Latest news with #ANZACDay
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Stan Grant launches an explosive attack on the ABC
Stan Grant has revealed his deep 'sadness' over how the ABC failed in its 'duty of care' to him when he and his family were the target of relentless racist abuse and death threats. The veteran broadcaster and journalist also shared his thoughts on the failure of the Voice referendum, the future of treaties in Australia and the recent boing of the Welcome to Country ceremony at the Melbourne ANZAC Day dawn service in a wide-ranging and nuanced interview with TVNZ's Jack Tame. Grant, 61, quit his role as host of the ABC's Q+A in May 2023 after being subjected to 'relentless racial filth'. In a parting shot, he accused the ABC of 'institutional failure' over how he was treated when he was being bombarded with abuse during the Voice referendum. 'I became a target, my family became a target and the level of abuse just grew louder and louder and louder,' he said. 'Being misrepresented, hateful comments made to me, my wife, my children, my parents. And death threats against us. And a person arrested and charged. 'And throughout it all, I have to say with some sadness, a failure on the part of my employer to handle that and to be able to show proper duty of care to someone in my position who was exposed in ways that I couldn't control.' Grant said his decision to quit was to protect his family and his own sanity. But he insisted he held no one at the ABC personally responsible. 'I didn't feel protected and supported as I should have done with my employer. I don't necessarily blame them,' he added. 'I think they were swimming in waters that were far too deep for them.' After leaving the ABC, Grant said he retreated into Yindyamarra, an Aboriginal philosophy encompassing respect and sitting in silence as a way of trying to understand others and the world around you. The period of deep contemplation allowed him to change how he viewed the failure of the Voice referendum. 'There was something existential about this vote for us as Aboriginal people,' he said. 'It wasn't just a constitutional amendment, it felt like a vote on us. Inevitably, it does. 'We live in a country where we are three percent of the population. We are the most disadvantaged people, we are the most impoverished, we are the most imprisoned. 'We come out of very hard history. And that's almost unknowable to many Australians because Australia is a postcard, and it's beautiful, and it's rich and it's successful, and it's multicultural and it's peaceful. And they're phenomenal achievements.' He said he now saw the Voice as a a 'political failure, rather than a moral failure'. Grant also praised New Zealand for its approach to reconciliation with the Maori people. 'It's interesting being in New Zealand and the ease people move in out of the shared space. 'You know that you are in a place that is founded on something that is very vertical, very deep and very shared - contested, yes and not evenly distributed - and I think the treaty goes a long way to that,' he said. He was referencing the Treaty of Waitangi, the foundational document in New Zealand's history which established a relationship between the Maori and the British Crown. 'Australia doesn't have that. We don't have treaties. We don't have a constitutional recognition,' Grant said. 'There is still the overhang of Terra Nullius (meaning 'nobody's land' in Latin) that it was claimed because we simply weren't there in a legal sense. They are existential wounds that we have no dealt with.' Grant said that he was faced with a choice between having to 'imagine the Australia that I want or live in the Australia that I have'. 'To imagine a treaty, the likes of which you have here (in New Zealand), in the Australian context is just not possible. We are not made that way.' 'I navigate this now as more of a question of The Voice being a political failure rather than a moral failure.' Grant was also asked about the ugly scenes during the ANZAC Day dawn service in Melbourne where the air of reverence was broken during Bunurong elder Mark Brown's Welcome to Country, when loud heckles and boos threatened to drown him out. 'The wonderful thing about that is that the people who applauded the welcome and showed respect, far outweighed the small number of neo-Nazis, which is what they are, who had booed that Welcome,' Grant said. He said his immediate, gut reaction was to think 'Australia hates us' but his considered response allowed him to realise those who opposed the booing far outweighed the minority who were doing it. But he criticised Peter Dutton for trying to score political points by seizing on the national discussion to say he thought Welcome to Country ceremonies were sometimes 'overdone'. He accused the former Opposition Leader of a 'moral failure'. To take that and land that in the midst of a culture war where once again Aboriginal people were a political football and it backfired.' He added: 'The conservative side of politics sought to inflict a moral injury out of what was a very hateful act from a very small number of people.' Grant went further, claiming that opposition and criticism of Welcome to Country ceremonies was actually a 'failure of Conservatism'. 'What deeper conservative tradition could there be than a Welcome to Country that is thousands of years old? That is joined with an ANZAC service that is a solemn acknowledgment of sacrifice for the greater good,' he said. 'And to put those two beautiful traditions together creates a sacred space that we can all share in and any decent conservatism would seek to preserve that as a common good.' Grant also turned his sights on the media in general, which he claims is responsible for 'generating conflict and polarising debate'. 'I really had to confront what I was doing and what I saw, I thought, in the complicity of media in the conflicts of our age,' he said of his decision to quit the public broadcaster. 'I started to see that the media in many ways was the poison in the bloodstream of our society.' Since he quit the ABC two years ago, Grant has written a book about the failure of the Voice called Murriyang: Song of Time and has served as the Vice Chancellor's Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University.
NZ Herald
27-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Tairāwhiti multicultural council, music, museum and more supported by nearly $200,000 in grants
'This role is crucial in helping migrant families to navigate essential services, access resources, and build meaningful connections within Tairāwhiti.' The Haven Senior Citizen Association will receive $25,230 to help replace its current van. 'The van transports pakeke [mature people] from Tokomaru Bay to essential services, medical appointments, social events, and community gatherings in Gisborne and along the coast,' Trust Tairāwhiti wrote. 'The van has served the community for over 20 years, but has experienced significant rusting and general deterioration, making it no longer fit for purpose.' Other recipients in May Gisborne International Music Competition: $23,500 for its annual programme, which focuses on rangatahi education and empowerment in music. East Coast Museum of Technology: $15,000 for heat pump installation to help preserve artefacts while improving comfort for visitors and volunteers. Manaaki Tāngata | Victim Support: $15,000 to support the recruitment and specialist training of local kaimahi, providing free, 24/7 support for people affected by crime and traumatic events Te Aitanga a Hauiti Centre of Excellence Trust: $15,000 for a series of community events in Ūawa, including ANZAC Day commemorations, a Matariki festival and other gatherings, activities and events that enrich and foster community and cultural pride. Te Ha Ora – the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation: $15,000 for 15 school vape education workshops and a Train-the-Trainer programme equipping local educators to deliver vaping education to rangatahi. Braemar Dancing Club: $5,000 to support the delivery of the Braemar annual competition, an inclusive dancing event that encourages dancers of all abilities to perform and grow. Nona Te Ao: $5,000 for three wānanga across Tairāwhiti, engaging 237 rangatahi across 10 rural schools. These wānanga empower rangatahi Māori to overcome barriers associated with rural living by providing exposure to educational and career pathways. Te Kura Poutama Charitable Trust: $5,000 to support Ngāti Porou Rugby League (NPRL), which seeks to build on its 2024 successes. Gisborne District Council (on behalf of the Tairāwhiti Pasifika Leadership Group): $1,222 for venue hire to host a fono (gathering) for the Tairāwhiti Pasifika Leadership Group (TPLG), established after Cyclone Gabrielle to unite the diverse Pacific Island communities in Tairāwhiti.
Sky News AU
20-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Qantas Group, Virgin Australia reap mega earnings on little aviation competition, strong domestic travel demand: ACCC
Australia's major airlines continue to reap huge earnings as limited competition and strong travel demand has secured strong financial results for the nation's dominating carriers. This is according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which delivered its latest report monitoring the nation's domestic airline sector. The consumer watchdog pointed to Qantas Group's $1.5b in earnings for the first half of 2025 financial year, which includes its budget subsidiary Jetstar. Qantas Group earned $916m from its domestic operations across both carriers while Jetstar reporting a massive earnings surge of about 54 per cent between the first half of the 2024 and 2025 financial years. It comes as Jetstar remains the only low-cost carrier in Australia since the collapse of Bonza last year and Tigerair's exit in 2020. ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said the lack of competition was a major boon for the budget airline. 'Jetstar has been able to capitalise on the continued absence of competitive pressure from another low-cost carrier in the domestic market to increase its market share and operating margin,' Ms Brakey said in a statement. The watchdog said the withdrawal of Rex from the major city routes after it went into administration sent more passengers to Virgin Australia, nudging the major carrier's market share up three per cent to 34 per cent. This comes as Virgin secured three Boeing 737 aircraft leases from Rex. While Virgin does not publicly report its half-year results, its former CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said the airline achieved record profits in the first half of the 2025 financial year after it was restructured under Bain Capital. Qantas' profit was boosted by its 80 per cent share of the corporate travel market, playing an important role in Qantas Domestic's $647m in earnings. "The high half-yearly earnings reported by Qantas Group reflect its dominance of the domestic airline sector, with Qantas and Jetstar accounting for over 60 per cent of passengers," Ms Brakey said. While passenger demand took a hit during March with the impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred leading to a downturn in Brisbane and Gold Coast flights, passenger numbers surged in April due to the school holidays, Easter and ANZAC Day all falling in a three week period. 'Airservices Australia noted that 17 April 2025 (the Thursday before Good Friday) was the busiest day for domestic travel in the past five years,' the ACCC wrote. Qantas delivered its first dividend since 2019 earlier this year after revealing its stellar results for the first half of the 2025 financial year. 'Our financial strength means we are now in a position to pay our shareholders dividends for the first time in almost six years,' Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said. Alongside the dividend, the airline said it had paid 27,000 non-executive employees $1000 each as a "thank you payment" in December. Qantas also noted a drop with international airfares of about 6.6 per cent, while domestic flights increased 0.8 per cent. Jetstar's low fares were a point of pride for the company as about one third of tickets below $100 for the six-month period.
The Age
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Young couple pay $720,000 over the reserve for renovated Brunswick terrace
Three young couples competed for a Brunswick terrace at auction on Saturday, pushing the sale price to $3.72 million. The renovated three-bedroom home at 679 Park Street was listed with a price guide of $2.8 million to $3 million and had a reserve of $3 million, set at the top of the range. The Victorian terrace, 'Ellis', located on the Princes Hill border in Brunswick, has generous living areas, a flexible layout and off-street parking. The winner and underbidder were both local to the area. Proceedings opened with a bid of $2.8 million and the reserve was quickly reached. Bidding then slowed, with increments decreasing from $25,000 to $10,000, $5,000, and $1,000. Selling agent Peter Stephens from Nelson Alexander said the auction 'wasn't very fast' but had 'good, strong bidding.' 'The market is getting going again after Easter, ANZAC Day and the election,' he said. The property was one of 849 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne during the week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 72.4 per cent from 615 reported results throughout the week, while 55 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate. In Northcote, a double-fronted period house sold under the hammer for $2.33 million.
Sydney Morning Herald
19-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Young couple pay $720,000 over the reserve for renovated Brunswick terrace
Three young couples competed for a Brunswick terrace at auction on Saturday, pushing the sale price to $3.72 million. The renovated three-bedroom home at 679 Park Street was listed with a price guide of $2.8 million to $3 million and had a reserve of $3 million, set at the top of the range. The Victorian terrace, 'Ellis', located on the Princes Hill border in Brunswick, has generous living areas, a flexible layout and off-street parking. The winner and underbidder were both local to the area. Proceedings opened with a bid of $2.8 million and the reserve was quickly reached. Bidding then slowed, with increments decreasing from $25,000 to $10,000, $5,000, and $1,000. Selling agent Peter Stephens from Nelson Alexander said the auction 'wasn't very fast' but had 'good, strong bidding.' 'The market is getting going again after Easter, ANZAC Day and the election,' he said. The property was one of 849 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne during the week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 72.4 per cent from 615 reported results throughout the week, while 55 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate. In Northcote, a double-fronted period house sold under the hammer for $2.33 million.
