Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, while emphasizing the importance of dialogue with Pakistan, said that dialogue is easiest between Indian and Pakistani common citizens. He says that the language, mentality and culture are almost similar. We can understand each other completely. Their kebabs might be better than ours, but we can have a friendly competition ‘No, our kebabs are better than yours!’
Iyer also raised questions on India’s foreign policy. He said why have we suddenly become so close to America and so close to Israel? Why do we depend so much on Russia? If the tragedy of partition had not happened, the citizens of that country would have been citizens of our country. Still we talk about surgical strike against them. If you really have the courage, sit down and talk face to face. Why is our government not showing the courage for this continuous dialogue? He said that dialogue is necessary because in this process both the parties will put forth their grievances and understand the mistakes. He described it as a long process that could last for months, and would involve every aspect of history.
#WATCH | Jaipur, Rajasthan: Former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar says, “In this vast subcontinent, specifically the portion known today as India, there exists an overwhelming Hindu majority… But Muslims constitute the largest minority, about 20 crore… 5 crore people… pic.twitter.com/QCtUAoHdLr
Warning on Hindu Rashtra idea
Mani Shankar Aiyar also cautioned against the idea of Hindu Rashtra in the country. He said that the number of Hindus is more in this vast subcontinent, but Muslims are the largest minority, about 20 crores. Apart from this, there are 5 crore followers of other religions. If we build India’s national identity on the basis of Hindu Rashtra and consider Muslims as our enemies, then India will not be able to survive. We will be divided into at least 43 different states.
Video shows an Iranian woman recording a message to Americans, explaining the meaning behind ‘Allahu Akbar’ to deconstruct Islamophobic narratives of the term. Moments into the recording, a supposed US-Israeli strike caused an explosion behind her.
The Players Championship delayed opening its gates for Saturday’s third round after a manhunt for a suspect accused of fatally shooting two people in a drugstore parking lot that led police onto the grounds of TPC Sawgrass.
St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick said in a press conference early Saturday morning that authorities received multiple calls regarding shots fired in a Walgreens parking lot, roughly a mile from the course, at around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
Si Woo Kim drives off the 17th tee during the second round of The Players Championship golf tournament in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on March 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“Two individuals were shot multiple times. Both those individuals were, of course, transported and have succumbed to their injuries,” Hardwick said, describing the scene as a “domestic violence situation.”
Law enforcement pursued the suspect, identified as 32-year-old Christian Barrios, into the night and said the trail eventually led them to TPC Sawgrass.
“Our canine units actually tracked into TPC, which is, the PGA Tour headquarters is over there. It tracked in there.”
Hardwick said the suspect had contact with multiple individuals on the course, including groundskeepers and security. Barrios had also allegedly picked up a PGA Tour radio and later dropped it.
Law enforcement pursued the suspect, identified as 32-year-old Christian Barrios, into the night and said the trail eventually led them to TPC Sawgrass. (Nassau County Sheriff’s Office)
Barrios then stole a black BMW and fled. Nassau County authorities pursued the car and forced a crash into the woods where he took off on foot.
The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that Barrios was taken into custody just before 8 a.m. His exact charges were not immediately known, but Hardwick suggested he had a lengthy criminal history.
“This thug’s criminal history is embarrassing – embarrassing.”
The Players Championship cited “operational considerations” when announcing its delay in opening the gates. Tee times remained unchanged.
A general view of the 17th hole during the second round of The Players Championship at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on March 13, 2026.( Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
The victim’s identities were not immediately known. Hardwick said the suspect knew both victims.
The administration of President Donald Trump has warned that news outlets could have their broadcasting licences revoked over critical reporting on the war against Iran, accusing the media of “distortions”.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said in a social media post on Saturday that broadcasters must “operate in the public interest”, or else lose their licences.
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“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote.
The warning was the latest apparent threat from Carr, who has repeatedly attracted scrutiny for statements that appear to pressure broadcasters to conform with Trump priorities.
Last year, for instance, Carr called on the channel ABC and its distributors to “find ways to change conduct, to take action” on comedian Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show had been critical of the president.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said of Kimmel on a podcast. ABC temporarily suspended Kimmel’s show in the aftermath of those comments.
Carr’s latest statement prompted swift condemnation from politicians and free-speech advocates, who likened his remarks to censorship.
“This is a clear directive to provide positive war coverage or else licenses may not be renewed,” Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii wrote.
“This is worse than the comedian stuff, and by a lot. The stakes here are much higher. He’s not talking about late night shows, he’s talking about how a war is covered.”
Aaron Terr, the director of public advocacy at the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), likewise denounced Carr for seeking to silence negative war coverage.
“The First Amendment doesn’t allow the government to censor information about the war it’s waging,” Terr said.
Trump denounces war coverage
Carr’s latest statement came in response to a social media post from Trump, accusing the “fake news media” of reporting that US refuelling planes had been struck in an Iranian attack in Saudi Arabia.
“The base was hit a few days ago, but the planes were not ‘struck’ or ‘destroyed’,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Four of the five had virtually no damage, and are already back in service.”
He added that reporting to the contrary was intentionally misleading. “Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War,” he wrote.
The president and his allies have faced accusations that they use the power of the state to penalise dissent and critical news coverage, raising concerns about press freedom.
Polling shows that the war, launched by the US and Israel on February 28, is largely unpopular in the US.
A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 53 percent of voters oppose the military action against Iran, including 89 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independent voters.
The war has also been condemned by legal experts as a clear violation of international law, which prohibits unprovoked attacks.
Trump, however, has offered shifting rationales as to why he believes Iran posed an imminent threat to US security.
He has also asserted that the war is proceeding successfully, despite ongoing Iranian attacks on US forces across the region and the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade artery.
“We’ve won. Let me tell you, we’ve won,” he told a rally this week in Kentucky. “In the first hour, it was over.”
His administration, meanwhile, has blamed the news media for turning public opinion against the war.
“Yet some in this crew, in the press, just can’t stop,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a briefing on Friday.
A former Fox News host, Hegseth called for “patriotic” reporters to write more optimistic headlines instead. He denounced TV banners that read, for example, “Mideast war intensifies.”
“What should the banner read instead? How about ‘Iran increasingly desperate’? Because they are. They know it, and so do you, if it can be admitted,” Hegseth said.
He criticised the news outlet CNN, in particular, for a report asserting that the Trump administration had underestimated the chances of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth quipped that he hoped a prospective deal would soon place CNN under the control of David Ellison, son of close Trump ally and tech executive Larry Ellison.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” he added.
EU maintains pressure after slamming US for lifting sanctions on Russian oil exports as Middle East war bites.
The European Union has voted to renew sanctions against individuals and entities supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine, as Russian forces continued to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, killing five people in the Zaporizhia and Kyiv regions.
The EU Council announced that the bloc’s 27 member states had agreed on Saturday to extend sanctions targeting some 2,600 individuals and entities with measures like travel restrictions and asset freezes until September 15, breaking an earlier deadlock caused by Hungary and Slovakia’s opposition to the move.
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The extension of sanctions came one day after EU Council chief Antonio Costa slammed the United States for lifting sanctions on Russian oil exports, saying on X that weakening restrictions increased “Russian resources to wage the war of aggression against Ukraine”, with a knock-on impact on European security.
The measure was announced as Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing four people and injuring 15 in the Kyiv region surrounding the capital, according to regional military administrator Mykola Kalashnyk.
The city of Zaporizhzhia was also hit by Russian-guided bombs, killing one person and injuring three, said the governor of the southeastern region, Ivan Fedorov. Photos posted online showed parts of buildings reduced to rubble.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s main target was energy infrastructure outside the capital Kyiv, but that the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included about 430 drones and 68 missiles, most of which were downed by air defences.
Russia’s winter attacks on Ukraine have left swaths of major cities without power or heating, as Moscow’s troops continue their offensive amid demands Kyiv cede more territory in the east. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Saturday that consumers in six regions were without electricity.
Ukraine’s forces have targeted Russian strategic infrastructure such as oil refineries, depots and terminals in long-range strikes. On Saturday, Ukraine’s military said that it had struck the Afipsky oil refinery and Port Kavkaz in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.
Putin ‘exploiting’ Middle East distraction
Saturday’s fighting came as the Iran conflict has distracted international attention from a US-backed peace push in the four-year war, which Kyiv says Moscow has no interest in ending.
Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever called on Saturday for the EU to be mandated by its member states to negotiate with Russia as it became apparent amid spiking oil prices caused by the Iran war that the US was easing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Since we are not capable of threatening Putin by sending weapons to Ukraine, and we cannot choke him economically without the support of the United States, there is only one method left: making a deal,” he told the Belgian newspaper L’Echo.
EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas has said in the past that the bloc must first reach an agreement on what is expected from Russia before directly approaching Putin, formulating its own “maximalist demands”.
However, the bloc’s inability to reach a common position was highlighted during the EU Council’s recent deliberations on extending sanctions.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have been sparring with Ukraine over blocked Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, had earlier opposed the extension of the restrictions, reportedly calling for some Russian oligarchs to be removed from the list of offenders.
Reacting earlier this week to soaring oil prices caused by the war in Iran, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged the EU to suspend sanctions on Russian energy.
Posting on X, Zelenskyy said, “Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine.”
When porn sites began blocking Australians from access, it also meant X began age-checking users before they could look at adult content on the social media site.
But it asked some users to send a video selfie every time they wanted to look at a single picture or video.
“Almost every post on my alt account has a content warning and asks me [for a] selfie for age verification,” one Australian porn consumer, Joe*, told Guardian Australia. “It’s maddening.”
Others said they were moving away from sites that have verification.
“I’m honestly no longer engaging with any of the sites and platforms I used to use because not only is the verification process really invasive, but some of them even give you the option to sign in with Google … and that’s the last platform I’d trust with any sensitive data,” Jethro said.
“The choices are: link your perversions to your government ID, or submit your face into the AI slop machine,” Chris* said.
It’s still early days. Aside from several Aylo-owned sites like RedTube that have blocked Australians from access, and Pornhub – which now just displays safe-for-work content for Australians who visit without logging in – most of the top free adult sites Australians visit for porn have not implemented age verification.
According to search engine optimisation website Semrush, the porn site Thisvid appeared to be the only one in the Top 20 that had complied. But with the threat of a $49.5m fine for a breach, more may soon join, and Australians have noticed.
Searches for porn on Google trends this week were at their highest point since Covid-era lockdowns ended in 2022. Searches for virtual private networks – which allow users to bypass restrictions by appearing to be outside Australia – were at the highest level since the former Coalition government brought in laws to allow piracy websites to be blocked in 2015.
Sex workers had been warning for years that these codes – which were a longtime development between the eSafety commissioner and industry – may force them off the internet, and users on to less secure sites.
“We’ve already warned that these laws will funnel traffic away from platforms that do have moderation safeguards in place and towards sites that profit from non-consensual and stolen porn, including the unpaid work of sex workers,” Scarlet Alliance chief executive, Mish Pony, said.
“So driving people off mainstream services, such as Pornhub, does not stop porn consumption, it just pushes it into darker corners of the internet. It makes it harder to address real harms.”
Andy Conboi, an OnlyFans content creator based in Sydney, said he had already noticed a drop in engagement on his posts.
“People don’t really want to send a photo of themselves or their licence or whatever to these platforms, particularly Twitter [X],” he said.
“In the group chats I do have with creators, people are just frustrated and annoyed, their engagement is down [and] it’s much more difficult to put stuff out there and be seen a lot of the time.”
Conboi said some creators were moving to create safe-for-work content on sites like Instagram and TikTok in order to be seen instead, noting it was an odd outcome given the number of underage users on those platforms.
But for opponents of pornography, it is a long-awaited victory, after attempts at internet filtering failed under the Rudd-Gillard Labor government, and when the Coalition abandoned opt-out internet filtering plans shortly before the 2013 election.
The children’s eSafety commissioner policy at the time remained, and has since amassed increasing power over the internet in Australia in the decade the role has existed.
Collective Shout, a longtime campaigner against pornography, declared victory.
“This day was hard fought for. Collective Shout and our partners and allies worked hard to bring it to fruition,” Melinda Tankard Reist, movement director for Collective Shout, said.
“It is a relief to know proof-of-age protections are now in place as one obstacle in the way of young people being exposed to rape porn, torture porn, incest porn and extreme violence and degradation of women.”
The Australian Christian Lobby – one of the biggest proponents of internet filtering in the 18 years since Labor’s original proposal – also welcomed the news.
“The fact that P*rnhub have ceased operating in Australia is already proof of its effectiveness,” ACL chief executive, Michelle Pearse, said in an email response.
‘Honeytraps’ for identities and sexual interests
The effectiveness is hard to measure in parts of the world that have taken similar action. Researchers in the US examined Google Trends and other search data after certain states brought in age verification for porn sites. As with Australia, Pornhub blocked users and the searches went to other sites and VPNs over a three-month period.
“We saw very large substitution effects for search traffic for XVideos, which is the second largest porn website in the states,” he said. “It’s a sufficiently large change that the No 2 site is now the No 1 site in states that passed those laws,” report lead author, David Lang, a researcher at Stanford University in the political science department said.
VPN use was harder to track as people tend to find a VPN after a short search and then no longer appear in that state.
Digital Rights Watch head of policy Tom Sulston said workarounds to continue accessing porn were easy, but the bigger concern is about creating honeypots of information about people’s sexual preferences.
“It would be absolutely trivial for a criminal to set up porn sites as honeytraps to capture Australians’ identities and sexual interests; and then use that material for blackmail, similar to existing sextortion schemes,” Sulston said.
“Foreign intelligence services looking to trap Australian targets could easily do the same. The age-verification regime puts Australians at greater risk of harm, not less.”
The United States says that it has reopened its embassy in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas after a seven-year hiatus, as President Donald Trump deepens ties with the South American country’s new government.
The US embassy said in a social media post on Saturday that the flag over the embassy has been raised once again, in a ceremonial step that signals the resumption of diplomatic activities in Venezuela.
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“The morning of March 14, 2019, the American flag was lowered for the final time at US Embassy Caracas. This morning, on March 14, 2026, at the same time, my team and I raised the American flag—exactly seven years after it was lowered,” Charge d’Affaires Laura Dogu wrote in the post.
“A new era for US-Venezuela relations has begun. Onward with Venezuela.”
The US restored diplomatic ties earlier this month, and Dogu, the embassy’s most senior diplomat, added that the US was committed to “staying with Venezuela”.
The Trump administration has held up Venezuela as a model for regime change in other countries, including Iran, that have been in conflict with the US.
The renewed diplomatic ties come after the US launched a deadly military operation on January 3 on Venezuelan soil, culminating in the abduction of former President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
Since Maduro’s removal, the socialist leader’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has taken over as interim president, with Trump’s approval.
But the Trump administration has pressed Rodriguez’s government for multiple concessions, including access to the country’s vast oil reserves and other natural resources.
In response, Rodriguez has championed laws to open the country’s nationalised oil and mining sectors to foreign investment.
Her country has also transferred approximately 80 million barrels of oil into US hands, which have then been sold by the Trump administration.
Trump and his allies have framed such developments as the beginning of a new era of comity with Venezuela, after years of tension between Caracas and Washington.
But critics point to comments Trump has made threatening Rodriguez as evidence of potential coercion.
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, published on January 4.
In the lead-up to Maduro’s abduction, Trump and advisers like Stephen Miller had argued that Venezuelan oil was, in fact, US property, given the history of US oil exploration in the region and the 2007 push to expropriate property from US companies like ExxonMobil.
“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller wrote last December on social media. “Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property.”
Legal experts, however, say such statements represent an erasure of Venezuelan sovereignty. International law guarantees each country “permanent sovereignty” over its own natural resources.
But the Trump administration has openly talked about controlling Venezuela’s resources “indefinitely“.
“We’re going to run it, essentially,” Trump said of Venezuela in his speech on January 3.
The US has continued to exert substantial control over Venezuela’s oil sales, even blocking its fuel trade with Cuba.
Proceeds from US-led oil sales, meanwhile, are deposited in a US-controlled bank account, to be divided up between the two countries.
Rodriguez urged Trump on Friday to ease remaining US sanctions on Venezuela in order to open the door for improved economic conditions in the country.
Motörhead released a statement on social media, saying, “We cannot believe we’re saying this…it is with profound sadness that we have to say Philip Anthony Campbell has passed.”
The band described him as a musician who led with heart as much as talent.
“Phil was a wonderful guitarist, writer, performer, and musician who had Motörhead in his veins. He always led with his gift of guitar, and carried a great sense of humour, but most of all, Phil led with his heart. You could not be around him without a chuckle or twenty, because quite simply, Phil loved life and lived it with great joy,” the statement read.
Phil Campbell, Motörhead’s longtime guitarist, has died at age 64.(Chiaki Nozu/WireImage/Getty Images)
As fans and friends mourned his passing, the band asked for privacy for Campbell’s family. “There will be plenty of time for us to share stories — tales of Campbell glory — and some damn good jokes together; for now, please send love and positive energy to Gaynor and the boys while affording them time, space, and privacy,” they said.
The tribute concluded with a note of grief and admiration: “Much love and RIP Phil. The world has just lost an enormous beam of light, and we are devastated.”
An additional statement shared on the Instagram account of his band, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, penned, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved father, Philip Anthony Campbell, who passed away peacefully last night following a long and courageous battle in intensive care after a complex major operation.”
“Phil was a devoted husband, a wonderful father, and a proud and loving grandfather, known affectionately as ‘Bampi.’ He was deeply loved by all who knew him and will be missed immensely. His legacy, music and the memories he created with so many will live on forever.”
The statement concluded, “We kindly ask that our family’s privacy is respected during this incredibly difficult time.”
Born in Pontypridd, Wales, Campbell first made his mark in the late 1970s with the heavy metal band Persian Risk. But his career — and rock history — changed in 1984, when Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister called on him to replace guitarist Brian Robertson, according to Rolling Stone.
Phil Campbell of Motörhead performs at the Glastonbury Festival on June 26, 2015.(Tabatha Fireman/Redferns via Getty Images)
Campbell debuted on Motörhead’s 1986 album “Orgasmatron,” and quickly became the band’s longest-serving guitarist.
Over 31 years with the band, he recorded 16 studio albums and laid down some of the band’s most unforgettable riffs on tracks like “Deaf Forever,” “Eat the Rich” and “Born to Raise Hell.”
Even after Motörhead disbanded following Kilmister’s death in 2015, Campbell kept the music alive.
(L–R) Phil Campbell, Lemmy Kilmister and Mikkey Dee of Motörhead attend the 57th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles, California.(Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
He released his first solo album, “Old Lions Still Roar,” in 2019 and toured with his sons in Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons.
Former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee called Campbell “the funniest guy I have ever known and the best rock guitar player I have ever played with.”
Phil Campbell performs at Café de la Danse on Sept. 27, 2019, in Paris, France.(David Wolff – Patrick/Redferns/Getty Images)
Dee added on Instagram, “Most of all, I will miss hanging out with the nicest guy you could ever meet… Sleep well, my friend and rock soldier. Say hi to Lemmy, Würzel, Filthy and Eddie. I am sure you’ll be a crazy gang hanging out together again!”
Campbell’s death is the latest in a series of losses for Motörhead fans.
Guitarist “Fast Eddie” Clarke, who helped craft the band’s classic sound, died in 2018 at 67.
Clarke, who joined the band shortly after its founding in 1975 by Kilmister, was the last surviving member of the group’s classic lineup and helped record iconic hits like “Ace of Spades.”
Stephanie Giang-Paunon is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to stephanie.giang@fox.com and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon.
Recently a fire broke out suddenly late Saturday night. Due to the fire, both the halls of the farm, kitchen and tin shed along with all the other items were burnt to ashes. There is a possibility of fire due to short circuit. On receiving the information, ten vehicles of the fire department brought the fire under control after three and a half hours of hard work. The banquet owner has alleged that the fire brigade vehicles arrived about half an hour after giving the information.
A sudden fire broke out in Amani Farm at around 8.30 pm. Owners Sushil Jain and Ayush Jain informed the fire department. The owner alleges that two vehicles of the department arrived half an hour after the information. Initially the fire was on the front side, but within a short time the fire took a huge form and spread to the rear side also.
Both the halls, kitchen and tin shed of the farm were completely burnt due to the fire. The tin shed fell down due to fire. It was fortunate that there was neither any program nor any person present in the farm when the fire broke out, otherwise there could have been loss of life. The farm owner alleges that if the vehicle had arrived immediately after receiving the information, the damage caused by the fire could have been avoided to a great extent. A severe fire spread due to the use of cloth and synthetic curtains.
Explosions due to breaking of AC and glass, sound heard far away
After the fire in the farm, the AC installed in the hall exploded. Apart from this, the sound of explosions of glass breaking was also heard far in the night. Hearing the explosion, a large number of people reached Jhanjhadi village and nearby areas.
People also tried to control the fire through pipes inside the farm. But the fire could be controlled by 12.15.
Dial 112 team reached before the fire brigade
After receiving information about the fire, the police dial 112 vehicle and the Sadar police station team had reached before the fire brigade vehicle. The police team reached the spot and kept people away from the farm. After this, the fire brigade vehicles arrived and started trying to control the fire.
Sadar police station in-charge Tarsem said that the police had reached on time. Action will be taken on the basis of complaint. So far, short circuit has been found to be the cause of the fire. District Deputy Fire Officer Randeep says that the team left the fire office as soon as the information was received, it only took time to reach.
A Queensland government minister intervened to ensure a new theatre would not be named after Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, overriding the theatre’s board, according to documents obtained under right to information laws.
An email from a government adviser released to Guardian Australia reveals the arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, was “set on [the name] ‘Glasshouse Theatre’” in January 2025 but was waiting for “final sign-off from the premier”.
The minister formally signed off on the name on 3 February 2025 – before consultation with the board, the documents show, and months before opening it to a public vote in which Glasshouse was declared the winner.
Noonuccal’s oldest grandson, Raymond Walker, described the decision as “disrespectful” but said he wasn’t surprised. He said it felt like the state government did not want to name it after an Aboriginal woman.
“For it to be put up there [as a suggestion] and then not and then just ignored, I think that’s just terrible. That’s ignorance,” he said.
“If it was named that, then we would have had so much pride in that.”
Documents show that Oodgeroo was the name preferred by the board of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s board wanted the new theatre named after Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, pictured. Photograph: Imaging Services/National Portrait Gallery
In a March 2024 email seen by Guardian Australia, the board recommended seven names to the then Labor minister, Leeanne Enoch. But it said Oodgeroo’s name “stands out in our view”, describing her as “a profoundly influential storyteller and truth-teller”.
“Her legacy endures as a person who was a beacon of resilience and wisdom, with an unwavering commitment to justice and reconciliation,” the email said.
The Crisafulli government was elected in October 2024. In February 2025, the new arts minister, Langbroek, wrote to the Qpac board and suggested Glasshouse as a name.
The Qpac chief executive, Rachel Healy, emailed back to object to the name, arguing it would be confusing since several other venues in Australia also used the name Glasshouse.
She also wrote that the Qpac Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group had recommended naming it Oodgeroo, “as an inspirational national example of Queensland creative imagination and leadership”.
Oodgeroo, who was born Kath Ruska in Brisbane in 1920 and was later known as Kath Walker before reclaiming her Aboriginal name, died in 1993 and remains one of Australia’s best known and best-read poets. Her 1964 work, We Are Going, was the first published book of verse written by an Aboriginal person, and the first published book by an Aboriginal woman. She was also an activist for Aboriginal rights: in a celebrated story, prime minister Robert Menzies once offered her a sherry during the 1967 referendum campaign. She informed him he’d committed an offence; it was illegal to buy alcohol for an Aboriginal person in the state of Queensland.
Her name is used for poetry competitions, university rooms, scholarships and – a least until this week – the state electorate of Oodgeroo in the Redlands.
The former minister said that the decision to overrule Qpac’s preferred name “makes it clear that this was a captain’s call”.
The LNP asked for the Oodgeroo electorate to be renamed last year, in its submission taken up by the Queensland Redistribution Commission in draft plans released on Tuesday. The suggested replacement name is Cleveland, for the suburb it covers.
The LNP’s submission argued that electorate names should “remain intuitive and geographically grounded” because named electorates are confusing. But in the same submission, it suggested electorates named for Captain James Cook, Augustus Charles Gregory and Alfred Traeger should keep their names.
Langbroek said the government “put the decision [of the theatre’s name] in the hands of Queenslanders”.
“Queenslanders agree that Glasshouse Theatre is the best name for this iconic venue – with more than 42% of people voting for it in the public poll – which included four options for voting and allowed people to submit their own ideas too,” he said.
Oodgeroo was not listed as an option on the poll.
A Qpac spokesperson said the “Queensland government determined the choice of the name Glasshouse Theatre following a public vote”.
The chair of the Australian Society of Authors, Jennifer Mills, said she wished she were “more shocked” by the decision not to use Oodgeroo’s name.
“I think this decision looks to me like another instance of political interference in the arts, to downplay an Indigenous legacy that the community wanted to reflect,” she said. “I think it’s really insulting to that community.”
