Australian parliament enshrined in the constitution, as outlined in the Uluru Statement.
This reflects a shared desire from all jurisdictions to put progress on recognition and better outcomes for First Nations peoples above politics.
The ministers discussed some of the practical steps for implementing voice arrangements, including at a regional level, that would enable First Nations people to work in partnership with all levels of government to improve policies, programs and service delivery in their regions. This work will build on and align with existing and emerging arrangements currently supported by states, territories and the Commonwealth.
The ministers provided updates on processes to advance truth-telling and treaty in their relevant jurisdictions.
Ministers will meet again … at the Joint Council for Closing the Gap meeting at the end of the month to discuss progress against the national agreement on closing the gap.
Not my job to tell anyone about Morrison’s secret ministries: GG
Governor-General David Hurley has declared he did nothing wrong in appointing Scott Morrison to five ministerial portfolios when he was prime minister and insists it wasn’t his job to inform the cabinet or the public of the process.
In a statement late on Wednesday, after Morrison invoked the “unprecedented” nature of the pandemic as justification for assuming secret co-control of senior ministries, Hurley defended his role in the process, saying he acted on the advice of the government of the day and “had no reason to believe” the appointments would not be communicated.
In an extraordinary hour-long press conference at Sydney’s Commonwealth Government Offices, Morrison said he did not disclose his emergency powers for fear of undermining his ministers.
“I did not want any of my ministers to be going about their daily business any different to what they were doing before,” Morrison said.
Read the full story here.
This morning’s key headlines at a glance
Good morning and thanks for your company.
It’s Thursday, August 18. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started.
- Governor-General David Hurley has declared he did nothing wrong in relation to Scott Morrison’s secret portfolio saga. Yesterday, Morrison defended his actions and refused to resign from parliament.
- Federal, state and territory Indigenous affairs ministers have pledged to back Labor’s plan to enshrine a Voice to parliament in the Australian constitution.
- A World Health Organisation envoy says the repeated use of lockdowns during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic was a “failure of policy”.
- And progressive Anglicans say they’re devastated by a historic split in their church triggered by divisions over same-sex marriage.
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