We believe January 26 isn’t an appropriate date to celebrate.
It marks the start of non-Aboriginal Australia’s violent dispossession and attempted genocide of the traditional custodians of this country. The effects of this continue today. We call on governments and communities to hear and implement Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led solutions, particularly for young people. While we’re taking positive steps in Victoria towards a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there is more that we, as non-Aboriginal Australians, can do to reconcile our past.
As Victoria’s youth peak body, working in close partnership with the representative body for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our state, YACVic has a responsibility to lead our sector in clear alliance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our staff and Board share a vision in which all Australians understand and value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and self-determination. We can only achieve this if non-Aboriginal Australians engage in truth-telling and actively reconcile past, and ongoing, injustices.
We ask our members and supporters to stand in unity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We will open for work on Monday 28 January, which has been designated as a public holiday. We’re giving our staff the option to work this day and swap it for another day off. We urge our members and other organisations to do the same.
We also encourage everyone to learn more about this country’s past and present from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Start here by reading and sharing Ngaga-Dji (Hear Me) – a project which voices the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Victoria’s youth justice system.