Walk for Truth leader says national truth-telling push must continue after Parliament House meeting
BY KATHERINE GLASS
photography by LUKE CURRIE-RICHARDSON @balaluke
After walking hundreds of kilometres to Canberra, National Walk for Truth leader Travis Lovett says the campaign is far from over.
Mr Lovett, the executive director of the Centre for Truth-Telling and Dialogue, was among those who led the walk from Naarm - Melbourne to Parliament House in Canberra.
The walk brought together First Nations people and non-Indigenous supporters, with message sticks carried and exchanged between communities along the route spreading messages through storytelling methods.
Mr Lovett said the support from Traditional Owners, walkers and ebngaged communities helped push the issue of truth-telling onto the national stage.
Lovett said the Prime Minister came out to meet the group at Parliament House, but failed to make a public commitment to establish a national truth-telling process. The lack of concrete and public support showed why the campaign needed to continue.
Mr Lovett said First Nations people had repeatedly put forward solutions, but governments often failed to respond with clear action which proved that the
Mr Lovett also said many non-Indigenous Australians still did not understand the lived experience of First Nations people, including the long-running impacts of colonisation, government control, missions, reserves, child removal, racism and exclusion.
He elaborated that truth-telling was about establishing this understanding through discussing not only trauma, but also recognising strength, resistance and contribution.
During the walk, Mr Lovett said the group stopped at places connected to violence and loss, while also hearing from Traditional Owners about their Country, families and histories.
Lovett confirmed that these actions during the walk created conversations with people from varying backgrounds, including in regional communities where some people had not previously understood the scale of past and ongoing injustice.
Travis Lovett at the conclusion of the Walk for Truth. Image credited: NIT, Dechlan Brennan
The National Walk for Truth followed the failed Voice referendum and renewed calls for unfinished parts of the Uluru Statement from the Heart to be addressed.
Mr Lovett said some First Nations people were understandably cautious about another government process becoming “another report” that was ignored.
He said that risk was real, because governments had often held the power and resources in negotiations with First Nations people.
But he said the answer was not to give up.
“The work does not end when the walk ends,” he said.
“It continues through advocacy, solidarity and holding governments to account.”
Listen to the full interview with Travis Lovett below.