Thursday, 4 September 2025
Stories and events of the Kaurareg homeland of Kaiwalagal, the Torres Strait homeland and Cape York homelands of the Anggamuthi, Atambaya, Wuthathi, Yadhaykenu and Gudang Peoples.
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Next generation takes up the NAIDOC call The concentration on 11-year-old Paneta Utah’s face was plain for all to see as he took up his Bu to open the Island Stars dancers’ performance at the Waybeni Buway Ngurpay Mudh NAIDOC celebrations last Thursday.
Pic by Stefan Armbruster.
It was a full day of crowd-pleasing entertainment and culture provided by students and the Island Stars dance team – a testament to this year’s NAIDOC theme: The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy.
More pics on PAGE 8 N
“Stand with us”: Torres Strait to Pacific Island leaders BY STEFAN ARMBRUSTER Pacific Island leaders meeting in the Solomon Islands next week have been asked to hold Australia to account and demand ambitious 2035 emission reduction targets by senior Torres Strait elder and cultural advisor to the landmark Australian Climate Case Dr McRose Elu.
“I send love to our Pacific brother and sisters and to give them strength to hold our government accountable,” McRose told the Torres News. As a member of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Australia has a seat at the table with 17 island nations and territories at the peak regional political meeting every year.
In 2019 PIF leaders declared climate change as the number one existential threat to the region. McRose said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needed to be ambitious in setting new emission reduction targets and stop fossil fuel extraction, as some Pacific states have previously demanded.
Torres Strait Islanders have famously taken on climate change in international and national legal arenas. On 23 September 2022, the Torres Strait 8 made international legal history after the United Nations Human Rights Committee found the Australian Government was violating its human rights
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obligations to Torres Strait Islanders by failing to act on climate change. Earlier this year in the Australian Climate Case, Uncles Pabai and Kabai, along with their communities, sued the Australian government in the federal court for failure in its duty of care to protect Torres Strait Islanders, their environment
and their traditional way of life from climate impacts. In July, the judge said he accepted the evidence presented, but ruled the law did not apply to their claim. “We are here in these tiny islands, we have nowhere to go,” McRose said. Story continued PAGE 4 N