Latest news with #Creamer
West Australian
4 days ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Indigenous truth-telling efforts ‘not going away' as key figures call for inquiries after Yoorrook Commission bombshell
More than two centuries after colonisation, a truth-telling commission has delivered its verdict that systemic racism still shapes the lives of First Nations people in Victoria. The recently tabled Yoorrook for Transformation report is the result of a multi-year 'truth-telling' process, which found systemic discrimination across Victoria's policing, custodial, childcare and education systems. In the aftermath of the Report's release, key figures from around the country have spoken about the national appetite for authentic, authoritative First Nations voices at the heart of the truth-telling process, and what that process may eventually look like in each state and territory. What is Truth Telling? Truth-telling is the process by which historical and ongoing injustices committed against First Nations people are catalogued for public record, particularly in circumstances where those records have largely been left out of common discourse. Truth-telling in Australia typically involves the gathering of evidence through a Royal Commission or similar authoritative body. Queensland In Queensland, a 'Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry' was established with bipartisan support in 2023 after years of preparation. In May 2023, then-Opposition Leader David Crisafulli addressed Queensland Parliament to express his enthusiasm for the 'Path to Treaty Bill,' which would enact legislation for the creation of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry. 'Path to Treaty is a genuine opportunity for our state to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians,' Mr Crisafulli said. 'It is an opportunity I believe Queensland should embrace wholeheartedly.' Just five months later, in the wake of the failed Voice referendum, Mr Crisafulli changed his tune, claiming the pursuit of treaty and truth-telling would lead to 'more division and uncertainty' and promising the LNP government would repeal the Path to Treaty Act if elected. After the LNP won Queenslanders over in October 2024, Mr Crisafulli made good on his promise, undoing six years of careful preparation in less than a month in government. Waanyi and Kalkadoon man, barrister-at-law Joshua Creamer, was the Chair of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry at the time it was abandoned. 'There was a six-year consultation and engagement process that led to the inquiry. It was conducted in consultation with the community and government, and then the implementation of very specific legislation,' Mr Creamer said. 'We were up and running. We had started hearing evidence, we'd started accepting submissions. We heard evidence from Aboriginal witnesses and director-generals and the Commissioner of Police, and we had even produced our first report. 'There was certainly a lot happening at the time that we were abolished.' Mr Creamer said the LNP's decision came abruptly and took those working on the Inquiry almost completely by surprise. 'Certainly, those last three or four weeks were challenging but also surprising in terms of the lack of engagement and the level of contempt the Premier and the ministers showed towards the Inquiry,' he said. 'I still have not spoken to the Premier or the Minister about why those events occurred in the way they did. There was just a real disregard – not just for the inquiry but the six-year process that led to its establishment.' Despite this, Mr Creamer remains optimistic. 'Even towards the end of the Inquiry, I was really surprised by how many non-Indigenous organisations and institutions spoke up in support of the need for the truth-telling process,' he said. 'There will always continue to be a desire for this process to happen. It might just mean we'll be waiting for a change in government for that change to occur. 'The fact that Yoorrook has been successful now is a good demonstration of the importance of the process. It's not going to go away.' New South Wales In New South Wales, truth-telling has taken a back seat to make way for immediate treaty consultations. Three treaty commissioners were appointed in September 2024 by the Minns Government to undertake a year-long consultation process with First Nations communities across the state, to understand whether an appetite for a treaty exists and whether truth-telling will be incorporated into the process. At the time, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty David Harris said the appointment of the Commissioners was 'central to the process of listening to Aboriginal people on treaty and agreement-making'. 'We get better outcomes when we listen to the needs of Aboriginal people and communities. We must ensure Aboriginal people have a direct say on matters that affect them,' he said. NSW Legislative Council member Sue Higgins manages the state Greens' First Nations Justice and Heritage portfolio. She said 'all eyes have paid attention' to Yoorrook and how it established the blueprint for truth-telling in the states and territories. 'It arguably has been one of the best processes to date,' Ms Higgins said. 'The First Nations leadership around Yoorrook has been incredible, and the self-determined way in which the power of that process has operated has been very compelling.' Despite the successes witnessed in Victoria, Ms Higgins said NSW was 'incredibly slow' in getting any form of truth-telling or treaty process up and running. 'The Minns Labor Government came to power in 2023 on the promise they would start the treaty process in New South Wales, and when the Voice referendum failed … there was politicisation and backtracking,' she said. 'That was a frightening period in NSW history, and I think it must have been quite shocking for people.' Ms Higgins said the steps taken to appoint Treaty Commissioners were positive, but it was ultimately unclear – at least until consultations reach a conclusion – where truth-telling sits on the agenda. 'Where exactly a truth process sits within this is interesting, because the NSW government narrative doesn't really talk about truth-telling … for some that may be concerning, but obviously you can't predetermine an outcome,' she said. 'Where the truth-telling will sit at the end of this consultation is really still the open question.' The Territories The Northern Territory underwent a significant period of consultation between 2019 and 2023 to establish a path to treaty, part of which included a commitment to a truth-telling process. In early 2023, the NT government announced the Aboriginal Interpreter Service (AIS) would begin recording testimony for the purpose of truth-telling, and in 2024 the government began distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grants for the facilitation of truth-telling. In 2025, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) abandoned the path to treaty and, by proxy, truth-telling. The Australian Capital Territory does not currently have a formalised truth-telling process. South Australia, WA and Tasmania South Australia has legislated a First Nations Voice to Parliament, but no explicit mentions of a truth-telling process have yet been made. While there is no formal truth-telling process in WA, a joint project between First Nations communities and the WA Government known as the 'Wadjemup Project' was launched in 2020. The project uncovered the history of Aboriginal incarceration and forced childhood removal in WA. Tasmania has elected to undergo a process similar to NSW by appointing a body of 'truth-telling and healing commissioners,' which will undertake a similar process to the NSW commissioners but with a focus on truth-telling rather than treaty.
The Advertiser
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Distressed community still calling for truth-telling
Almost a year on from the disbanding a truth-telling and healing inquiry, its former chair still gets approached by community members upset about its abolition. Waanyi and Kalkadoon barrister Joshua Creamer said he was regularly approached by people - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - expressing disappoint the truth-telling process could not continue. "People are still distressed and upset about it," Mr Creamer told AAP. He delivered the keynote NAIDOC lecture at the University of Queensland on Wednesday night, posing the question "how do we embrace the future when we can't acknowledge our past". For Mr Creamer, this has been one of the enduring failures of Australian society - not listening to, acknowledging or learning from its own history. "I don't think we can move on without a solid foundation and that solid foundation comes from knowing who we are, what our history is," he said. In early July, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission released its final report featuring 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. Mr Creamer said Yoorrook was an example of how truth-telling could be done. "The only issue the (Queensland) premier raised in abolishing the inquiry is that it would be divisive," he said. "Victoria has proved very well that it hasn't been (divisive), in fact there has been a really important process of the Indigenous community down there coming together with the broader community." The federal government has backed away from Makarrata (truth-telling) at a national level, reallocating funds for the process to Closing the Gap measures. Instead, the government has said it is watching the progress of truth-telling across the states and territories. "It's been radio silence at the Commonwealth level, but I do understand that because up until 1967 the states were primarily responsible for Indigenous populations," Mr Creamer said. "States do have to take a leadership role on truth-telling but certainly ... states and the Commonwealth can play a role together in that process." Mr Creamer was inspired to lead Queensland's truth-telling process by the stories he heard as a barrister, working across some of the nation's landmark class actions, including stolen wages and Stolen Generations cases. It is these stories, so important to piecing together a full history of the nation, that Mr Creamer fears will be lost as those who experienced the policies and injustices of the past age. But when Australians were ready to listen, those stories were there to be told, Mr Creamer said. "The calls for truth-telling aren't going to go away," he said. "The history is there in the people who lived it and we do have a short time, I think, to hear those stories." Almost a year on from the disbanding a truth-telling and healing inquiry, its former chair still gets approached by community members upset about its abolition. Waanyi and Kalkadoon barrister Joshua Creamer said he was regularly approached by people - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - expressing disappoint the truth-telling process could not continue. "People are still distressed and upset about it," Mr Creamer told AAP. He delivered the keynote NAIDOC lecture at the University of Queensland on Wednesday night, posing the question "how do we embrace the future when we can't acknowledge our past". For Mr Creamer, this has been one of the enduring failures of Australian society - not listening to, acknowledging or learning from its own history. "I don't think we can move on without a solid foundation and that solid foundation comes from knowing who we are, what our history is," he said. In early July, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission released its final report featuring 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. Mr Creamer said Yoorrook was an example of how truth-telling could be done. "The only issue the (Queensland) premier raised in abolishing the inquiry is that it would be divisive," he said. "Victoria has proved very well that it hasn't been (divisive), in fact there has been a really important process of the Indigenous community down there coming together with the broader community." The federal government has backed away from Makarrata (truth-telling) at a national level, reallocating funds for the process to Closing the Gap measures. Instead, the government has said it is watching the progress of truth-telling across the states and territories. "It's been radio silence at the Commonwealth level, but I do understand that because up until 1967 the states were primarily responsible for Indigenous populations," Mr Creamer said. "States do have to take a leadership role on truth-telling but certainly ... states and the Commonwealth can play a role together in that process." Mr Creamer was inspired to lead Queensland's truth-telling process by the stories he heard as a barrister, working across some of the nation's landmark class actions, including stolen wages and Stolen Generations cases. It is these stories, so important to piecing together a full history of the nation, that Mr Creamer fears will be lost as those who experienced the policies and injustices of the past age. But when Australians were ready to listen, those stories were there to be told, Mr Creamer said. "The calls for truth-telling aren't going to go away," he said. "The history is there in the people who lived it and we do have a short time, I think, to hear those stories." Almost a year on from the disbanding a truth-telling and healing inquiry, its former chair still gets approached by community members upset about its abolition. Waanyi and Kalkadoon barrister Joshua Creamer said he was regularly approached by people - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - expressing disappoint the truth-telling process could not continue. "People are still distressed and upset about it," Mr Creamer told AAP. He delivered the keynote NAIDOC lecture at the University of Queensland on Wednesday night, posing the question "how do we embrace the future when we can't acknowledge our past". For Mr Creamer, this has been one of the enduring failures of Australian society - not listening to, acknowledging or learning from its own history. "I don't think we can move on without a solid foundation and that solid foundation comes from knowing who we are, what our history is," he said. In early July, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission released its final report featuring 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. Mr Creamer said Yoorrook was an example of how truth-telling could be done. "The only issue the (Queensland) premier raised in abolishing the inquiry is that it would be divisive," he said. "Victoria has proved very well that it hasn't been (divisive), in fact there has been a really important process of the Indigenous community down there coming together with the broader community." The federal government has backed away from Makarrata (truth-telling) at a national level, reallocating funds for the process to Closing the Gap measures. Instead, the government has said it is watching the progress of truth-telling across the states and territories. "It's been radio silence at the Commonwealth level, but I do understand that because up until 1967 the states were primarily responsible for Indigenous populations," Mr Creamer said. "States do have to take a leadership role on truth-telling but certainly ... states and the Commonwealth can play a role together in that process." Mr Creamer was inspired to lead Queensland's truth-telling process by the stories he heard as a barrister, working across some of the nation's landmark class actions, including stolen wages and Stolen Generations cases. It is these stories, so important to piecing together a full history of the nation, that Mr Creamer fears will be lost as those who experienced the policies and injustices of the past age. But when Australians were ready to listen, those stories were there to be told, Mr Creamer said. "The calls for truth-telling aren't going to go away," he said. "The history is there in the people who lived it and we do have a short time, I think, to hear those stories." Almost a year on from the disbanding a truth-telling and healing inquiry, its former chair still gets approached by community members upset about its abolition. Waanyi and Kalkadoon barrister Joshua Creamer said he was regularly approached by people - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - expressing disappoint the truth-telling process could not continue. "People are still distressed and upset about it," Mr Creamer told AAP. He delivered the keynote NAIDOC lecture at the University of Queensland on Wednesday night, posing the question "how do we embrace the future when we can't acknowledge our past". For Mr Creamer, this has been one of the enduring failures of Australian society - not listening to, acknowledging or learning from its own history. "I don't think we can move on without a solid foundation and that solid foundation comes from knowing who we are, what our history is," he said. In early July, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission released its final report featuring 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. Mr Creamer said Yoorrook was an example of how truth-telling could be done. "The only issue the (Queensland) premier raised in abolishing the inquiry is that it would be divisive," he said. "Victoria has proved very well that it hasn't been (divisive), in fact there has been a really important process of the Indigenous community down there coming together with the broader community." The federal government has backed away from Makarrata (truth-telling) at a national level, reallocating funds for the process to Closing the Gap measures. Instead, the government has said it is watching the progress of truth-telling across the states and territories. "It's been radio silence at the Commonwealth level, but I do understand that because up until 1967 the states were primarily responsible for Indigenous populations," Mr Creamer said. "States do have to take a leadership role on truth-telling but certainly ... states and the Commonwealth can play a role together in that process." Mr Creamer was inspired to lead Queensland's truth-telling process by the stories he heard as a barrister, working across some of the nation's landmark class actions, including stolen wages and Stolen Generations cases. It is these stories, so important to piecing together a full history of the nation, that Mr Creamer fears will be lost as those who experienced the policies and injustices of the past age. But when Australians were ready to listen, those stories were there to be told, Mr Creamer said. "The calls for truth-telling aren't going to go away," he said. "The history is there in the people who lived it and we do have a short time, I think, to hear those stories."
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Distressed community still calling for truth-telling
Almost a year on from the disbanding a truth-telling and healing inquiry, its former chair still gets approached by community members upset about its abolition. Waanyi and Kalkadoon barrister Joshua Creamer said he was regularly approached by people - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - expressing disappoint the truth-telling process could not continue. "People are still distressed and upset about it," Mr Creamer told AAP. He delivered the keynote NAIDOC lecture at the University of Queensland on Wednesday night, posing the question "how do we embrace the future when we can't acknowledge our past". For Mr Creamer, this has been one of the enduring failures of Australian society - not listening to, acknowledging or learning from its own history. "I don't think we can move on without a solid foundation and that solid foundation comes from knowing who we are, what our history is," he said. In early July, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission released its final report featuring 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. Mr Creamer said Yoorrook was an example of how truth-telling could be done. "The only issue the (Queensland) premier raised in abolishing the inquiry is that it would be divisive," he said. "Victoria has proved very well that it hasn't been (divisive), in fact there has been a really important process of the Indigenous community down there coming together with the broader community." The federal government has backed away from Makarrata (truth-telling) at a national level, reallocating funds for the process to Closing the Gap measures. Instead, the government has said it is watching the progress of truth-telling across the states and territories. "It's been radio silence at the Commonwealth level, but I do understand that because up until 1967 the states were primarily responsible for Indigenous populations," Mr Creamer said. "States do have to take a leadership role on truth-telling but certainly ... states and the Commonwealth can play a role together in that process." Mr Creamer was inspired to lead Queensland's truth-telling process by the stories he heard as a barrister, working across some of the nation's landmark class actions, including stolen wages and Stolen Generations cases. It is these stories, so important to piecing together a full history of the nation, that Mr Creamer fears will be lost as those who experienced the policies and injustices of the past age. But when Australians were ready to listen, those stories were there to be told, Mr Creamer said. "The calls for truth-telling aren't going to go away," he said. "The history is there in the people who lived it and we do have a short time, I think, to hear those stories."
NBC Sports
28-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
'It changed everything': 15 years later, Paula Creamer reflects on gritty U.S. Women's Open title
Paula Creamer planned to buy herself a Birkin handbag and to go skydiving with her father to celebrate her U.S. Women's Open victory at Oakmont Country Club. But it was life's simplest gifts that Creamer enjoyed when she returned to the storied venue 15 years after her win. 'Pure joy. Happiness,' Creamer, now 38, said she felt as she stood beside the 18th green at Oakmont for the first time in years. 'It's special to be back.' Last month, while Creamer made the 40-minute drive from the Pittsburgh airport to Oakmont, memories of her U.S. Women's Open victory and lone major title quickly returned. And as Creamer pulled into the parking lot, she felt the venue's greatness wash over her just like it had done all those years ago. 'The feeling is honestly like nothing you can describe, just because of all the history,' Creamer said. 'And the love of the game of golf.' In 2010, the charismatic player nicknamed, 'Pink Panther', was wearing her signature color as she strode with a smile up the final hole at Oakmont. Creamer was grinning on the 72nd hole on that championship Sunday because, for the first time that week, caddie Colin Cann told her she should take a look at the leaderboard. The 23-year-old stared at the scores and saw just one name in red figures. Creamer led by four, and she was now just feet away from major glory. 'When you practice when you're younger, you're like, I have a four-footer to win the U.S. Open. You say it in your head, over and over and over again. You practice. And then I literally had a 4-footer to win the U.S. Open,' Creamer said recently while standing next to the 18th green. 'It changed my life, this putt right here. It changed everything.' These days, Creamer is a mother and no longer competes full time on the LPGA. And though much has changed in the 10-time LPGA winner's life since her major victory, some things remain the same. As she returned to the 18th fairway and walked around the closing hole, Creamer wore not just a necklace with her daughter's name, but the same smile she had on that championship Sunday. 'I keep looking over there because I remember that's like where my family was,' Creamer said. She remembered her parents, Karen and Paul, looking on as their only child etched her name in history alongside the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan as major winners at Oakmont. 'I would not have been able to do what I did or have the career that I've had without them. They're everything,' Creamer said about her parents. 'And my dad and I have a very special relationship. He knows how to push me, but I need to be pushed. But he also knows how to comfort me when I need that.' One of those times was in early 2010. Creamer had undergone reconstructive surgery on her left thumb after feeling it pop during the tour's stop in Thailand. Creamer didn't know if she'd ever play golf again or if she'd ever reach the level she had once aspired to. 'He just sat there and was like, 'Paula, we'll figure it out,'' Creamer recalled her father telling her. ''One step at a time and we'll make it work.'' Creamer missed the cut the week before the U.S. Women's Open and arrived in Pennsylvania with extra time to prepare for just her fifth tournament appearance of the year. The Sunday before the championship began, Creamer hit the Oakmont range with her father, coach and caddie to find a swing that could get her through the week. 'I'll never forget, I'm on the left side of the driving range and literally shanking balls,' Creamer said. 'I'm looking at them like, What am I going to do? I'm about to play the hardest golf course in the world. And yet I can't even hit a 7-iron straight right now.' So, gearing up for golf's toughest test, Creamer's team told her to focus on shortening her swing. They set that game plan and wanted her to stick with it, no matter what. That was different from how Creamer had approached U.S. Women's Opens in the past, when she'd often deviate from her routine and strategy – and almost always paid the price. 'I learned from those years that when I came to Oakmont that you cannot change your plan. Mentally, you can't,' Creamer said. 'It's so hard mentally around this golf course that if you're trying to switch things around, it's going to make it even harder.' Creamer was three strokes off the early lead in 2010, but the challenge of Oakmont was further compounded as players had to contend with afternoon thunderstorms on Day 2 that suspended play. Creamer returned to the course to complete the second round early Saturday and took advantage of the softer conditions to climb into a share of the lead. By the end of the third round, she was three shots clear. On her way to the first tee on Sunday afternoon, Creamer shared a moment with her biggest supporter and motivator: her father. 'He looked at me and he's like, 'Bun, this is it – it's your time. This is you. You have been in all of these positions for this moment,'' Creamer recalled, her voice beginning to quiver. ''Go out there and show them the fighter you are inside.'' Creamer held a four-stroke lead at the turn, maintained a comfortable advantage down the stretch and left herself a closing par putt that she'd dreamed of making since she was a young girl. When it was over, Creamer bent over and covered her mouth in her hands, her left thumb and hand wrapped in tape to protect her surgically repaired left thumb. 'Thank you God, and thank you parents for the opportunity to be out here,' Creamer said during her acceptance speech. The toughness of Oakmont was no match for the toughness of Paula Creamer that week. The challenges she'd endured in the weeks and months leading up to the major championship had, as her father said, prepared her for that moment. Her gritty victory became a testament to her talent – and her resilience. 'It could be a perfect day out and it's still very, very, very hard and just always testing you,' Creamer said about conquering Oakmont. 'I couldn't have picked a better place to win a U.S. Open for me.' Paula Creamer revisits Oakmont Country Club, where she stood atop women's golf at the 2010 U.S. Women's Open after coming back from a thumb injury.
CNA
29-04-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Creamer named US assistant captain for Solheim Cup
U.S. Solheim Cup Captain Angela Stanford on Tuesday named major champion Paula Creamer as her second assistant captain for next year's Solheim Cup at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. The 38-year-old Creamer, a 10-times winner on the LPGA Tour, will join Stanford and fellow assistant captain Kristy McPherson in leading a group of the top 12 American female golfers against Europe in the biennial team event. Creamer, who won the 2010 U.S. Women's Open, played on her first Solheim Cup team as an LPGA Tour rookie in 2005 at age 19, then the youngest player in the event's history. She also represented the U.S. in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 and her seven foursomes wins and 8-1/2 foursomes points are the most for any American player. "Wearing the Red, White and Blue has been an important part of my career. I have pledged to Angela to do whatever she needs me to do to help her and the U.S. team represent the United States well and ultimately retain the Cup for another two years," Creamer said. Stanford and Creamer were Solheim Cup teammates five times but were never paired together. They also served as assistants under Stacy Lewis at last year's Solheim Cup. "Paula's passion for her country and the Solheim Cup are infectious," said Stanford. "I truly enjoyed being Paula's teammate when we played on Solheim Cups and when we worked as assistants together in Virginia last year. The United States reclaimed the Solheim Cup last September in Gainesville, Virginia to stop Europe from capturing the trophy for an unprecedented fourth consecutive time. The next Solheim Cup will be held September 11-13, 2026 when the U.S. will be seeking their first road win since 2015.
