Victorian Aboriginal News offers stories that the mainstream media often misses. We had a look at its offerings for June under the heading VAN Talks and found these, either with transcript or transcript coming:
Maria Dimopolous, CEO of the Settlement Council of Australia, talks about what was required in developing a Reconciliation Action Plan for the Council.
I think building [for new arrivals in Australia] understanding and awareness of the history of this country. Being able to equip our staff across the nation with information that essentially tells them that this lie that Captain Cook discovered Australia, or the idea that there is no sort of history prior to this, that the oldest living culture on this earth has so much to give us in terms of wisdom, insight and knowledge. If we can equip our staff across the country with this knowledge, and that can then be translated to those that are newly arrived, we feel like we’ve got better opportunities for social cohesion, for intercultural dialogue. I mean, these are the things that we’re trying to build in. I think, from a systems perspective as well, really understanding the policies that we may be inadvertently embracing as part of that settlement journey, without questioning or interrogating what their implications might mean for First Peoples.
Rueben Berg, Gunditjmara man and member and former Co-chair of First Peoples' Assembly Victoria, discusses the role of local government in Victoria following Treaty.
Shelley Ware, Yunkapandi and Wardandi woman and advocate for an education model free of 'white-washing', says:
[W]e are going to talk about [the Stolen Generations] in a really age-appropriate way. “You’re safe” - we let them know that they’re safe in that moment - “but this is historically what has happened to Aboriginal children.” Where they can then have empathy when they are an adult about where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people fit into society still because of the effects of colonisation, and they can make real changes as adults because they have that empathy.
Daniel James, Yorta Yorta man and journalist, looks at the primary responsibility of blak media in Australia in contrast to mainstream media.
Kaley Nicholson, CEO of the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations, examines the meaning of Native Title in Victoria.
Charles Pakana, editor of Victorian Aboriginal News, is interviewed on his story, his work, and the links between Treaty, Truth-telling and Reconciliation.
[T]here cannot be Treaty without Truth-telling ... [H]ow can we negotiate a Treaty if we don’t know why we’re negotiating a Treaty? And that’s where Truth-telling comes into it. So the two are inextricably combined and connected.
With Reconciliation, I see that as a coming together of everybody, walking side by side, shoulder to shoulder, as is said in that very last line of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, you know, “walking together in a movement of Australian people for a better future.” That’s what Reconciliation’s about to me. And that’s not a racial thing, that’s not a divisive thing, that’s a social cohesion thing.
Lots more, too, on the VAN website. Recommended.
Picture credit: Victorian Aboriginal News logo used with permission
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