Sarah Collard

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Sarah Collard

On a rudely gorgeous Sydney autumn day, Brooke Boney greets me with a warm hug. We’re meeting at the Botanic Gardens, resplendent with blue skies, a gentle breeze and dappled sunlight overlooking the Harbour Bridge. Birds are singing overhead and Boney is smiling widely.After spending the past eight months in the UK wintercloistered in Oxford University studying a masters of public policy, the April warmth is a much-needed balm.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Sarah Collard

When Quaiden Williams Riley laid eyes on the spears of his ancestors, tens of thousands of kilometres away from his traditional lands, it was the start of a return home more than two centuries in the making. “My great-grandmother would always talk about it to my grandfather and his siblings, about the spears and artefacts that were in England and how they would eventually get them back,” Riley said.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Sarah Collard |Ella Archibald-Binge

A former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner has urged the major parties to pursue a more ambitious Indigenous affairs agenda, accusing leaders of losing the “courage” to pursue meaningful change after the defeat of the voice referendum.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Sarah Collard

Briana* was just starting to get a handle on the unpredictability of feeding, bottles and all that comes with a newborn when she received an email informing her she had lost custody of her three-month-old son. Days later, child protection authorities took her child. With him, they took many of the milestones the 36-year-old first-time mother was looking forward to. “I’m going to miss those first words, the first rollover, everything,” she says.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Sarah Collard

Traditional owners in the NT have launched a scathing attack on the territory government, accusing it of “treating them like children” in a “tick-a-box” meeting on sacred site reforms. The Northern Territory government on Monday announced plans to amend the Sacred Sites Act to reduce the administrative burden on landholders and give developers confidence.