There are thousands of Indigenous organisations across Australia, in communities, localities, regions, state and territories, and nationally - in fact, internationally these days.

How easy would it be to initiate a weekly newspaper (in print, on-line and spoken form), free for Indigenous people, and free for them to contribute to ?

It could be paid for by donations from virtuous non-Indigenous people such as Greens, and by advertising, and by a top-up from federal and state governments. Any Indigenous person could have their say, completely free of censorship of any kind, on any issue.

Yes, there are already Indigenous newspapers, the National Indigenous Times, the Koori Mail, etc., as well as more local and state-oriented newspapers, often on-line. Yes, there are Indigenous-oriented and -run television stations and other forms of media, not to mention Facebook, of course. But perhaps content in those media is relatively controlled, or at least, non-elite Indigenous people assume that it is.

A free weekly news and opinion outlet (in any form) would enable Indigenous people to put their viewpoints, argue against viewpoints that they disagree with, and reach an audience rapidly, every week. Even if the federal government fully funded it, it may cost a tiny fraction of the annual allocations for Indigenous organisations.

Prominent Indigenous spokespeople could be encouraged to contribute, perhaps some even having, say, a weekly column, stimulating unrestricted discussion and debate.

The ordinary Indigenous people need voices. This could provide the answer

Are not Ken Wyatt, Ben Wyatt, Patrick Dodson, Jackie Lambie incapable of representing Indigeneous views in Parliament?

I have two questions about this:

1) how do you decide who is indigenous?

2) why do you think it should receive funding from the government?

By-the-way: there is nothing stopping you or anyone else from starting such a project as a normal publishing venture if you use your own money. But you would have to be very careful that it doesn't fall foul of the discrimination laws nor the defamation laws. At first brush it sounds *extremely* discriminatory since it freely available to indigenous people but not others. Also the fact that you propose to not censor it but instead allow any and every aboriginal to say anything whatever means that it is highly unlikely that the publication wouldn't find itself facing defamation lawsuits or be in breach of the anti-racism criminal laws or other laws (such as obscenity, sedition, etc) at some point.

Thinkabit why change? we have a working method in exist and it is well known
Yes a white [any color in fact any race, can be if accepted by the community be called Aboriginal
Thinking about that no bad idea there
Now racists need things too low IQ the ability to dislike those other than them selves
They exist some racists even come from the small groups claiming to be racist victims, far too many in fact
I think Loudmouth has a point, too it could well be a start to both sides understanding how the other side thinks, exists, and lives day to day in their world

Hi Thinkabit,

You're right, it should be free to everybody who wishes to read it, as wel as making it available electronically. I reluctantly agree that whatever is published should be screened to avoid defamation and incitement, but there should be some leeway for Indigenous people to express their honest opinions.

As for funding, whatever such a venture might cost could surely be squeezed into the thirty billion annual allocation.

It could be overseen by the new advisory committee ?

Joe

Dear Joe,

There already exists "The Voice of Indigenous
Australians."

It's called the "Koori Mail."

It is owned and operated by our Aboriginal people
and is distributed Australia-wide. It provides
news, views, ads, and other material of interest
to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
and non-Indigenous Australians interested in Indigenous
affairs.

The Koori Mail is not just a successful national
publication - it's also a true Aboriginal success story.

You can read more at:

http://www.koorimail.com