‘No boy. These mob got no love in them.’ – Macow in The Kadaitcha Sung – A novel by Sam Watson Penguin Books (1990)
While universities remain focussed on ‘anti-semitism‘, they are refusing to acknowledge Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon. Meanwhile the state government has become obsessed with words and language. It has prohibited the use of 6 words about bodies of water ████████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).] Universities continue to adhere to the settler colonialist narrative. Notwithstanding, in 2020, campus names in Townsville (sic) were changed to mark the fact that JCU is built on stolen land never ceded: Townsville (Douglas) campus to Bebegu Yumba, Cairns (Smithfield) Nguma-bada, Cairns City Bada-jali, Mount Isa Murtupuni, Mackay Ngudya Yamba. [Pls Note: Generations of this editors family is from far-north Queensland].
So the state government has stepped in and stacked the board of the University to prevent a name change from James Cook University to an appropriate aboriginal name.
Meanwhile at UQ, the senate has ignored the state government’s attack on free speech and is still talking up the zionist narrative reflected in Lee Duffield’s report:
“Antisemitism. Similar protocols to GBV apply to new regulations patrolling antisemitism on campuses, set up following the October 2023 terrorist attack across Israel’s border (sic), commencement of the Israeli “counter-attack” against Gaza, and a wave of protests and occupations on campuses under the Palestinian flag. Also at the end of 2025 the federal government Antisemitism Education Taskforce was formed, headed by the businessman and University of NSW Chancellor David Gonski, and including the national Special Envoy on Antisemitism Jillian Segal, plus representatives of 13 peak bodies across the education system.
Not there to investigate the universities, its mandate is to “consider actions to help the Australian education system prevent, tackle and properly respond to antisemitism.” Problems exist with the definition employed, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, which comes with a set of “examples” that allow criticism of Israel or its government to be put in the “anti-semite” category. The universities have collectively approved a different definition, in terms much the same as IHRA but without the “examples”. It cites “discrimination, prejudice, harassment, exclusion, vilification, intimidation or violence that impedes Jews’ ability to participate as equals in educational, political, religious, cultural, economic or social life. It can manifest in a range of ways including negative, dehumanising, or stereotypical narratives about Jews. Further, it includes hate speech, epithets, caricatures, stereotypes, tropes, Holocaust denial, and antisemitic symbols. Targeting Jews based on their Jewish identities alone is discriminatory and antisemitic.” – Report from Lee Duffield, Member of UQ Senate elected by graduates of the university.
There will come a time when the University will no longer be able to stick its head into the sand. By then of course the University senate will have always been against the genocide.
In the evening the dry wind blows from the hills and across the plains
I close my eyes and I’m standing in a boat on the sea a-gain
And I’m holding that long turtle spear and I feel I’m close now
To where it must be and my island home is waiting for me
And my island home my island home my island home is waiting for me
– My Island Home, The Warumpi Band
Ian Curr
21 April 2026