Kirstie Wellauer

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Stephanie Boltje |Brooke Fryer |Kirstie Wellauer

The Productivity Commission says governments are shirking "meaningful action" to close the gap, as new data reveals soaring rates of Indigenous imprisonment and ongoing failures to reduce rates of suicides and children in out-of-home care. Productivity Commissioner and Gungarri man Selwyn Button called the continuation of business-as-usual by governments "the definition of insanity".

Feb 11, 2025 | abc.net.au | Kirstie Wellauer |Tahnee Jash

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following story contains images of people who have died. Stolen Generations survivor Uncle Michael 'Widdy' Welsh was optimistic that change was coming when a groundbreaking national inquiry was launched to bring light to history, recognising experiences like his. "I felt hopeful at that moment, at that time," he said.

Jan 23, 2025 | abc.net.au | Tahnee Jash |Kirstie Wellauer

It's been eight years since Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung musician Troy Cassar-Daley first graced the music stage at Sydney's Yabun Festival on January 26. "When I play at this festival, I feel like it's a heavy weight in one hand, but it's also a ray of light on the other," he said. Before Yabun's inception, Troy remembers racing from Tamworth to Sydney to perform at Survival Day events.

Jan 1, 2025 | abc.net.au | Baz Ruddick |Kirstie Wellauer

When the people of Saibai built their first church 150 years ago, they chose the highest point they could see on the island so they could, literally, look up to it. Today, the Holy Trinity Church — the fourth to stand on the same sacred mound and completed almost 90 years ago — is impossible to miss, with its stark white walls and dazzling stained-glass windows. And, elders say, the church, which now stands on the island's foreshore, has never been more important to this community.

Dec 14, 2024 | abc.net.au | Kirstie Wellauer |Baz Ruddick |Craig Dixon |Daniel Franklin

Australians on the frontline of climate change are fighting for their vanishing ancestral home. Can a landmark lawsuit against the federal government save their way of life? Uncle Paul Kabai steps barefoot along a beach near a fallen sacred tree and onto the mud and broken coral edging his Torres Strait island home. He looks to the horizon and listens to the sea. "I can tell when it's going to rain or I can tell there will be an easterly blowing tomorrow," he says.