Speaker 1: Podcast Unite our Voices.
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Speaker 2: Welcome to Yannier, the podcast that showcases First Nations stories
Speaker 2: and conversations to help us learn and unlearn Australia's history
Speaker 2: to work towards a better future. I'm your host, proud
Speaker 2: barber woman and founder of Black Waddel Coaching and Consulting,
Speaker 2: Caroline cow. We acknowledge the Rundery people and elders where
Speaker 2: this podcast is taped, but we also acknowledge the lands
Speaker 2: that you are listening in from today. It always was
Speaker 2: and always will be unseated Aboriginal and tourist Red Islander Land.
Speaker 2: Hey you mob, We just want to say a huge,
Speaker 2: heartfelt thank you for continuing to join us here at
Speaker 2: Yarning Up. You know, each and every fortnight we have
Speaker 2: the incredible privilege of sitting down and hearing from black
Speaker 2: fellows right across so called Australia. You know, we have beautiful, candid, heartfelt,
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Speaker 2: family stories. And to each and every guest who has
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Speaker 2: to yes, spread spread the joy and the love and
Speaker 2: these incredible Black people and Black stories. We're putting in
Speaker 2: a content warning for today's episode, You Mob. This episode
Speaker 2: is an important one. I had the privilege of sitting
Speaker 2: down with Commissioner Travis Lovett at the Yarook Justice Commission,
Speaker 2: which is the first formal truth telling process which is
Speaker 2: happening into the historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First
Speaker 2: Nations people. It's happening here in Victoria, and I just
Speaker 2: want you to consider, you know, how resource your feeling
Speaker 2: when you're listening to today's episode. It discusses sensitive topics
Speaker 2: that some people might find distressing, So, you know, don't
Speaker 2: be ashamed and asking for help. You Mob, one three
Speaker 2: yarn can be contacted our friends one three Yan. I
Speaker 2: have used them myself before. Their number is one three nine,
Speaker 2: two seven six and they're available twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1: All love you, Mob, Thanks for being here. I'm just
Speaker 1: so grateful to have here.
Speaker 3: Up.
Speaker 2: Mara Gundi Jamara Traditional owner Travis Love it sitting down
Speaker 2: with me today, So welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Yanni.
Speaker 4: Out deadlely and thanks for the opportunity to be on
Speaker 4: Yan and up. It's really great. And I've been able
Speaker 4: to listen into some of the other mob that you've
Speaker 4: had on the show as well, so you know, it's
Speaker 4: also a privilege for me to be able to come
Speaker 4: on here and be in the presence of black excellence
Speaker 4: as well. Two way here, we.
Speaker 2: Really like to start to get to know a bit
Speaker 2: more about you before we sort of start talking about
Speaker 2: this process.
Speaker 1: So can you tell us a little bit about you
Speaker 1: and your mob.
Speaker 4: Well as a customer people as well. And I know
Speaker 4: you've already done this, but I'll do it my way
Speaker 4: or old people's old people's way here, which is in language.
Speaker 4: So lula of my luck, good luck Lyny Travis Love,
Speaker 4: Kenamara Jamara meeting Lindyaan Cook on Canada, Jubin meeting what
Speaker 4: and ma meeting called in meeting Nia kabanju Wang. Don't
Speaker 4: book a bit of beaudity meeting that geng meeting nag
Speaker 4: me and more so, just acknowledged country and pay my
Speaker 4: respects to the Injuri people of the call and nation.
Speaker 4: I also pay my respects to Bundle the Spirit Creator
Speaker 4: and also Wa the Crow. It's really important that we
Speaker 4: also bring war in because that's the laws, customs and traditions,
Speaker 4: and we've got to adhere to those, particularly as visitors
Speaker 4: on their country. And I said, as well, as you
Speaker 4: introduced me as a proud good and Jamara and Karatmarra
Speaker 4: man so originally as what now known as Lake Conda
Speaker 4: is where my people stem from as well. So I'm
Speaker 4: really proud of my good Jamara connections and in particular
Speaker 4: being a proud karat Mara good Jamara Feller. But yeah,
Speaker 4: grew up in Fitzroy to start with. So I have
Speaker 4: the luxury of being one of twenty eight kids and
Speaker 4: I'll say that again twenty eight, So come from a
Speaker 4: massive family and I'm really proud of that, and really
Speaker 4: proud of all my brothers and sisters and their contributions
Speaker 4: to our existence and carrying on the family name as well.
Speaker 4: But yeah, grew up in Fitzroy to start within the
Speaker 4: high rise flats. So it's quite interesting that we're inquiring
Speaker 4: in the housing, but I grew up in housing Commission
Speaker 4: housing as many of the mob did then, particularly being
Speaker 4: relocated off missions and so forth, and moved away from country,
Speaker 4: and then we moved out to Preston. I grew up
Speaker 4: at a little bit later when I was about six
Speaker 4: or seven, moved out to Preston there and grew up
Speaker 4: out that way. So that was always really fond memories
Speaker 4: about being around family, but also community as well as
Speaker 4: every other mob. I think, you know, you grow up
Speaker 4: and there's always thousands of people around your house and
Speaker 4: so forth as well. So good times, good last but
Speaker 4: also challenging times around the struggles too for our people
Speaker 4: as well and the resistance, but also the fight the
Speaker 4: continual fight for advocacy around land rights and water rights
Speaker 4: and our people's human rights to be respected as well. Worked,
Speaker 4: I guess in so many of the Cury ollg so
Speaker 4: I've worked that's coming through before sort of moving into
Speaker 4: the Caury Courts where I was the manager of Career Courts,
Speaker 4: but started off as a career court officer there. So
Speaker 4: just working in I guess, in and out of community,
Speaker 4: but also in government to really learn the ways of
Speaker 4: government and how government work and operate as well. And
Speaker 4: also you know, I guess in more sort of contemporary
Speaker 4: times as well. She's talking like I'm a real old fellow,
Speaker 4: I'm only forty one, but also having you know, beauty
Speaker 4: about having two children, being married to my wife and nada,
Speaker 4: but also two beautiful children, my daughter Hunter who's ten,
Speaker 4: real strong care of Margot tomorrow woman coming through and
Speaker 4: she let everyone know that too, which is really deadly.
Speaker 4: And also my son who's a duke love At another
Speaker 4: real warrior coming through as well, you know, really proud
Speaker 4: of them, and also the work that they enable me
Speaker 4: to do. And I think family is really important. We
Speaker 4: tend to forget the ones that really back us in
Speaker 4: and enable us. You know a lot of people say
Speaker 4: Jiju everywhere, and yeah, I am everywhere. But it's also
Speaker 4: having the support of family and children who make their
Speaker 4: sacrifices to enable me to be able to be across
Speaker 4: the state, yarn and talk in the mob, you know,
Speaker 4: whether it be having cups of teas or whether it
Speaker 4: be information sessions or around tables all the hearings that
Speaker 4: I get a lot of public profile as well, so
Speaker 4: you know, it's really important that we always shout out
Speaker 4: family as well.
Speaker 2: Oh how beautiful, I mean it's so lovely to hear
Speaker 2: firstly just you to kick off this gun in language,
Speaker 2: and how special that is.
Speaker 1: It's not surprising, you know, you have.
Speaker 2: Worked so extensively in supporting the rights of mobs across
Speaker 2: cultural heritage in your working governments.
Speaker 1: But I guess also hearing your family life and where.
Speaker 2: You come from, and how all of these cumulative and
Speaker 2: lived and family and cultural and community experiences sort of
Speaker 2: led to you and shaped you to playing this role.
Speaker 2: I too, was also a kid of the Commission Housing.
Speaker 2: I also some time impresston at Stoke Street there, so
Speaker 2: I know that feeling of being surrounded by mob, but
Speaker 2: then also here seeing the struggle and I guess holding
Speaker 2: those multiple troops that we all hold as blackfellows.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and also I think it's important, you know, another
Speaker 4: reason why I speak in languages also to send messages
Speaker 4: to our old people who are no longer with us
Speaker 4: upstairs there. You know, I'm just saying, hey, we got you,
Speaker 4: we got you just down here, and yes there's a
Speaker 4: lot of traumatic things still happening to our people, but
Speaker 4: we've got user of sending your messages that you know,
Speaker 4: you continue fight, struggle, resistance and you'll tend to know that.
Speaker 4: I won't use the word resilience. I stop saying that
Speaker 4: I've had a few years back, because I feel that
Speaker 4: resilience for our people, we just get lumped in this
Speaker 4: resilient basket where things can just keep happening to us.
Speaker 4: So I don't use that word anymore. I use resistance
Speaker 4: as well, because I think it's really important. But yeah,
Speaker 4: sending their messages but also sending messages to community and
Speaker 4: our people as well. You know, it's really hard work
Speaker 4: to reclaim your language, and it's important that you know,
Speaker 4: we share that and that people can engage with it.
Speaker 4: We're all born with it. We're all born with it inside.
Speaker 4: At the right time, we just release it, and we've
Speaker 4: got to do a bit of work to release it.
Speaker 4: But still we're all born with it. And I think
Speaker 4: that's really important as well, and important that my children
Speaker 4: speak in language, which they do at home, but also
Speaker 4: at school as well. You know, when you see me
Speaker 4: talking in Langue, which my children are also doing it
Speaker 4: in school every day, which is absolutely fantastic and powerful
Speaker 4: for them. And also, you know, growing up away from country,
Speaker 4: it also helps further connect them to country. Their ancestors
Speaker 4: support part of identity.
Speaker 2: So right, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Want to talk about that.
Speaker 2: You know, your rook is the Wamba Wamber word for truth,
Speaker 2: and it's the first of its kind formal truth talent,
Speaker 2: and it was established I guess during the push for
Speaker 2: Treaty during the First People's Assembly. At the time, I
Speaker 2: was working at a Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission, and we
Speaker 2: really recognize that he had justice, truth and healing. They
Speaker 2: really have to go hand in hand, and so I'd
Speaker 2: really love to just sort of start there for people
Speaker 2: who aren't plugged in and aren't familiar with the work
Speaker 2: or the mandate I guess of what your rook is
Speaker 2: being set out to do.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you.
Speaker 2: Could tell us about the role and what the Commission's
Speaker 2: key objectives are through this truth telling process.
Speaker 4: You know, and it's really important as we've done, you know,
Speaker 4: acknowledging yourself the work you did, but also Annie Jill
Speaker 4: as well as our first Treaty Advancing Commissioner as well,
Speaker 4: and I know you did a power of work to
Speaker 4: support her. So recognizing your contributions to our people's continued
Speaker 4: achievements there as well. We are a formal truth telling Commission,
Speaker 4: and there's been a few of these set up around
Speaker 4: the world. But the point of difference for us is
Speaker 4: we actually have Royal Commission powers. And I think that's
Speaker 4: really important point is that when Yuruk was first set up,
Speaker 4: community were very strongly kind of wording that didn't really
Speaker 4: want a Royal Commission. We'd had plenty of them and
Speaker 4: they hadn't really done much for our people. So it
Speaker 4: was decided that we would have a truth taling Commission
Speaker 4: ultimately with Royal Commission powers. And the Royal Commission powers
Speaker 4: really give you power and authority to compel witnesses or
Speaker 4: to compel evidence should it be required from government, and
Speaker 4: that's a really important point of difference. But we are
Speaker 4: a truth telling Commission going around the state and investigating
Speaker 4: the ongoing systemic injustices since seventeen eighty eight Owen colonization
Speaker 4: really started and it has impacted our people. Our job
Speaker 4: is to also look at and establish the official public
Speaker 4: record of Victoria, and it's really important for people listening
Speaker 4: in whether they're mob or whether they're not. But we
Speaker 4: are not documenting aboriginal truths here. We are documenting the
Speaker 4: true history of Victoria. Our people have been saying this
Speaker 4: for two hundred plus years about the ongoing impacts and
Speaker 4: our fight struggle and resistance around government policy and what
Speaker 4: they've done and what they continue to do.
Speaker 1: This is not a.
Speaker 4: Historical matter that we're investigating. We investigating contemporary issues, which
Speaker 4: is pretty much up until today. So that's really important
Speaker 4: in the game to establish an official public record to
Speaker 4: document the true history of what has happened to our
Speaker 4: people since colonization. Our mob player significant part in documenting
Speaker 4: their truths and coming forward and we encourage always people
Speaker 4: to come forward and share their lived experience and their
Speaker 4: truths with us as the truth telling process. There's many
Speaker 4: different sort of facts to that around putting it on
Speaker 4: the public record what's happened. But also you mentioned a
Speaker 4: keyword earlier around on the pathway to healing, and it
Speaker 4: adds to healing around them being able to come and
Speaker 4: share their story knowing as well that our people are listening. Also,
Speaker 4: four out of the five commissioners who sit on this
Speaker 4: commissioner blackfellows or as mob. That's really important as well.
Speaker 4: And we do have a former Federal Court judge also
Speaker 4: who is a commissioner as well. But having mob leading
Speaker 4: this process and shaping this process as well, but really
Speaker 4: trying to not retraumatize people and that's what we work
Speaker 4: really hard to do. We also have social emotional wellbeing
Speaker 4: experts who work within our commission, but also counsel is
Speaker 4: available for people who also come and share their truths,
Speaker 4: alongside legal assistance to help them with any kind of
Speaker 4: legal matters aligned to them coming in submitting their lived
Speaker 4: experience and their truths as well. But we're also are
Speaker 4: encouraging non Aboriginal people to come forward and share their
Speaker 4: truths as well. And I'm not too sure a few viewers,
Speaker 4: but I'd like to direct them to our website to
Speaker 4: check out Susannah Henty evidence that was incredibly powerful for
Speaker 4: her to come forward and share her family story around
Speaker 4: their role in colination and the impacts that her family
Speaker 4: has had on the Good Jamara people in particular around
Speaker 4: you know in Portland all country really not just in Portland,
Speaker 4: but you know that's kind of you know, the main
Speaker 4: feature of land based where we name these things and
Speaker 4: from a colonial port of view, but Kilgar Country close
Speaker 4: to that being Kilgar a country if we're talking our
Speaker 4: mobs terms as well, is you know the massacre that
Speaker 4: happened there as well, which is, you know, absolutely terrible,
Speaker 4: and our people have been saying this for two hundred years,
Speaker 4: and it was just, you know, for the first time
Speaker 4: a non average person had come forward and shared at
Speaker 4: our commission, shared the history of what her family had
Speaker 4: done to our people.
Speaker 2: I mean, will be popping all of your website and
Speaker 2: videos in our show notes, but I must say that
Speaker 2: hearing from a direct descendant of a settler colonizer in
Speaker 2: that manner was really compelling.
Speaker 3: In sins of cornialism have not been his, they have
Speaker 3: not been redeemed. Marino Downs should be returned. I don't
Speaker 3: want to see a town called Handy. I don't want
Speaker 3: to see handy monuments. I was told by my high
Speaker 3: school teacher that we were pioneers. This is the rhetoric
Speaker 3: that is used. There have been five generations of Handy
Speaker 3: family members who have not said anything, and I don't
Speaker 3: want to be part of the sixth generation who doesn't
Speaker 3: see anything.
Speaker 5: The historical exclusion from basic health care continues to haunt
Speaker 5: Aboriginal communities, leaving jury marks on our health outcomes. Intergenerational
Speaker 5: wealth disparities further exacerbate the divide.
Speaker 4: How much of the eighty three billion dollar revenue has
Speaker 4: been distributed directly to First nations and the answer to
Speaker 4: that question, The answer is zero. Directly water corporations collect
Speaker 4: revenue and they don't report against that though nor are
Speaker 4: they required to, so the entwer is zero.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 6: Gippsland Anglicans lament that our colonial history includes atrocities committed
Speaker 6: against First peoples, and that some of those involved in
Speaker 6: these henous but no longer unspeakable acts are likely to
Speaker 6: have identified with the Church of England. The Anglican Church
Speaker 6: in Gippsland has been complicit in and has benefited from,
Speaker 6: the dispossession and other harms caused by Victoria's colonization, predicated
Speaker 6: in part on the theologically repugnant and now repudiated doctrine
Speaker 6: of discovery, and it's outworking in the morally bankrupt ideology
Speaker 6: of Terrannalius.
Speaker 7: I was born in nineteen sixty four, which meant that
Speaker 7: I was assured of a right to vote in adulthood,
Speaker 7: unlike Aboriginal adults, and that my life expectancy would be
Speaker 7: far greater than that of Aboriginal children of the same age,
Speaker 7: and that my pathway to an education was well lit
Speaker 7: and clear because I had good, secure housing and family connections,
Speaker 7: unlike that of many Aboriginal children of similar age.
Speaker 8: Yeah, so it's it's interesting to hear as becoming a
Speaker 8: care because it was never like that. It was kind
Speaker 8: of just like like looking after family, you know.
Speaker 9: But I was yeah, twenty one at the time where yeah,
Speaker 9: Tim Johnny needed me and needed a care in that
Speaker 9: chapter of her journey, and she was around thirteen years
Speaker 9: old with beautiful but challenging because of there was like
Speaker 9: these two contradicting ways of caring for our young ones,
Speaker 9: and I think like having that the pressure at times
Speaker 9: from the child protection system to be a quote definition
Speaker 9: of a kinship care versus me just naturally caring for
Speaker 9: her as her older cousin.
Speaker 2: For anyone who is listening, you know, we have a
Speaker 2: lot of overseas listeners. And as Commissioner love It has said,
Speaker 2: was established in twenty twenty one and the cultural holistic
Speaker 2: sort of healing element of this is really special for
Speaker 2: anyone who has had the privilege of sitting in that space.
Speaker 1: Whilst it has the mandate of a.
Speaker 2: Royal commission, it is really grounded in Aboriginal petty godgy
Speaker 2: and knowledge and wisdom and truths.
Speaker 1: As well in the space and surrounding it, to allow.
Speaker 2: People to participate and feel comfortable in doing so. And
Speaker 2: so with that in mind, you know, the objectives is,
Speaker 2: as you say, to establish a public record for first
Speaker 2: people's experiences, but also documenting an official document of the
Speaker 2: truth here in Victoria. According to Anta, truth taling processes
Speaker 2: have been used globally as transitional justice mechanisms in post
Speaker 2: conflict and colonized countries. Overall, a truth telling processor's aim
Speaker 2: is to essentially reconcile the relationship between survivors of state
Speaker 2: sponsored violence, the state and the general public and to
Speaker 2: facilitate a shared understanding that might promote healing. And this
Speaker 2: can hold accountable those who carried out the violence or
Speaker 2: oppression and challenge ongoing harmful practices. You know, there are
Speaker 2: many examples internationally with countries like South Africa and Canada
Speaker 2: and now more recently here in so called Australia. Something
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask around that is, you know, in
Speaker 2: Australia we have this really comfortable amnesia about ourselves. There's
Speaker 2: such a dissonance between what's happened in the last two
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty six years. It's almost like this dystopia
Speaker 2: that people have acquired land and power and resources and privilege,
Speaker 2: both financial means, social cachet, just.
Speaker 1: In a vacuum.
Speaker 2: And so you know, in Australia we have participated since
Speaker 2: the early nineties in a myriad of royal commissions from
Speaker 2: the Royal Death and Custody bring them Home. We've had
Speaker 2: a failed referendum here. What's different about this process and
Speaker 2: what makes us think that Australia is finally ready to
Speaker 2: I guess listen and accept that there are other truths
Speaker 2: here that we existed long before modern governments.
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, it's a really great question. I've been reflecting
Speaker 4: on this and pretty deeply, particularly since the referendum, and
Speaker 4: I mean even just hearing a lot of the evidence
Speaker 4: that we hear, you know, and you said earlier about
Speaker 4: you know this. Also part of the mandate is to
Speaker 4: develop a shared understanding as we document the true history,
Speaker 4: and a lot of people don't know of the role
Speaker 4: that massacres happened. We had our premier come in Victoria
Speaker 4: a couple of weeks ago and shared with us that
Speaker 4: she'd grown up on jajo around country pretty much most
Speaker 4: of her life and didn't know that not far from
Speaker 4: where she lived there was massacre sites. I think that,
Speaker 4: you know, really just trying to continually educate people, and
Speaker 4: I know that's a lot of heavy lifting that our
Speaker 4: people have done for two hundred years. We've been saying
Speaker 4: this stuff for a long period of time, so making
Speaker 4: sure that we, you know, really are sharing the truths,
Speaker 4: but also making sure that public are aware of what's happened.
Speaker 4: Then the Aboriginal Protection Bill was established, and a lot
Speaker 4: of people don't know that. So the Protection Board was
Speaker 4: established to protect us. So called protect us because we
Speaker 4: need to protecting from people who were massacring us. And
Speaker 4: then we will round it up onto churches and missions
Speaker 4: and further managed even further again, so this continual impounding
Speaker 4: of everyone else being able to generate wealth around us
Speaker 4: and be able to live and work and go about
Speaker 4: their everyday lives. Where we had to seek approval. We've
Speaker 4: had evidence before us where aunties have written to the
Speaker 4: minission manager to say that they've saved up enough money
Speaker 4: to buy property, to write to the mission manager to say, hey,
Speaker 4: will you allow us to leave the mission to be
Speaker 4: able to purchase the property. We've been made aware that
Speaker 4: this property is to say we have the funds, we
Speaker 4: don't need any extra support apart from you, to say
Speaker 4: that you release us from the mission. It absolutely breaks
Speaker 4: your heart to hear this. And this is not, you know,
Speaker 4: two hundred years ago. This is in the last fifty years.
Speaker 4: You know, sixty seven people didn't realize that we didn't
Speaker 4: have any voting rights as a people. But what does
Speaker 4: give me confidence is we do have the First People's
Speaker 4: Assembly of Victoria. And I've got to be really careful
Speaker 4: when I articulate this, because our people have been advocating
Speaker 4: really hard for the Bringing Them Home and Report recommendations
Speaker 4: and also the Royal Commission into Abigal dis and Custody recommendations.
Speaker 4: So what I'm about to say is definitely not to
Speaker 4: take away from the sheer fight, advocacy and resistance that
Speaker 4: our people and our organizations, our echoes are who have
Speaker 4: worked really hard to continue to maintain a strong voice
Speaker 4: to government about our expectations as a people and them
Speaker 4: adhering to those expectations. But I feel more confident that
Speaker 4: we have a First People's Assembly of Victoria, and also
Speaker 4: part of our mandate is to provide recommendations that go
Speaker 4: to the negotiations of treaty. So we make recommendations to
Speaker 4: the First People's Assembly and the Victorian government and hopefully
Speaker 4: they will pick these recommendations up and negotiate them through
Speaker 4: treaty as well. So what the point of difference here
Speaker 4: is we have a body that we've elected as mob
Speaker 4: for the first time that we've elected our people to
Speaker 4: represent us in those negotiations, and they will keep the
Speaker 4: pressure on government through the those negotiations that are yet
Speaker 4: to commence. So our recommendations that we put back to
Speaker 4: government and the Assembly can be implemented as well, and
Speaker 4: where they haven't been I guess been able to negotiate
Speaker 4: those through, we still have a body and a number
Speaker 4: of people that we have elected to continue to advocate
Speaker 4: for those recommendations to be implanted alongside to complement to
Speaker 4: not take over, but to complement our Aboriginal community controlled
Speaker 4: sector as well. So I think that that's something that
Speaker 4: you know, we can't really diminish because our people have
Speaker 4: fought really hard for those processes and we need to
Speaker 4: mobilize and capitalize on these processes that are available to
Speaker 4: us as well. So that's probably a point of difference. Again,
Speaker 4: just to reiterate, I don't want to take away from
Speaker 4: the years and years of struggle and fight, and we've
Speaker 4: lost and elders, and we're continually losing elders. We lost
Speaker 4: one even just last week. So just you know, we've
Speaker 4: got to keep that in our minds and keep that
Speaker 4: in our hearts around Hey, we got work to do.
Speaker 4: But also we're optimistic. Our people won't give up. We
Speaker 4: ain't go and nowhere, no matter what they've done to us.
Speaker 4: Our people are optimistic, We are passionate, We are committed
Speaker 4: to see this through, and we will make sure that
Speaker 4: our children and their children and six generations children will
Speaker 4: be able to start to inherit the wealth that they
Speaker 4: rightfully so deserve.
Speaker 1: Really really appreciate you sort of.
Speaker 2: Guiding us to that journey and reminding us sometimes of that.
Speaker 2: I think sometimes he as black fellows in a really
Speaker 2: violent colony, it can be quite defeating at times. And
Speaker 2: I think we've all been a little bit of a
Speaker 2: repair period right now, particularly heightened by what's happening around
Speaker 2: global movement and liberation of indigenous people against settler colonialism
Speaker 2: more broadly, And I think you're writing just reminding us
Speaker 2: that so many of our people have fought so hard
Speaker 2: in these reforms, and you know, not to mention the
Speaker 2: thousands upon thousands of black fellows who have generously and
Speaker 2: passionately shared their lived and families lived experiences for the
Speaker 2: betterment of this change. And we really can't lose sight
Speaker 2: of this really important opportunity. So thanks for that beautiful reminder.
Speaker 4: And I think as well, it's a really important point
Speaker 4: that you also put out there as well, is that
Speaker 4: everyone's truth is important, everyone's contribution is important, you know,
Speaker 4: and I think that that's something that you know, I
Speaker 4: draw up on all the time. You know, it's not
Speaker 4: only a draw inspiration from my family, but just you know,
Speaker 4: meeting with mob who come in and who share their truths.
Speaker 4: You know, it's inspiring, but it's also you know, it
Speaker 4: drives you to want to see change and to expect
Speaker 4: to see change, not just one we have expectations as
Speaker 4: a people, which is also why we want to continue
Speaker 4: the fight to fight and the referendum hurt. Don't get
Speaker 4: me wrong, I'm not trying to blow over and diminish
Speaker 4: that key part that really hurt. You know, Australia really
Speaker 4: told us as a people, you know, where we belong
Speaker 4: and where we sit. Again, not the first time they've
Speaker 4: done that, but again, so you know, we're dusting ourselves off,
Speaker 4: and we have dusted ourselves on, and we will show
Speaker 4: our children what we do best to which is advocate
Speaker 4: and activate our rights.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: It really did hurt, and many of us are still
Speaker 2: definitely grappling with where to next. And I know myself,
Speaker 2: I've been very much just diverting my interest into this
Speaker 2: process while still supporting community and our averageal organizations. But
Speaker 2: you know, I think there's just there's a real opportunity
Speaker 2: here for us to, as you say, even just to
Speaker 2: hear stories and gather this information and to have it
Speaker 2: for the first time archive, but you know, to really
Speaker 2: challenge the status quo about what existed and what continues
Speaker 2: to exist here.
Speaker 4: And also as well, I think one of the things
Speaker 4: that I'd like to highlight as well is that through
Speaker 4: the recent Land Injustice hearings, you know, we highlighted the
Speaker 4: billions and billions of dollars and how wealthy the state
Speaker 4: of Victoria is and how people have seen hardly a
Speaker 4: cent of that. In twenty one, twenty two financial year,
Speaker 4: it was over eight billion dollars in revenue generated from
Speaker 4: water alone. You know, since eighteen fifty one, two hundred
Speaker 4: and eighty six billion dollars has been extracted from the
Speaker 4: land from gold, and the mob have seen zero I'll
Speaker 4: repeat that, zero dollars from that wealth that's being created.
Speaker 4: You know. I mean, I can keep going on about
Speaker 4: statistics and stuff, you know, but at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, there was billions of dollars and there was
Speaker 4: also you know, forestry and grazing licenses and things where
Speaker 4: our people have been shut out of the system. But
Speaker 4: also when we'd asked the minister about why our people
Speaker 4: have been shut out of the system or didn't receive
Speaker 4: the benefits from a cultural rights point of view, and
Speaker 4: the minister said, and it's hard for these ministers too
Speaker 4: to come forward and be able to say some of
Speaker 4: the stuff that the decisions that were not even their
Speaker 4: decision at that point in time. But to reiterate, the
Speaker 4: minister set Aboriginal people, traditional owners did not meet the
Speaker 4: threshold because the threshold was set, so they could not
Speaker 4: meet the threshold. That's their words, not our people's words.
Speaker 4: So this is the importance of truth telling, truth sharing
Speaker 4: and we encourage you know, people to come forward, but
Speaker 4: also we want to encourage all people to listen in
Speaker 4: our people particularly but also non Aboriginal people, whether in
Speaker 4: Australia or across the world. You know, we are questioning
Speaker 4: you know, the people like the Premier and the Deputy
Speaker 4: Premier and all ministers responsible for their portfolios that oversee
Speaker 4: policies against our people, which is every minister who is
Speaker 4: in government at that particular point in time. There's so
Speaker 4: much wealth. We live in a wealthy state and our people,
Speaker 4: you know, through no fault of their own, have fought
Speaker 4: really hard for native title, traditional owner settlement agreement, the
Speaker 4: registered Abriiginal party status. But also you know, our echos,
Speaker 4: our organizations, you know, they have continually told us that
Speaker 4: they are so under resourced that they are expected to
Speaker 4: provide holistic services to help you know, people and families,
Speaker 4: but they're only funded for one kind of micro point
Speaker 4: and then they're also overburdened. We heard for one traditional
Speaker 4: owner group where they had fifty one contracts with the
Speaker 4: same department funding contracts with the same department. How can
Speaker 4: they not you know, in twenty twenty four be streamlining
Speaker 4: these funding agreements, so it reduces the reporting burden. And
Speaker 4: some of these organizations have fifteen to twenty people, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, how's how's fifteen to twenty people are going
Speaker 4: to be able to keep up with fifty contracts. So anyway,
Speaker 4: just these things are really important. But this is this
Speaker 4: is what our people are grappling with every day, and
Speaker 4: the misconception of that our people don't do right or
Speaker 4: can't do right. I mean, you know, with what our
Speaker 4: people have had to endure and continually enduring, it's you know,
Speaker 4: just incredibly inspiring for us to be able to keep
Speaker 4: the momentum up as well.
Speaker 2: Will be backhumb right after this short break.
Speaker 1: At the moment where we are in this time.
Speaker 2: You know, I understand that to date there's been five
Speaker 2: key areas the Commission. I've been really particularly interested in
Speaker 2: the tile protection system. The criminal justice system went first,
Speaker 2: that resulted in an interim report, and then there's been
Speaker 2: Elders truths work on health and land water skies in justices.
Speaker 1: You mentioned before about a couple of people.
Speaker 2: So the Premier, just Into Allen was the first premier
Speaker 2: to take the YURUK Commission to take up I guess
Speaker 2: providing evidence Katherine Henty, You know, on a personal level,
Speaker 2: have there been people's testimonies in the formal hearing process
Speaker 2: and through all the other mechanisms, so as I understand,
Speaker 2: people are providing evidence through written submissions, through yarning circles,
Speaker 2: through round tables, and through the formal hearing process. You know,
Speaker 2: on a personal note, are there any particular pieces of evidence,
Speaker 2: like you've just mentioned that you really have stayed with
Speaker 2: you and have had an impact on you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's plenty. I mean, I was fortunate enough to
Speaker 4: witness a group of mob who shared their truths through dance,
Speaker 4: didn't need to speak, but just share their truth through dance.
Speaker 4: And that's just resistance of being able to practice culture.
Speaker 4: And I think it just brings me back to and
Speaker 4: just reminding people that we were forbidden, forbidden to speak language,
Speaker 4: to practice culture, and your rations, irrations would be cut
Speaker 4: if you were court. And I really like to overstate
Speaker 4: the point because rations mean very little to start with,
Speaker 4: and then if you are further on, rations from being
Speaker 4: able to practice your culture or your court just highlights
Speaker 4: the inhumane circumstances that our people have had to live
Speaker 4: through for generations, you know, being able to court to
Speaker 4: be able to do that so come forward and sharing
Speaker 4: their truths through dance and being able to practice language
Speaker 4: as well. We've had some fluent language speakers come forward
Speaker 4: as well. We'll work really hard to reclaim the language,
Speaker 4: but a lot of it is personal. You can't learn
Speaker 4: this in schools and so forth. Susannah Henty's evidence as well,
Speaker 4: which you know that was unique in the sense because
Speaker 4: not only was the first time it happened, but also
Speaker 4: was a proud gun Najamara man whose ancestors were impacted
Speaker 4: by her ancestors. And continually to the day, you know,
Speaker 4: the continued show of and display of the monument dedicated
Speaker 4: to the Anti family throughout my ancestors the country. It's
Speaker 4: a continual and a visual reminder to today about the
Speaker 4: lack of recognition of our people as well, even though
Speaker 4: we fought really hard for UNISESCO World Heritage listing, which
Speaker 4: the mob really got and yes there was support from
Speaker 4: government and some key stakeholders there, but that's on the
Speaker 4: back of our people and our ancestors vision and we
Speaker 4: can't lose sight of that. Because our ancestors had a
Speaker 4: vision around sustainability to be able to teach us that
Speaker 4: ill farming technique, that oldest living aquaculture system in the world.
Speaker 4: So they had a deep vision that that just was
Speaker 4: something special. But being able to kick off landing Justice
Speaker 4: hearings on My Ancestors Country as well or given the
Speaker 4: first vote there. The Thistle was the name of the
Speaker 4: boat that the Hinties were on, and being able to
Speaker 4: kick off yeah, that on on My Ancestors Country was
Speaker 4: certainly something that will stick with me for the rest
Speaker 4: of my life. But as I said before, just you know,
Speaker 4: every day Triz the people, you think you've heard it all,
Speaker 4: and then someone will come out and you're just like
Speaker 4: wow or like or you'll get that is this still happening?
Speaker 4: How is this still happen? It also reinforces your point about,
Speaker 4: you know, being connected to culture, country and community and
Speaker 4: what sort of fills the cup up on a continual
Speaker 4: basis is engaging my own ceremonies that have been passed
Speaker 4: down to me through my father and his father and
Speaker 4: so forth as well. So some men ceremony of the stuff there,
Speaker 4: but also smoking ceremonies, being around mob. You know, as
Speaker 4: soon as you're walking a room with the mob and stuff,
Speaker 4: you just smile and I'll have a best laugh, and
Speaker 4: you might be about to talk about sort of traumatic stuff,
Speaker 4: but then you just have the best laugh, and then
Speaker 4: you get through the business, and then you hang back
Speaker 4: after for that extra cup of tea, that extra caffeine hit,
Speaker 4: and you do the business and then you you just
Speaker 4: have a good laugh and you hear from them and
Speaker 4: be with them about you know, how they are. I
Speaker 4: remember one particular elder recently who was really unsure, you know,
Speaker 4: for six months he was un and ran about coming
Speaker 4: forward to you look and share it his truth. And
Speaker 4: uncle came in and he was quite itchy and irritated,
Speaker 4: like just in the body because he had a lot
Speaker 4: of built up drama that he just needed to get
Speaker 4: off his chest. And I sit with that uncle for
Speaker 4: six hours. I sat with that uncle. Bless him. I'll
Speaker 4: never forget him as well, but six hours. But why
Speaker 4: highlight his journey is that after that six hours, I
Speaker 4: saw it about five hours into the session. It was
Speaker 4: over a couple of days, but into the second session
Speaker 4: the itching stopped. That's the kind of stuff that drives you,
Speaker 4: that motivates you, and also as well, I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: drawing on my skills from working in government. That was
Speaker 4: one of the things while I went to working government
Speaker 4: to learn their ways, to understand how they see the world,
Speaker 4: understand how they see our people, but understand how their
Speaker 4: systems work. You know, we need our strong advocates on
Speaker 4: the outside really fighting really hard for change, but we
Speaker 4: also need deadly strong, black talented people who can not
Speaker 4: only survive working in government, but also thrive, and they
Speaker 4: need investment. They need to be able to pathways for
Speaker 4: their healing as well so they can ultimately thrive as well.
Speaker 4: Another point of view there as well, is just making
Speaker 4: sure they're investing in our women as well. They get
Speaker 4: forgotten about. You know. I do hear a lot in
Speaker 4: the media and so forth about women's rights and stuff.
Speaker 4: I'm a very big supporter of that. But then when
Speaker 4: I look at our women and our women are at
Speaker 4: the bottom of the bottom, and it's just not right.
Speaker 4: And now women have human rights and ow women also
Speaker 4: have cultural rights as well, it breaks my heart. You know,
Speaker 4: it absolutely breaks my heart to see where our women
Speaker 4: are at and how you know, men are treating them,
Speaker 4: you know, and the you know, the constant threat of
Speaker 4: family violence against our women as well, just you know,
Speaker 4: really breaks my heart and it's something that I'm really
Speaker 4: passionate about as well. I've been pretty outspoken on this subject,
Speaker 4: and I'll continue to be outspoken as well, not for
Speaker 4: myself to make it about myself, but to make sure
Speaker 4: that the voices and our women are being respected, heard, appreciated,
Speaker 4: and ultimately valued.
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing some of those experiences, which I
Speaker 2: imagine you're probably still in this will be in this
Speaker 2: state of processing a lot of these over becoming months
Speaker 2: and years to come.
Speaker 4: That's exactly right, you know, And I think it's something
Speaker 4: that you know, it's a societal issue and a men's issue.
Speaker 4: You know, this is a bloke's issue. It's not a
Speaker 4: women's issue, you know. And I'm not trying to take
Speaker 4: away and disempower women's voice around this subject. I've been
Speaker 4: advocating for a long time, you know, and as time
Speaker 4: us men step up and start working with other men
Speaker 4: and calling things out and so forth as well, I
Speaker 4: think it's really important and they'll only be further exacerbated
Speaker 4: by we're about to start. Sorry, we already have started
Speaker 4: our Housing, Education, Health and Economic Prosperity hearings where we've
Speaker 4: encouraged community members to come forward and share their trues,
Speaker 4: and we're holding hearings, so I encourage people to engage
Speaker 4: in those hearings as well. We also have relevance seeing
Speaker 4: your bureaucrats and also government is responsible for those portfolios
Speaker 4: before us in the next couple of weeks as well,
Speaker 4: and we will also be focusing on women but also
Speaker 4: our family violence as well.
Speaker 1: I want to circle a little bit back to the
Speaker 1: process if I can.
Speaker 2: You've got twelve months between now June twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: to twenty twenty five where the final report will be submitted,
Speaker 2: and I want to talk a little bit around the process,
Speaker 2: where we are and what's happened. So hearings have been
Speaker 2: happening for the last twelve months to almost twelve months.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and your Rook has delivered an interim.
Speaker 2: Report in June twenty twenty two, and then in August
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three. In the myriad of stuff that was
Speaker 2: happening with the referendum, you Rook Commission delivered a critical
Speaker 2: Issues Report and in that report contained forty six key
Speaker 2: preliminary recommendations and a lot of what has come through.
Speaker 2: It talks to what we as black fellows inherently know,
Speaker 2: which she said Australia is a racist colony which has
Speaker 2: been built on racism, and that we think about systems
Speaker 2: and policies as these kind of mythical things, but they're
Speaker 2: really public policy decisions that have been built and based
Speaker 2: and the decisions have been made because of its proximity
Speaker 2: to race and power and privilege, and so that the
Speaker 2: report was quite groundbreaking. And to date we've heard from
Speaker 2: the Victorian government and they have supported four of the
Speaker 2: forty six recommendations in full and twenty four in principle,
Speaker 2: and I think fifteen or so are being considered, and
Speaker 2: I believe, if my mass is right, three were not
Speaker 2: considered entirely. I want to ask your thoughts on the
Speaker 2: government's responses in principle so far. What's quite interesting is
Speaker 2: there's been lots of evidence that's been provided by ministers.
Speaker 2: One of the most memorable ones for me was Minister
Speaker 2: Atalie Hutchins, who is responsible for leading the treaty process
Speaker 2: in Victorian and kind of quoting the Productivity Commissions report
Speaker 2: around this inerting government and that there's this good will
Speaker 2: that government just doesn't understand self determinator, it doesn't understand racism,
Speaker 2: and so I want to ask you what are your
Speaker 2: thoughts on the government's responses so far and does that
Speaker 2: give you confidence that this government is ready to really
Speaker 2: walk the talk.
Speaker 4: I'm always really clear, I always speak truth you look,
Speaker 4: and I have an expectation that all those recommendations to
Speaker 4: be implemented, and I'll continue to tell government that in
Speaker 4: every public forum that I get the opportunity to do that.
Speaker 4: As you said, this is hundreds and hundreds of people
Speaker 4: coming forward and sharing their true is This is not
Speaker 4: anecdotal evidence of we just felt like putting these recommendations forward.
Speaker 4: So first and foremost, I want to make that point
Speaker 4: really clear to people listening in and hopefully some victure
Speaker 4: and government people are listening in as well. But yeah,
Speaker 4: that I have an expectation. The commissioners have an expectation
Speaker 4: the five of us that we back in those recommendations,
Speaker 4: all forty six of them as well. So I think
Speaker 4: that's something that will continue to advocate for. But yes,
Speaker 4: it is pretty underwhelming. It is very underwhelming as a
Speaker 4: proud Gunjamarafala to hear government come forward and say that
Speaker 4: they've knocked out three of the recommendations and I kind
Speaker 4: of put all the rest into still under consideration because
Speaker 4: we haven't got clarity. I mean, when you get clarity
Speaker 4: is when we fully endorse or we fully back in.
Speaker 4: I either four. But us as a commissioner, we still
Speaker 4: have expectations and will continue to be asking the tough
Speaker 4: questions of government when they're on the stand. One thing
Speaker 4: I do really want to reiterate to people listening in
Speaker 4: that we will be holding accountability hearings later this year.
Speaker 4: Not many people know about that, but we will be
Speaker 4: holding accountability hearings where we'll be calling relevant ministers and
Speaker 4: potentially the Chief Commissioner of Police back to answer questions
Speaker 4: relating to you. Look for Justice report which made those
Speaker 4: forty six recommendations well around where they're at on the
Speaker 4: implementation progress and also what they're doing about making sure
Speaker 4: that they are working alongside the Assembly to implement the recommendations.
Speaker 4: And that's why we have the Assembly. It goes to
Speaker 4: my earlier point around we have an elected body who
Speaker 4: are also back in and endorsed pretty publicly. They came
Speaker 4: much strongly to back in our report. So while we
Speaker 4: are about to start negotiations of treaty with no doubt what.
Speaker 4: I am confident that those forty six recommendations, alongside the
Speaker 4: future recommendations that we will provide in the rest of
Speaker 4: the inquiry that will cover land, skies and waters, health, housing, education,
Speaker 4: and economic prosperity as well. You know, it is underwhelming,
Speaker 4: but I also want to encourage people still to come
Speaker 4: forward and share their truth. It's not wasted again. We
Speaker 4: are documenting the true history of Victoria. We're documenting and
Speaker 4: articulating the official public record to develop a shared understanding
Speaker 4: for people. This is not anecdotal we just cook these
Speaker 4: up overnight. This is hundreds and hundreds of people coming
Speaker 4: forward and sharing their truth. This is us going into prisons,
Speaker 4: you know, throughout the state, talking to prisoners, getting lived
Speaker 4: experience and understanding. A lot of the evidence not only
Speaker 4: just comes from community, it comes from government. It comes
Speaker 4: from the policies and procedures they adhere to. People created
Speaker 4: the system. The system did not create itself. So people
Speaker 4: create these systems and people can change these systems. And
Speaker 4: one of the things we've noticed is it's really hard
Speaker 4: to change legislation. But at the same time they've always
Speaker 4: changed legislation to make sure that we are continually shut
Speaker 4: out of the system, and that we are judged and
Speaker 4: that we are misrepresented in many different facets. Again, the
Speaker 4: changes to bail and they knew negatively that that would
Speaker 4: have an disproportionate impact on our people, and yet they
Speaker 4: still pushed that through. So, you know, this is really
Speaker 4: important raise the age. We have an expectation that that
Speaker 4: gets sorted straight away, not a transitional pathway model. We
Speaker 4: have the evidence backed up.
Speaker 2: To hear say that, because like, yeah, you're right, it
Speaker 2: comes down to this good will. But then also yeah,
Speaker 2: the pace that things need to change and government's ability
Speaker 2: to accept that these things need to be Some things
Speaker 2: need to speed up, some things need to slow down,
Speaker 2: and at all turns and angles, self governance and self
Speaker 2: determination from mobs need to be centered throughout.
Speaker 1: Is it the view that the both.
Speaker 2: The interim and the final reports that those recommendations that
Speaker 2: are shaped up will complement the treaty process as we've mentioned,
Speaker 2: and provide the public record, but ultimately really shape the
Speaker 2: public policy process.
Speaker 1: Or is it the view that these hearings will.
Speaker 2: Shape how government engages with mob and sets up governance
Speaker 2: arrangements and public policy broadly. Is there that practical element
Speaker 2: that government will shift how it does its day to
Speaker 2: day business based off some of these recommendations.
Speaker 4: Well, it's a really good question, and I think it's
Speaker 4: actually starting to have an even though it might not
Speaker 4: be systemic like our people expect. But I think seeing
Speaker 4: ministers come before the Commission, and I've had many conversations
Speaker 4: with them during the hearings but also afterwards when standing there,
Speaker 4: and I can guarantee that every single one of them
Speaker 4: is said, I have learned so much about the system,
Speaker 4: but also about you know, how Aboriginal people, aboriginal tytrail,
Speaker 4: other people have been impacted by our laws and our
Speaker 4: policies and the way we go about working with them
Speaker 4: as well. We'll talk about shared understanding. It's also them
Speaker 4: coming through a process also gets them to understand because
Speaker 4: I'm sure they're asking questions of well, why didn't blackfellows
Speaker 4: meet the threshold. I mean you could see the minister
Speaker 4: quivering when he said that to us, and it's just like,
Speaker 4: you know, these people are human as well at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, and yes, they need to be
Speaker 4: accountable for the systems that they are ultimately implementing, and
Speaker 4: we don't shy away from that. But so they have
Speaker 4: also shared about their experiencing coming forward and they're not
Speaker 4: knowing and stuff. But the challenge is is that when
Speaker 4: you apologize and you come forward, you go back and
Speaker 4: you actually make change. And I think that's where the
Speaker 4: expectations come in, is that yep, you can come forward
Speaker 4: and you can say okay, well I didn't know. However,
Speaker 4: the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. And
Speaker 4: we need to see change, you know, we need to
Speaker 4: see drastic change now. Having the ability to educate you know,
Speaker 4: not just Victorians but all Australians on the true history
Speaker 4: and just you know, many people coming forward and just
Speaker 4: going I didn't know that we can google when there's
Speaker 4: something wrong with us, you know, we've got a running nose.
Speaker 4: We might do a quick Google. But when it comes
Speaker 4: to googling about our people around what's happened and so forth,
Speaker 4: And this is what we need to encourage people to do.
Speaker 4: Look for Look to our website. It's pretty accessible where
Speaker 4: you can click on hearings and see witnesses that have
Speaker 4: come before. And some of them may be your family,
Speaker 4: but also some of them you may have heard, or
Speaker 4: some of them might not have been as well. So
Speaker 4: but again I stick by that as accountability hearings later
Speaker 4: in the year to call people back to make sure
Speaker 4: that they are getting on and implementing the recommendations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much for sharing about the accountability
Speaker 2: hearings and just everything you're doing at this commission process.
Speaker 2: The thing that I take away from that point is
Speaker 2: to have a changed kind of consciousness or a change
Speaker 2: in how we see the world. It really means that
Speaker 2: we have to integrate this into our practice, into our
Speaker 2: day to day, into who we are and what country
Speaker 2: we really want to be. That involves some action as
Speaker 2: well as this sort of change our consciousness. Where are
Speaker 2: we at now, So you mentioned you're doing education, health
Speaker 2: and housing. Now are we at the final stages of
Speaker 2: the hearing processes. What's the sort of next little journey
Speaker 2: look like and where can community come and participate and
Speaker 2: be a part of this if they're not already that's right.
Speaker 4: So we have started last week health, housing, education, and
Speaker 4: economic prosperity. And that's something that we've only been able
Speaker 4: to cut through in the last sort of fifteen twenty
Speaker 4: years around setting up aboriginal businesses and so forth, as
Speaker 4: well and being able to generate self determination through that lens.
Speaker 4: So we feel that it's really important as a commission
Speaker 4: that we inquire into that. Those hearings started last week
Speaker 4: and we'll be doing them for the next month, so
Speaker 4: again having senior bureaucrats and the ministers responsible, but also
Speaker 4: hearing from community as well over that next month period.
Speaker 4: But we're continually advocating and encouraging people to come forward
Speaker 4: and share their truths as well. It doesn't matter how
Speaker 4: important you think they are or how less important. At
Speaker 4: the end of the day, reach out. We have o
Speaker 4: truth receivers who will connect with as well to be
Speaker 4: able to come talk through the process social and emotional well being,
Speaker 4: to help people through that process. I think that's incredibly
Speaker 4: important that we don't skip on that, we don't skint
Speaker 4: on that, because that's really important to be able to
Speaker 4: help our people through healing as well, pre and post
Speaker 4: them coming forward and sharing their truths as well. Yeah,
Speaker 4: so wanting to encourage people to do that, but also
Speaker 4: legal advice as well around being able to make sure
Speaker 4: that you've got coverage for some of the things that
Speaker 4: you need to share and want to share as well.
Speaker 4: And most of the time you know you're receiving through
Speaker 4: this process with your own people as well, which is
Speaker 4: incredibly important and powerful that you don't need to explain
Speaker 4: those really important things that a lot of non Aboriginal
Speaker 4: people when they try to work with our people get
Speaker 4: really wrong as well. So you know, they're open till
Speaker 4: the end of the year, so are encouraging people to
Speaker 4: do that. And also we'll be going around the state
Speaker 4: to talk about some of the things we've heard from
Speaker 4: the Land Injustice Inquiry as well. But we are developing
Speaker 4: a report to go back to government and that takes
Speaker 4: a lot of time because again we don't just cook
Speaker 4: these things up out of anecdotal and how we feel
Speaker 4: evidence and so forth. This is actually we've got to
Speaker 4: deeply look at the evidence that we've received from community importantly,
Speaker 4: but also government and the witness statements and what they
Speaker 4: say on the stand as well, and we'll make recommendations
Speaker 4: to go back to the First People's Assembly of Victoria
Speaker 4: and government to negotiate through treaty. So that'll take a
Speaker 4: bit of time because we want to get those recommendations right,
Speaker 4: as we did in the last report out of the
Speaker 4: forty six they were right. And also we're thinking about
Speaker 4: how we look to close out the commission and what
Speaker 4: are the sort of things that we'll be doing. But
Speaker 4: primarily it's focusing in on courage people to come forward,
Speaker 4: share your truths, get in while we can, and also
Speaker 4: YEA developing the report and the recommendations to go back
Speaker 4: to government alongside that accountability hearing later in the year.
Speaker 4: So I watch this space and you know, it's great
Speaker 4: for people to be able to come on the pathway
Speaker 4: to a shared future. We're not able to shared future yet,
Speaker 4: but through treaty and truth telling, we can truly be
Speaker 4: on a shared future that ultimately enables our people to
Speaker 4: be self determining that recognizes not only our human rights,
Speaker 4: but recognizing our culture rights as first peoples under undrip
Speaker 4: and making sure that people understand that that Aboriginal people
Speaker 4: do have inherent cultural rights to land, water, that their laws,
Speaker 4: their customs, their language and traditions. That's a little bit
Speaker 4: different to human rights, even though it is a form
Speaker 4: of human rights, but that's something special that we expect
Speaker 4: those cultural rights to be adhered to alongside our basic
Speaker 4: human rights around services, health, housing, education, and economic prosperity
Speaker 4: and so forth as well. Again, thanks for the opportunity
Speaker 4: to come and yarn up with you. It's always Deadly
Speaker 4: and appreciate you and the work that you're doing and
Speaker 4: the voices that you're sharing and the messages that you're
Speaker 4: putting out there to our people. You know, we're really
Speaker 4: proud of the work that you're doing. Stay strong and
Speaker 4: make sure you're looking after yourself. We've got plenty of
Speaker 4: work to do, and let's get cracking and make sure
Speaker 4: we make it happen.
Speaker 1: Thank you so so much.
Speaker 2: I really really appreciate you sharing and being on the
Speaker 2: show today and just all the work you're doing for
Speaker 2: our communities too, and your families and yeah, mobs who
Speaker 2: are looking at this process from other parts of this continent,
Speaker 2: watching the leadership that you're showing and the grace and
Speaker 2: passion that you bring to this work.
Speaker 1: Rus I really appreciate you. So thank you.
Speaker 4: Tourn Deadly. In my language, we say well look, which
Speaker 4: means for now, we never say goodbye. We always see
Speaker 4: each other again, So.
Speaker 2: Well look, thank you so much for listening, you mob.
Speaker 2: If you are vibing this season of yarning up, then
Speaker 2: please is head over to Applespotify, or wherever you get
Speaker 2: your podcasts from. To show us some love, rate and review. Alternatively,
Speaker 2: you can get in contact and give us some feedback
Speaker 2: by visiting www. Dot Carolinekow dot com dot au