Latest news with #TruthTelling
ABC News
2 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Voices of our Elders captures Indigenous history from Limestone Coast
Uncle Doug Nicholls takes a lot of pride in being known as an elder. Born in Swan Hill on the Murray River, he now lives on South Australia's Limestone Coast, the country of his mother. "We grew up on the riverbanks and those were the days when Aboriginal people weren't allowed in the hospitals when they had children, so we were born under the verandahs," he said. "I didn't mind because it was outside. "But it's quite imperative we tell the truth and honour the truth of what happened to us." Uncle Nicholls now works telling stories and sharing culture with the next generation. His story, and the stories of more than 20 other Indigenous elders from the region, has now been captured in a soon-to-be-published book, The Voices of our Elders. "It gets all our elders together and tells our stories together so we're in strength," he said. "Our knowledge from our stories gives our community strength back to our young ones, and allows all our community to understand the issues our elders did go through during their times. Author Charlotte Lovett is a journalist at the Mount Gambier-based Border Watch newspaper and has worked with First Nations communities in the region on history projects. Ms Lovett is non-Indigenous, but her husband and daughter are both Indigenous people. She said being approached to lead the project was an honour, but she was also "terrified". "Being non-Indigenous and then telling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories, there's a taboo around that," she said. "There's a lack of trust, because in the past, those stories have had a white voice put over them. Ms Lovett spent 18 months interviewing, researching and writing the stories of more than 20 elders from across the Limestone Coast. She said the project brought her closer to her husband and daughter's culture. "It was a priority for us that the elders were people we would see in the supermarket or down the street and at community events," she said. "We made sure they were prominent people you'd see in your day-to-day lives, so that after seeing their stories and their portraits, it helps them feel seen after years of being shunned or shamed just for being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander." Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation director of language and education and Meintangk and Narrungga woman Tara Bonney applied for the Fay Fuller Grant and approached Ms Lovett to start work on the book. She said giving the next generation a chance to learn from elders was important. "We have elders and they have these amazing stories and these amazing perspectives on life and culture and community," Ms Bonney said. "It's our job, my generation, to capture those stories and make sure that not only do I get to benefit, and people my age get to benefit, from hearing those stories, but the next generation as well. "One of the things that is so important to First Nations culture and community is the transmission of information." Ms Bonney hoped the book would spark conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and bring generations closer together. "When young blackfellas can see the photos and words of their elders and their family in a printed book, there's a sense of pride in their culture and belonging in this community. "That's one of the benefits I'm hoping comes about as well."
News.com.au
12-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Indigenous truth-telling efforts ‘not going away' as key figures call for inquiries after Yoorrook Commission bombshell
More than two centuries after colonisation, a truth-telling commission has delivered its verdict that systemic racism still shapes the lives of First Nations people in Victoria. The recently tabled Yoorrook for Transformation report is the result of a multi-year 'truth-telling' process, which found systemic discrimination across Victoria's policing, custodial, childcare and education systems. In the aftermath of the Report's release, key figures from around the country have spoken about the national appetite for authentic, authoritative First Nations voices at the heart of the truth-telling process, and what that process may eventually look like in each state and territory. What is Truth Telling? Truth-telling is the process by which historical and ongoing injustices committed against First Nations people are catalogued for public record, particularly in circumstances where those records have largely been left out of common discourse. Truth-telling in Australia typically involves the gathering of evidence through a Royal Commission or similar authoritative body. Queensland In Queensland, a 'Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry' was established with bipartisan support in 2023 after years of preparation. In May 2023, then-Opposition Leader David Crisafulli addressed Queensland Parliament to express his enthusiasm for the 'Path to Treaty Bill,' which would enact legislation for the creation of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry. 'Path to Treaty is a genuine opportunity for our state to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians,' Mr Crisafulli said. 'It is an opportunity I believe Queensland should embrace wholeheartedly.' Just five months later, in the wake of the failed Voice referendum, Mr Crisafulli changed his tune, claiming the pursuit of treaty and truth-telling would lead to 'more division and uncertainty' and promising the LNP government would repeal the Path to Treaty Act if elected. After the LNP won Queenslanders over in October 2024, Mr Crisafulli made good on his promise, undoing six years of careful preparation in less than a month in government. Waanyi and Kalkadoon man, barrister-at-law Joshua Creamer, was the Chair of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry at the time it was abandoned. 'There was a six-year consultation and engagement process that led to the inquiry. It was conducted in consultation with the community and government, and then the implementation of very specific legislation,' Mr Creamer said. 'We were up and running. We had started hearing evidence, we'd started accepting submissions. We heard evidence from Aboriginal witnesses and director-generals and the Commissioner of Police, and we had even produced our first report. 'There was certainly a lot happening at the time that we were abolished.' Mr Creamer said the LNP's decision came abruptly and took those working on the Inquiry almost completely by surprise. 'Certainly, those last three or four weeks were challenging but also surprising in terms of the lack of engagement and the level of contempt the Premier and the ministers showed towards the Inquiry,' he said. 'I still have not spoken to the Premier or the Minister about why those events occurred in the way they did. There was just a real disregard – not just for the inquiry but the six-year process that led to its establishment.' Despite this, Mr Creamer remains optimistic. 'Even towards the end of the Inquiry, I was really surprised by how many non-Indigenous organisations and institutions spoke up in support of the need for the truth-telling process,' he said. 'There will always continue to be a desire for this process to happen. It might just mean we'll be waiting for a change in government for that change to occur. 'The fact that Yoorrook has been successful now is a good demonstration of the importance of the process. It's not going to go away.' New South Wales In New South Wales, truth-telling has taken a back seat to make way for immediate treaty consultations. Three treaty commissioners were appointed in September 2024 by the Minns Government to undertake a year-long consultation process with First Nations communities across the state, to understand whether an appetite for a treaty exists and whether truth-telling will be incorporated into the process. At the time, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty David Harris said the appointment of the Commissioners was 'central to the process of listening to Aboriginal people on treaty and agreement-making'. 'We get better outcomes when we listen to the needs of Aboriginal people and communities. We must ensure Aboriginal people have a direct say on matters that affect them,' he said. NSW Legislative Council member Sue Higgins manages the state Greens' First Nations Justice and Heritage portfolio. She said 'all eyes have paid attention' to Yoorrook and how it established the blueprint for truth-telling in the states and territories. 'It arguably has been one of the best processes to date,' Ms Higgins said. 'The First Nations leadership around Yoorrook has been incredible, and the self-determined way in which the power of that process has operated has been very compelling.' Despite the successes witnessed in Victoria, Ms Higgins said NSW was 'incredibly slow' in getting any form of truth-telling or treaty process up and running. 'The Minns Labor Government came to power in 2023 on the promise they would start the treaty process in New South Wales, and when the Voice referendum failed … there was politicisation and backtracking,' she said. 'That was a frightening period in NSW history, and I think it must have been quite shocking for people.' Ms Higgins said the steps taken to appoint Treaty Commissioners were positive, but it was ultimately unclear – at least until consultations reach a conclusion – where truth-telling sits on the agenda. 'Where exactly a truth process sits within this is interesting, because the NSW government narrative doesn't really talk about truth-telling … for some that may be concerning, but obviously you can't predetermine an outcome,' she said. 'Where the truth-telling will sit at the end of this consultation is really still the open question.' The Territories The Northern Territory underwent a significant period of consultation between 2019 and 2023 to establish a path to treaty, part of which included a commitment to a truth-telling process. In early 2023, the NT government announced the Aboriginal Interpreter Service (AIS) would begin recording testimony for the purpose of truth-telling, and in 2024 the government began distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grants for the facilitation of truth-telling. In 2025, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) abandoned the path to treaty and, by proxy, truth-telling. The Australian Capital Territory does not currently have a formalised truth-telling process. South Australia, WA and Tasmania South Australia has legislated a First Nations Voice to Parliament, but no explicit mentions of a truth-telling process have yet been made. While there is no formal truth-telling process in WA, a joint project between First Nations communities and the WA Government known as the 'Wadjemup Project' was launched in 2020. The project uncovered the history of Aboriginal incarceration and forced childhood removal in WA. Tasmania has elected to undergo a process similar to NSW by appointing a body of 'truth-telling and healing commissioners,' which will undertake a similar process to the NSW commissioners but with a focus on truth-telling rather than treaty.
ABC News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
'Racism' in the NT police. Will the government push for change?
On Monday Coroner Elisabeth Armitage delivered her long-awaited findings into the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker. So, as Warlpiri Elders call for a "ceasefire" with NT police, what political action will the NT and Federal Government take in wake of the findings? With this year's NAIDOC Week theme being The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy, does the community want to see a new generation of First Nations leaders? And has the Minister for Indigenous Australians put truth telling back on the agenda? Globally, Trump's newest tariff turmoil might cast a shadow over the Prime Minister's visit to China - and if the US government comes for the PBS, how will Australia respond to its most powerful ally? And back at home, there's a new report, and plan, to combat anti-Semitism. Patricia Karvelas and Fran Kelly are joined by Carly Williams, a Quandamooka woman and ABC's National Indigenous correspondent on The Party Room. Got a burning question? Got a burning political query? Send a short voice recording to PK and Fran for Question Time at thepartyroom@
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Government considers compensating aboriginal Australians
A landmark truth-telling inquiry's push to compensate Indigenous Victorians for historical injustices has not been ruled out by the Premier despite warnings it could bankrupt the state. After a four-year truth-telling inquiry, The Yoorrook Justice Commission delivered its final report to the Victoria state parliament on Tuesday. The Australian-first Indigenous truth-telling body calls on the Victorian government to provide redress for injustices. Among the proposals is a statewide redress scheme, including financial compensation for Indigenous Victorians. The report also suggests recognising Indigenous groups as sovereign nations, exempting them from taxes and rates, and granting them access to revenue from natural resources and Crown land. The report also calls for the state government to offer a formal apology and to acknowledge its responsibility for the wrongs of its predecessors. The apology would also see the state acknowledge that Aboriginal soldiers who served during the world wars were excluded from a scheme that gave veterans land when they returned home. Some controversial recommendations included a significant overhaul of the education system, which would exclude Indigenous children from attendance requirements, suspension and expulsion, as well as avenues for more appropriate cultural training. The report also pushed for the Treaty to be pursued and permanent funding streams to be instituted to help future generations of Indigenous people. It also called for a permanent First Peoples' Assembly - a move which would create a Victorian version of the Voice to Parliament, which was overwhelmingly rejected at the federal level following a referendum. During a press conference on Wednesday, Premier Jacinta Allan (pictured) refused to rule out any of the recommendations. 'I'm just not going to rule things in or out through a press conference,' Allan said. 'I think we can understand the need... for government to take time to consider the recommendations.' The report has given the Victorian government a two-year window to respond to its findings. Yoorrook held 67 days of public hearings, gathering the testimony of Stolen Generations survivors, elders, historians, experts and non-Indigenous advocates. It found there were at least 50 massacres across Victoria by the end of the 1860s, with eight colonists killed compared to 978 First Nations people. The mass killings, combined with disease, sexual violence, exclusion, eradication of language, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation, brought about the 'near-complete physical destruction' of Aboriginal people in Victoria. The 'decimation' of the population by 1901 was the result of 'a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups'. 'This was genocide,' one of the documents read. Ms Allan said the findings made for 'tough reading' because they 'tell the truth' about how the state was colonised. The recommendations will inform treaty talks between the state government and the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, with enabling legislation expected to be introduced later in 2025. The report received a mixed response, with some critics labelling the extensive list of recommendations as a 'disaster'. '[The list] read like demands that would send the state broke if they agreed to all of them,' one Indigenous critic told the Herald Sun. 'At a time when we are negotiating treaty and getting the Victorian people on board, it's just a disaster.' Others supported the report, claiming it was time for the state to start 'making things right'. Ms Allan encouraged Victorians to look at the report. 'I'm focused on getting better outcomes, because when you improve outcomes for Indigenous kids in schools, Indigenous kids in family settings, Indigenous men and women getting access to the health care that they need, that's better for all of us.' First Peoples' Assembly member Nerita Waight warned Ms Allan not to let Yoorrook's work go ignored, as politicians have done with previous major Aboriginal-related inquiries. 'The truth has been told and now the government has an obligation to act,' the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive said. Yoorrook Justice Commission chairperson Professor Eleanor Bourke said the final report outlined recommendations that would be advanced through a treaty process while others needed to 'begin now' with urgent action and 'reforms'. 'These recommendations take the voices, lived experience and evidence of First Peoples into the places where decisions are made and where change must happen,' Ms Bourke said. 'To Premier Allan and the Victorian Government, I urge you all to implement the Yoorrook for Transformation recommendations with courage and commitment.' Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe (pictured) called on the federal government to press on with national truth and treaty processes. 'Genocide has not just occurred in Victoria, but has been perpetrated against all First Peoples of this continent,' she said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to set up a 'Makarrata Commission to oversee a national process for treaty and truth-telling' in 2021. His government allocated $5.8 million to commence work on establishing the independent commission, but it has not materialised after the failed Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023.
