Mapping laws and policies that have impacted the lives of First Nations people since 1788
Indigenous Law Centre UNSW + Justice and Equity Centre
Towards Truth
TOTAL GRANTED
$100,000
Impact AreaSupporting Indigenous Self-Determination
Year First Supported 2022
Organisation
Indigenous Law Centre UNSW + Justice and Equity Centre
The Indigenous Law Centre UNSW has been integral to the development of constitutional reform over the past decade under the stewardship of Professor Megan Davis. The ILC facilitates the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its key reforms of a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution and a Makarrata Commission to supervise agreement-making and truth-telling. The ILC draws on years of academic work and expertise that has underpinned the process and substantive calls in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The Justice and Equity Centre (JEC) comes to the project with a long history of work with community on Indigenous justice. This includes advocating for effective and adequate reparations to be made to members of the Stolen Generations and for the repayment of wages and entitlements held in trust by governments. JEC also has expertise in supporting truth-telling most recently through their internationally-recognised work supporting truth-telling in Sri Lanka through a comprehensive database and website detailing incidents from the Sri Lankan civil war.
Mapping laws and policies that have impacted the lives of First Nations people since 1788
Towards Truth is a collaboration between the Indigenous Law Centre and the Justice and Equity Centre identifying, analysing and cataloguing original government documents, scholarly materials, and commentary, to provide an accessible website that will support First Nations’ community truth-telling practices.
Issue
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples came together in 2017 to make the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’. Here is an excerpt: “Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.”
Response
The Uluru Statement seeks constitutional reforms so Indigenous people can take their rightful place in their own country. The Statement calls for the establishment of a First Nations’ Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Truth-telling about our joint history supports the Makarrata Commission, which is a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations.
Indigenous Law Centre, UNSW and the Justice and Equity Centre are working together on the ‘Towards Truth’ project to provide practical, foundational support for the truth-telling process. They will systematically examine law and policy that have impacted First Nations people since 1788; no one has ever done this before.
Grants
- 2022 Large Grants round: $100,000
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