Chips Mackinolty

"Chips" George John Blair Mackinolty (1954— ) is a graphic artist, activist and journalist. Born in Morwell, Victoria, he is a long-time Northern Territory resident. 

Mackinolty began producing art when he was 14, in 1969 (Watch This Space, 2018). Between 1974 and 1979, Mackinolty was a member of the Earthworks Poster Collective, a politicised movement operating out of the 'Tin Shed' Sydney University Art Workshop. With the dissolution of the collective in 1980, Mackinolty moved to Townsville, North Queensland, and then to the Northern Territory in 1981, where he worked as an advisor to Aboriginal art centres: first Mimi Aboriginal Arts & Crafts in Katherine from 1981-1985, and then Maruku Arts in Mutitjulu, near Uluru (Lim & Angel, 2011). 

He was associated with the Central Land Council from 1985-1990, working as a field officer and graphic designer. From 1990-2001 he worked in a multidisciplinary sphere with other Territorian creatives under the banner Green Ant Research Arts and Publishing.

In 1996, Mackinolty was approached by the CLP government to conduct a programme educating Aboriginal communities about the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995 (ROTI). He and his team conducted 21 meetings across the Territory between June and Ocober 1996, and estimated that 6% of the adult Aboriginal population participated. Startlingly, the community response to ROTI was overwhelmingly negative: of 900 participants, only 2 were said to have been in favour of voluntary euthanasia. Mackinolty submitted a written report to the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Inquiry into Euthanasia as Parliament prepared to vote on repealing the ROTI.

In his own words:

"I personally support my having access to euthanasia, but not in the Northern Territory. It is arguably the right legislation but certainly the wrong jurisdiction. My reasons for this are both simple and complex. Whether the legislation is good or bad for us, as whitefellas within our own cosmology, is immaterial. I believe the very existence of the legislation poses an unacceptable risk to the health of Aboriginal Territorians who may delay or refuse to access health care because of fears they have of the legislation. Those fears are deeply embedded in Aboriginal world views. Put simply, it has the potential to lead to premature deaths amongst a group of people whose life expectancy is already unacceptably low." (Mackinolty, 1997, p. 71).

Mackinolty advised the Northern Territory Labor Government from 2002 to 2009, then took up a position as a policy worker at the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT). In 2013 he left to travel Europe and the Middle East ("Chips Mackinolty", 2022). He currently resides in Darwin.

"Chips Mackinolty". (2021). Retrieved August 20, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chips_Mackinolty

Lim, E., & Angel, A. (November 29, 2011). Chips Mackinolty. https://www.cdu.edu.au/artcollection-gallery/looking-at-art/chips-mackinolty

Mackinolty, C. (1997). Euthanasia. Right legislation: Wrong jurisdiction? Alternative Law Journal 22(2): 68-71.

Watch This Space. (2018). From the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Centre: Street art from the Vucciria to Mparntwe. https://www.wts.org.au/chips-mackinolty-2018