By Brittany Chain, Political Correspondent for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 8:31 PM EST, January 10, 2024 | Updated: 9:02 PM EST, January 10, 2024

Sydney Mayor Clover Moore has defended New Year’s Eve fireworks, despite the entertainment being criticized by Aussies for its political overtones.

Ms Moore was a leading supporter of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and gave a telling hint that the evening would take on a highly political character early on Sunday evening.

In a speech on New Year’s Eve, Ms Moore expressed her disappointment at the failure of the referendum, as she welcomed “70 per cent” of her electorate voting “yes” and called for “real support for our First Nations people”.

Her Sydney City Council came under fire hours later for the family-friendly fireworks display at 9pm due to the overtly political actions of Indigenous rap group 3%.

The ‘Calling Country’ fireworks included references to the failed Voice to Parliament referendum, the colonization of Australia and the Stolen Generation.

Several outraged Aussies took to social media to express their frustration, prompting Ms Moore to step in and defend the show.

She argued in a social media post that the show was meant to “recognize Blak Power.”

‘[The] The 9pm Calling Country fireworks were all about celebrating our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” she wrote.

“It has been a difficult year for our indigenous communities as they have had to deal with the shameful referendum result.

“Tonight was about recognizing Blak’s strength and resilience through music, art and fireworks.”

The city of Sydney had one of the largest yes votes in the country, along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate, Grayndler and the Australian Capital Territory.

Before the show, Ms Moore said the 9pm fireworks display – normally called family fireworks as children are less likely to wake up for the midnight show – would “honour Australia’s and Sydney’s indigenous heritage”.

She said the show was called “Calling Country” and was created in collaboration with Indigenous artists.

The show, Ms Moore said, would remind the world that ‘Sydney is a global city… inclusive and diverse for all communities’.

Elsewhere in that New Year’s Eve speech, Ms. Moore expressed hope that “2024 would be a much better year than 2023, with an end to the destruction of communities in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine.”

The fireworks broadcast also featured Melbourne singer Angie McMahon, who not only took to the stage to sing Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O’Connor, but also made a statement about the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

McMahon took the opportunity to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during her set, telling the audience, “Palestinians must be free.”

Ms Moore also called for a halt to the approval of coal mines and gas projects.

She was later asked why there was even a need for a “Calling Country” show in the timeslot that normally places a high priority on children’s entertainment.

Ms Moore argued that the show’s name has not been changed for three years, which is an indication that Sydney is “proud to celebrate the world’s oldest culture”.

The taxpayer-funded national broadcaster has been widely criticized for their coverage of Sydney’s 9pm New Year’s Eve fireworks display, which was watched by millions of Australians, many of whom were under 12 years old.

While the screening before the 9pm fireworks display featured a projection of popular children’s show Bluey onto the pillars of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, it also featured an overtly political performance from Indigenous rap group 3%.

The group’s song “Our People” includes lyrics such as “They stole the land in the name of their kings,” “They locked us up and then they threw away the key,” and “You can suck my Moby D*** ‘.

However, several changes were made to the song to accommodate the family-friendly show, with the final lyrics being changed to ‘You gon’ sink this Moby ship’.

The references to the failed Voice to Parliament referendum, the colonization of Australia and the Stolen Generation led critics to question why the ABC chooses to politicize New Year’s Eve every year.

And rising Melbourne singer Angie McMahon also faced backlash for her involvement in the much-criticized show.

She took to the stage wearing a ‘no kids in prison’ shirt, referencing a campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Australia, which is currently 10 years old.

She then waded into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, telling the crowd, “Palestinians must be free.”

Viewers called the singer a “wannabe activist” and wondered why the taxpayer-funded performances had to come with a “painful political statement.”

And her social media pages have been flooded with mixed reviews from fans and viewers.

Some say they found her music thanks to the political statement and are new fans, while others accused her of “selective morality.”

Daily Mail Australia approached both Ms McMahon and Ms Moore’s office about the show’s public reception.

Prominent anti-Voice campaigner Warren Mundine told Daily Mail Australia it was “disgraceful” that New Year’s Eve entertainment was being politicized.

“We just want to have a relaxed start to the year and have fun because it’s going to be a big one this year,” Mr Mundine said.

‘NYE is an incredible milestone for Sydney, and indeed for the world. It’s being broadcast all over the world and I think people are getting tired of the politicization of things.

“We are tired of the politicization of everything. We Australians are quite relaxed.’

An ABC spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that family viewing was an important part of the broadcast.

He said the lead-up to the fireworks included an exclusive viewing of Muster Dogs Series 2, as well as a special surprise of Bluey and Calling Country, a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities produced by Indigenous social enterprise We Are Warriors.

“The ABC’s NYE ​​concert also featured the biggest names in Australian music, including Jessica Mauboy, Genesis Owusu, King Stingray, Confidence Man, Angie McMahon, Mark Seymour, Grentperez and the Queen of New Year’s Eve, Casey Donovan,” the spokesperson said.

“The ABC is a proud supporter of all aspects of Australian culture and entertainment on New Year’s Eve and every other night of the year.”

Former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been spotted enjoying her newfound free time with her partner, high-profile surgeon Reza Adib.

Ms Palaszczuk announced on December 10 that she was stepping down after nine years in the Sunshine State’s top job.

She was photographed for the first time since that announcement on December 27, enjoying a glass of wine with Dr Adib on the balcony of his luxury flat in Burleigh Heads.

Wearing a white baseball cap, matching white shorts and a casual red T-shirt, Ms Palaszczuk carried two glasses of wine to the balcony overlooking the beach.

Dr. Adib joined her shortly afterwards and the couple had dinner together.

The pair were also spotted on the balcony earlier in the day. They enjoyed the morning sun on the balcony before Ms Palaszczuk retreated inside to put on clean clothes while Dr Adib vacuumed.

The sighting comes as Queensland faces wild weather conditions over the Christmas period, keeping Ms Palaszczuk’s replacement, Steven Miles, busy.

Mr Miles announced new disaster relief packages for Gold Coast residents hit by wild storms, which have killed 10 people across Australia so far this holiday season.

“The thoughts of all Queenslanders are with the families who are now grieving,” he said.

The new Prime Minister also described the storms as unlike anything he had seen before, noting that the clean-up operation would cost “billions.”

One of the victims is a nine-year-old girl, who died after being swept into a storm drain after jumping a fence at Palara St, Rochedale South, near Logan in Brisbane’s south, about 6.30pm on Boxing Day.

Paramedics desperately tried to resuscitate the girl once she was found, but she could not be saved as her family requested privacy during this ‘difficult time’.

Ms Palaszczuk’s decision to step down as prime minister came at a crucial time in the polls, ahead of next year’s election.

Redbridge opinion polls in August showed Labor heading for defeat, with the LNP leading by a margin of 55 to 45 percent on two-party preference.

Her own popularity had also taken a hit, causing rumors to swirl for months before she announced she would resign or be overthrown.

Ms Palaszczuk came under fire after attending several red carpet events and overseas holidays with Dr. Adib, which earned her the nickname ‘part-time prime minister’.

While she decried such comments, her commitment to the job has also become an issue, with some saying she has “checked out” of the position this year.

The couple has been dating for over two years. Dr. Adib is a well-known surgeon, CEO of the Brisbane Obesity Clinic and owner of a mansion worth $6.25 million.

LNP leader David Crisafulli claimed a bitter power struggle had broken out in Labour’s ranks.

“What’s really disturbing is that the government is fighting against itself and not for the people of Queensland. And that is becoming increasingly clear,” he says.

Deputy LNP leader Jarrod Bleijie even claimed information had been leaked to him indicating Queensland ALP deputy leader Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman were preparing to oust Ms Palaszczuk.

“You see it in parliament, Labor MPs are speaking to us, they have been leaking against the prime minister for 12 months now,” Bleijie told Sky News at the time.

Marcia Langton has accused Peter Dutton of welding “racial hatred” into the fiber of Australia in an extraordinary assessment of the failed referendum.

The professor, one of the original signatories of the Uluru Statement of the Heart, gave her first detailed response to the failed referendum during the University of South Australia earlier this month.

She called on the Albanian government to make regional and local voices heard, despite 60 percent of Australians voting not to constitutionally enshrine the advisory body in the Constitution.

The new, outspoken supporter of indigenous rights The proposal refers to the 272-page Calma-Langton report she co-authored, which recommended 35 regional and local voices that should work together alongside the constitutionally enshrined Voice.

There are suggestions that these local votes – which do not require a referendum or even legislation – could be in full swing as early as 2024.

In her speech at the annual Hawke Lecture, Professor Langton blamed the Opposition Leader, as well as Indigenous Australians shadow ministers Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, for the Voice’s defeat.

She accused them not only of forging “racial hatred” into the “fiber of Australia”, but also of lying about The Voice details, confusing the Australian public and “further entrenching structural racism in our lives”. – and then ‘glowing’. about the.

“They did it with disgusting glee and arrogance,” she told the crowd, who gave her a standing ovation.

Professor Langton invited Yes voters to “stand with us” but warned that “they too face a bleak future” in which “the dark heart of White Australia policy will not be a whisper, but a slogan”.

“Reconciliation is dead,” she said.

“Not because we have failed to pursue it, but because the majority of Australians have rejected it, led by a deceptive campaign aimed at dehumanizing us.”

She argued that the No vote meant that Australia could no longer be considered the land of the honest life, and that ordinary Australians had wasted an opportunity to be absolved of the guilt of our ancestors.

Despite her disappointment, she credited Anthony Albanese for keeping his word and holding the referendum.

Although early polls showed the majority of Australians supported the proposal, every pollster had been predicting failure for months by the time October 14 arrived.

But Professor Langton said the referendum’s “outcome was deeply shocking to those of us who were familiar with it”, who believed wholeheartedly that the proposal was based on “contemporary human rights standards”.

She sees local and regional voices as the clear path forward.

Echoing the recommendations of her first report, Professor Langton said Indigenous people “want the Federal Government to establish a legally representative body” through “regional voting structures”.

“In addition to legal representation bodies… Indigenous people have made it very clear that they want treaties and the creation of a Makarrata Commission.”

Professor Langton said First Nations people also want governments and institutions to take steps towards ‘telling the truth’ – the third pillar of the Uluru Statement from the heart.

Despite her calls for the government to move forward with treaties, truth-telling and legislative votes, Professor Langton admitted that the general public’s rejection of a constitutionally enshrined Voice marked ‘the end of reconciliation’.

‘WWe are left with the humor and determination of the indigenous people themselves to find another way to live together with those who despise us,” she said.

Professor Langton also said that the ‘primary characteristic of the Yes voters was a high standard of education’.

“It is difficult to convey how damaging the No campaigners were to me personally,” she said. ‘The damage to our prospects for a healthy and worthwhile life in our own country is enormous.

‘Make no mistake: the damage is permanent.’

Professor Langton failed to mention that much of the discontent stemmed from the failures of the Yes campaign.

She caused controversy herself when she labeled the No case ‘racist and stupid’ and accused ‘hard No voters’ of ‘spewing racism’.

The Yes campaign was not helped by comments from Thomas Mayo or TV legend Ray Martin.

Martin called the No voters ‘d**kheads and dinosaurs’ during a crucial part of the campaign, while Mayo’s ambitions of a vote that would lead to a treaty and reparations derailed the message early on.

Mr Albanese and his cabinet have repeatedly referred to the Calma-Langton Report – both during their election campaign and during the past 19 months in office.

The report was presented to the then coalition government in July 2021, calling for 36 Voting bodies.

Although the National Voice will not go ahead, there are suggestions that the government is considering using the already existing Empowered Communities program to elevate local and regional Indigenous voices.

The program gives First Nations leaders and community representatives from regional and remote areas direct access to decision-makers in government to make suggestions and advocate for their communities.

Essentially it delivers what Professor Langton recommended in her 272-page report.

She called for a “strong, resilient and flexible system that… will be part of genuine shared decision-making with governments at local and regional level.”

It is important to note that the government has not formally adopted the report, but in several media interviews throughout the campaign, Mr Albanese urged the public to read it when asked for more details about the Voice.

And in the absence of a renewed commitment to the Makarrata Commission in the wake of the referendum defeat, it is becoming increasingly likely that this suggestion could form part of the Labor government’s policy on indigenous affairs for the remainder of their term .

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said in February she would seek to establish a network of regional voices with state and territory governments.

“Those things are very important,” she said The Western Australia.

“We will of course work with those states and territories in the best way possible to pursue a network of voices in this country.”

The Calma-Langton report provides a solid blueprint for such a task. It says community consultation has shown that ’35 regions across Australia would be required to accommodate the complexity of implementing the Indigenous Voice proposals’.

In addition, each region should be able to decide how best to attract its Voice members, whether through elections, nominations, expressions of interest or some other form of selection.

The report suggested that these methods would ‘build on structures based on traditional law and custom, or a combination thereof’.

The group would also have the freedom to determine “how many Voice members there will be.”

Professor Langton and her co-author wrote that these regional voices should be able to provide direct advice to the national voice, creating a “two-way flow of advice and communication” on “systemic issues related to national policies and programs, and issues of national importance’. interest’.

In addition, they aimed to ensure that local and regional voices could advise non-governmental sectors within communities, such as corporations and business entities.

Read the full Calma-Langton report here

As Anthony Albanese danced at a ceremony in the Cook Islands – and his popularity plummeted – a tweet he sent days before he was elected to govern the country came back to haunt him and expose his policy failures.

The Prime Minister said: “Australians are being hit with a triple whammy: the skyrocketing cost of essentials, falling real wages and now an interest rate hike.

“They need a government with a plan to lower the cost of living.”

More than eighteen months later, that ‘triple whammy’ is only getting worse: inflation for the year to September remained worryingly high at 5.4 percent; Australian borrowers were hit with yet another rate hike this week – the 13th in 18 months; and incomes continue to fall in real terms.

And support for Labor and Mr Albanese both fell sharply in the first Newspoll since the defeat of the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Labor has fallen behind the Coalition in the primary vote, 35 percent to 37 percent, while on a two-party preference basis, Labor leads 52 percent to 48 percent – ​​its weakest showing since it won government in May 2022.

While many households are struggling to pay their bills as the costs of utilities, groceries and petrol skyrocket along with mortgage repayments, the Prime Minister showed off his dance moves during his visit to the Pacific Islands Forum.

On the island of Aitutaki, Mr Albanese wore a bright green shirt and a garland around his neck – one of the customs at such events.

But at home, in an ominous sign, the RBA now predicts that inflation will remain above the target range of 2-3 percent until at least the end of 2025, after previously predicting that inflation would return within that range by June 2025.

The first rate hike since June will add $99 to an average $600,000 mortgage after persistently high inflation saw the Reserve Bank inflict more pain on Melbourne Cup Day.

Annual repayments on a typical Australian mortgage are now $18,744 higher than at the beginning of May 2022, when Reserve Bank interest rates were still at a record low 0.1 per cent and banks were offering mortgage interest rates starting with a ‘two’.

And gasoline prices are also rising.

The official Consumer Price Index data also showed an annual increase in fuel prices of 19.7 percent, leaving motorists paying $2.40 per liter for 95 octane unleaded gasoline.

This increase predated the last Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers admits will likely lead to even more serious increases in gasoline prices.

“We expect that some of this price pressure on the Bowser may be exacerbated by what we are also seeing in the Middle East at the moment,” he said late last month.

Another problem for Labor was that electricity prices rose by 18 percent annually in September, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promising at the last election to cut average energy bills by $275 by 2025.

The Twitter post is now drawing criticism from Australians who have noted that the post has ‘not aged well’ given the current crises.

“So, when are we going to get a government with that plan?” someone asked.

Another wrote: ‘It’s looking more and more like this isn’t your gang.’

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley shared the message again this week, after announcing the interest rate hike.

She said, “Well, this didn’t go well Albo, did it? Australians are paying the price for Albo’s failures.

“With the Prime Minister gone, Australians are hurting again at home. Where is Labour’s plan to help with living costs?’

A government spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia there was no denying that ‘many people are struggling’.

But the spokesperson said: ‘The Albanian government’s first priority is to tackle inflation and pressure on the cost of living.

“The coalition conveniently forgets that they have racked up a trillion dollars in debt with almost nothing to show for it.

“We’re doing our best to clean up the mess they left behind.”

The government has repeatedly placed the blame squarely on the opposition, arguing that they spent 18 months in government trying to repair the damage left by the coalition’s decade in power.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also driven up the prices of many of that region’s natural resources, and there appears to be no plan to end that war anytime soon.

The Albanian government contributed hundreds of millions in funds and military equipment to that war, despite economic chaos at home.

Since coming to power in May 2022, the government has “provided relief from electricity bills, made medicine cheaper, made it cheaper and easier to see a doctor, expanded parental leave, built more social and affordable housing and increased housing benefit increased,” said a spokesperson. .

Labor has also argued that cost-of-living cuts have provided relief, even at a cost to taxpayers, and cuts only allow telecoms and utilities to charge more.

Dr. Chalmers argued that without electricity cuts of up to $500 in the May budget, the bills would have been even more brutal than they already are.

By Brittany Chain, Political Correspondent for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 6:37 PM EST, November 5, 2023 | Updated: 6:56 PM EST, November 5, 2023

The NSW Premier’s office is hiring an executive director to lead the government on ‘truth and healing’ in the wake of the failed Voice to Parliament referendum.

The role is reserved for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander candidates only, and carries a salary of up to $339,000.

A newly posted advertisement for the role says the successful candidate will be “responsible for embedding the Aboriginal voice in strategy, plans and programs” across government.

“This role will focus on leading truth-telling to anchor healing and celebrate culture.”

Despite Australia’s resounding rejection of a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament, this high-level government role will be responsible for ‘developing an incubator team for future reform initiatives’ around ‘truth, treaty and voice’.

Truth, treaty and voice are the three pillars of the Uluru Declaration from the Heart. Although the Voice was considered the first path to take, the “culmination point of the agenda” is actually the development of treaty and truth-telling mechanisms.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has now been accused of ‘stealth implementing’ this by Prue Macsween – against the wishes of the Australian public.

NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he only heard about the role when the program alerted him to it on Thursday, saying it seemed like a particularly short recruitment window.

The vacancy was posted on October 20 and closes on November 12.

Australians went to the polls on October 14 and voted 61 percent to 39 percent against a constitutional vote.

Throughout the campaign, the treaty and the truth were among the main concerns among the general public, as was the lack of information about the scope of the advisory committee.

Mr. Saunders warned that the short application period could indicate the department was “looking at people” for the position, and pointed out that the salary would be higher than what some ministers in the Minns government earn.

“It’s a very strange moment to appoint an executive director for Truth and Healing when we just had a referendum that was a very definitive answer,” he said.

‘The Prime Minister has said nothing about that at all.

“Right now, cost of living is everything. Right now, telling the truth and healing is not what we should be focusing on.”

READ MORE: Lidia Thorpe’s five-point treaty and vision of truth

In August, a similar Victorian government vacancy, exclusively revealed by Daily Mail Australia, sparked outrage and a warning shot from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price that the high salary could be an indicator of what would happen to the Voice commission.

Then-Premier Dan Andrews’ department advertised a role that would help promote treaties and truth-telling in Victoria, with a whopping pay package of as much as $533,431.

The role of Assistant Secretary of the First Peoples State Relations Group would provide the Victorian Government with executive leadership and strategy to create practical solutions to emerging policy issues.

The ad described the work as an “exciting opportunity to be part of progress on First People cultural rights, land justice, self-determination, treaty and truth.”

The successful candidate would earn a total compensation package of anywhere between $410,018 and $533,431, depending on their experience and negotiations.

Victoria is relatively far along in the treaty talks, the furthest in Australia after starting the formal process in 2016.

Even still, insiders say the state is at least a decade away from finalizing treaties or reaching a solution.