Trump lives, Kirk dies and the internet goes into meltdown - plus other, more important things
Cheek's recap on the week that was.
Welcome to another edition of The Week with Cheek! I hope this email finds you seated comfortably with a cup of your favourite caffeinated beverage, because this week is a big one.
But first, a quick hello to our free subscribers! Today we’ve decided to give you a complimentary peek at the kind of content you could be getting every week via our paid tier. Enjoy!
If you spent any time on the internet on Thursday, you would know that conservative influencer and MAGA darling Charlie Kirk has been assassinated by a gunman while giving a speech at Utah Valley University. His death made global headlines and stoked fiery division online - a fact we know first hand thanks to the cesspit that became of the comments section on Cheek’s posts about the news. We’ve well and truly found ourselves on the wrong! side! of! the! internet!! Luckily, Cheek’s own Hannah Ferguson is the queen of nuance and has delicately unpacked the left’s complex feelings around the shooting of such a high profile gun rights activist - and it’s well worth a read.
At the same time, it’s important we don’t let this moment distract from some of the other major news events unfolding both at home and abroad. Local communities are still reeling after the racist rallies that dominated the national stage last week, while a national first treaty bill introduced in Victoria’s parliament on Tuesday offers a glimmer of hope for First Nations reconciliation. This week has also seen the latest escalation of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza City, with millions ordered to evacuate south into a ‘humanitarian’ zone encompassing only 3% of Gaza’s total land mass. It comes as any hopes for a ceasefire deal are thought to have been slashed by Israel’s assassination of five Hamas officials via a missile strike on the Doha location where the mediation was being facilitated.
As a final note this week, I leave you with a call for those who can to show up this Saturday (13th September) for the National Day of Action organised by Blak Caucus in coordination with grassroots First Nations groups across the country. The rallies are a direct response to the displays of racism and fascism witnessed on August 31st, and will be held in most capital cities and a number of regional locations too. You can find the time and location of your local action here.
Kalila Welch, editor of Cheek Media Co
Favourites from the Cheek office
Hannah’s pick: Overcompensating
This is one of the best new comedy shows I've seen. Season 1 tells the real story of creator and star Bennito Skinner's college life as a closeted former football player. It's a queer classic, a heartwarming and hilarious drama and it's just a great watch that I really needed this week. It is available on Prime Video (sorry I hate to promote exclusively subscription services, especially when they belong to Bezos, but I did steal my housemate's login for this one and encourage you all to do the same).
Kalila’s pick: Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
I realise I am very late to the party on this, but I have recently discovered the world of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. It’s mostly thanks to the verified account that has spent the last 18 months slowly uploading the show’s back catalogue to YouTube - yes, that means you can watch it for FREE.
For those unfamiliar, Bourdain (may he rest in peace) was an American celebrity chef and author who documented the culture, politics and humanity of less travelled places through their cuisine. He was an old school kind of guy, but tended to approach the subjects of his show with a genuine curiosity and open-mindedness that challenged Western misconceptions, and often sat at odds with the popular media narrative of the day. His episodes on Palestine and Iran are a great place to start.
What we read this week
A selection of reporting, analysis, and opinion to fuel your weekend reading.
Malak A Tantesh for The Guardian: Israel is forcing us to leave Gaza City. We know they may never let us return
Dechlan Brennan for National Indigenous Times: Analysis: Treaty is not division. It’s Australia’s long overdue reckoning with truth
Anthony Loewenstein for Deepcut News: Antisemitism has been weaponised by the Israeli supremacist agenda
Eva Corlett for The Guardian: Pacific Islands Forum: climate crisis tops agenda as China exclusion casts shadow over leaders meeting
Lubna Masarwa and Daniel Hilton for Middle East Eye: Doha strikes shred pretence of Israeli diplomacy and shock captives’ families
The good news is:
Say hello to our new section! You might remember that in last week’s edition of The Week with Cheek we polled subscribers on what new section you’d like to see in the newsletter moving forward- and well, the votes are in. More than half of you said you wanted a good news story (and we can’t blame you), so starting this week, that’s what you’ll get. This week, we’re looking at the Treaty legislation tabled in Victoria on Tuesday.
This week, Victoria became the first Australian state to formally table treaty legislation in parliament. It’s a big deal for a few reasons, so here’s what you need to know:
What is a treaty?
In an international law setting, the term treaty can be used to describe "an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law…”. The principles are much the same when it comes to treaties between First peoples and their colonial governments, with such agreements typically focused on acknowledging First Nations cultural rights and sovereignty.
Critically, Australia remains the only Commonwealth nation to have never signed a federal treaty with its Indigenous peoples, despite the efforts of generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders. Hence, treaty was named as one of three key pillars of reforms outlined in the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, alongside a truth-telling commission and a constitutionally enshrined representative mechanism of self-determination known as the Voice to Parliament. It’s the latter element that the Albanese Government failed to get up in a 2023 referendum.
Why now?
The Victorian treaty legislation is the culmination of nearly a decade of work and follows the 2018 establishment of the First People’s Assembly of Victoria to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in treaty discussions.
It was followed in 2022 with the passing of legislation that created a First Nations Treaty Authority to act as an independent body to oversee the the negotiations of the First People’s Assembly with the state government.
The negotiations commenced formally in late 2024, and have resulted in the tabling of the bill put forward this week.
What’s in the bill?
The 34-page treaty agreement covers a number of changes, including some that don’t require legislative change - such as a commitment to include truth-telling in the school curriculum through to year 10, the delivery of a formal apology to First Peoples, and an emphasis on the use of traditional place names.
At the crux of the bill, however, is the permanent establishment of the First People’s Assembly of Victoria under a new authority referred to in the legislation as Gellung Warl. If passed, the Assembly will have the power to advise the government on matters directly affecting First Peoples in Victoria - not unlike the proposed federal Voice to Parliament. There will also be a body called Nginma Ngainga Wara established with the Assembly to hold the government accountable to outcomes via hearings and inquiries, as well as a truth-telling and healing commission called Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna.
In addition, the Assembly will take on other wide-ranging responsibilities such as confirming Aboriginality, running the government’s Aboriginal community infrastructure program and organising important events like NAIDOC Week.
Why is this so significant?
The bill was introduced to Victorian parliament by the Labor Government and is expected to receive full upper house support from the Greens, the Animal Justice Party and Legalise Cannabis Australia. That means that it is expected to pass and be written into law, even without the support of the Coalition opposition.
This moment holds immense significance as the beginning of what the First People’s Assembly of Victoria co-chair Ngarra Murray described as “a new era” for First Peoples in the state. It also constitutes a huge milestone in the national process of reconciliation, creating a model for similar treaty-making processes in other state government jurisdictions. This is especially important, given the Albanese Government has remained reluctant to commit to action on the other elements of the Uluru Statement since the outcome of the 2023 referendum.
Our question to you:
Each week, Cheek puts up a new question for our subscribers to discuss in the chat. Our favourite answer will be shared in the following week’s newsletter edition.
Have your say by responding to the thread in Cheek’s subscriber chat.
LAST WEEK’S QUESTION
TOP ANSWER
From Tessa: “Trump is extremely online & present for a president. He is also old & in bad health, whenever he disappears there will be the spread of rumours that he is dead. What's interesting is that the obsession of a leaders health from the public is much more common in authoritarian governments than in democracies, even before the mass increase of misinformation online.”
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