Anzac Day boos spur RSL review as WA police sanctioned and Queensland creates mining-free reserve

RSL Australia will review its Welcome to Country guidelines after Indigenous elders were booed during Anzac Day services in several cities, an episode that has prompted swift condemnation and a renewed debate over respect and inclusion at national commemorations.

Jeers were heard for more than a minute as Uncle Ray Minniecon spoke at a Sydney service, with similar scenes reported in Melbourne and Perth. In Perth, a Whadjuk Noongar elder who was booed during the dawn service said she had a right to speak and would not back down.

In Townsville, which has a proud military history and is Australia’s largest garrison city, organisers did not include a Welcome to Country. Accountability in the justice system also sharpened into focus. Six WA Police officers have been sanctioned over their treatment of a man in custody who later died in prison, following reports that a constable dismissed his threat of suicide and laughed upon hearing news of his death.

Advocates say deaths in custody are on the rise, and families of a woman who died in a Perth prison argue more must be done to keep inmates safe. Separate calls are mounting for a “transparent” government review of WA’s Bandyup Women’s Prison after a second Aboriginal inmate died inside the facility.

In the Northern Territory, traditional owners in Alice Springs are speaking about unrest in the town following the suspected murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. And as the 80th anniversary approaches of the Pilbara walk-off that challenged a slave-like labour system, descendants fear the strike’s legacy is fading from public memory.

Environmental and heritage developments brought both protections and discoveries. Pilungah Reserve, south-west of Mount Isa, has become Queensland’s third special wildlife reserve, barring any future mining activity. Rangers conducting planned burns found an undocumented rock art site, adding to the cultural record.

Off Western Australia’s coast, authorities believe there may be a dozen more unmarked Aboriginal burial sites near where human remains were found on Rottnest Island earlier this month. Communities contending with high costs and basic services reported both support and strain.

Two remote Indigenous communities have secured a combined $11 million to address fuel security and cost-of-living pressures. Flood evacuees from remote Northern Territory communities say they are being “treated like prisoners” by security guards at their emergency accommodation.

In Papunya, residents say unsafe housing and scorching outback summers are killing their people; they are suing the Northern Territory government in an effort to force change. Cultural life remained a battleground and a source of strength.

Writers including Evelyn Araluen and Randa Abdel‑Fattah have left University of Queensland Press after the publisher axed an Indigenous children’s book over its illustrator’s past “anti‑Semitic” comments. A new series, Game. Set. Match., which begins as a rom‑com at the Australian Open, becomes a pointed examination of race relations.

Filmmaker Warwick Thornton, revisiting the story behind 2018’s Sweet Country, described falling in love with the possibilities of returning to that world. On the sporting front, a Canberra Indigenous‑led boxing camp is helping young fighters build skills inside and outside the ring, continuing a long First Nations tradition in the sport.

Yamatji veteran Graham Taylor reflected on the enduring brotherhood forged in Vietnam more than 50 years after he shipped out at 19. An emerging teenage artist is using her work to explore identity and experiences in the care system, while a renowned fighting family led by Ricky Morris is still asking why land owed generations ago remains out of reach.

Across these stories runs a common thread: calls from elders and community leaders for respect on Country and concrete reforms. The RSL’s review, policing sanctions and prison scrutiny are immediate tests of whether institutions will respond, as communities continue to protect heritage, navigate hardship and assert culture.