BE BOLD, BE BRAVE: Treaty, self-determination and the public sector

The ‘BE BOLD, BE BRAVE: Treaty, self-determination and the public sector’ conference was held on the 20th November at the Aborigines Advancement League in Thornbury. The conference was organised by the IPAA Victoria’s Aboriginal Advisory Committee, who designed the conference theme and objectives.

 The conference was another part of a suite of IPAA Victoria initiatives aiming to bring together Aboriginal and other staff working across the public purpose sector, focusing on building skills and resources for the public purpose sector to enable and advance Aboriginal self-determination.

 IPAA Victoria was delighted to have the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commissioner Jill Gallagher AO as the keynote speaker who talked about treaty, ongoing resilience and the next steps for self-determination for Aboriginal peoples in Victoria. The conference also had three different panel sessions;

• The first - ‘Working and walking in two worlds’ led by Elly Patira, Indi Clarke, Angela Singh and Terry Garwood;

• the second, ‘Applying lessons from the past’ was led by Andrew Jackomos and Lois Peeler; and

• the third panel ‘Building support and culture in the workplace’ led by Belinda Duarte and David Nicholson.

• Additionally, there was a participatory workshop on wellness and connection with Jacara Egan.

 Throughout the day, speakers and participants were engaged and challenged by conference facilitator Professor Gregory Phillips, who encouraged them to continue Aboriginal cultural learning, seize the opportunity offered by the treaty process to eliminate racism in Victoria’s institutions and systems and create a more just society for all.