Melbourne

Gerry Georgatos - http://thestringer.com.au/ - Lo and behold, Australian prison numbers are on the increase, record high – and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples now comprise nearly one in three of all prisoners. 30 per cent of the Australian prison population is made up of Aboriginal peoples, up from the much touted 26 per cent, the more than one in four of all prisoners. As a researcher in custodial systems and as a prison reform advocate I predicted the rise, accurately.

Brother Olly Pickett was building wheelchairs for children in a tiny workshop in Cambodia when he came across one of the youngest workers in the group. Brother Pickett told ABC journalist, Stephanie Dalzell, that the 15-year-old amputee was propped up on his knees, undeterred by the rough concrete floor he was kneeling on.

He was helping construct one of a dozen wheelchairs for children on the outskirts of the town who struggled to get to the local school each day.

Brother Pickett says at the end of his trip, the group decided to give the boy his own wheelchair.

Gerry Georgatos - courtesy of The Stringer - http://thestringer.com.au/ - Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 sought to journey Australia in a new direction - having condemned The White Australia Policy. Australia, dominated by a majorly conservative class and apothegms, was in effect trying to catch up with social movements around the world – such as with the United States of America’s Civil Rights Bill 1965, and the more liberal precepts of most of Europe.

Story by Gerry Georgatos, photo by Frank Violi - courtesy of The Stringer - http://thestringer.com.au/ This morning, Federal Parliament resumed sitting, the first time since the Federal election. The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and UNICEF Australia immediately called upon the House of Representatives and the Australian Senate to develop an anti-poverty plan.