Truth-telling for Social Change: Healing, Justice and Action

This webinar explores the role of truth-telling in social change and reconciliation, including:

Why truth-telling matters - not just as a historical reckoning, but as a living process for healing, justice, and accountability in systems shaped by colonisation.
The role of social enterprises, community organisations, and changemakers in holding space for truth-telling, even when political or institutional support recedes.
What it means to act with courage and integrity, particularly for non-Indigenous allies, when public discourse shifts away from justice and reconciliation.
Insights from lived experience and frontline advocacy, including the intergenerational impacts of the Stolen Generations and the mission era.
Reflections on Queensland’s Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry, and how public processes, policy change, and community engagement can enable structural transformation.
How to start locally: by learning the history of the place, building respectful relationships, and examining bias, power, and silence within organisations and sectors.
The emotional labour of truth-telling, and why safe, resourced, and culturally respectful spaces are essential for those sharing their stories.
A call to continue the work of truth-telling beyond formal mechanisms - through media, philanthropy, enterprise, advocacy, and everyday acts of listening and action.

Show notes and quotes

John Paul Janke: “Today's conversation comes at a very important point in our history. Earlier this week, we saw the WA Governor, Chris Dawson, deliver a historic apology to the Noongar people about a massacre. The Pinjarra massacre, which was an attack led by WA's first Governor, James Stirling. It was way back 191 years ago that James Stirling led a group of armed officials to ambush a Noongar camp in Pinjarra, where they shot and killed around 20 unarmed and unprepared Indigenous men, women and children. There are a couple of quotes in the news stories from the WA Governor Chris Dawson, which I thought are relevant for today's discussion. In apologising, he said: "To me, it meant telling the truth in all its complexities of the past in order to heal in the present and do all I could to contribute to the growth and trust of reconciliation."

“I think many First Nations leaders, and in fact, I heard the Governor General say at Uluru at the 40th anniversary this week, that the three elements of Australian history are: our First Nations history, the arrival of the British and the British institutions, but then our multicultural history. They are the three facets which make up modern-day Australia.”

“A lot of the people that we've spoken to throughout the seasons of the TV show and across NITV and SBS, they say exactly the same thing - that truth-telling gives them a space to speak their truths and actually do it in their own words. Where they can reclaim identity, agency, the narrative and actually get an opportunity to tell their story.”

Joshua Creamer: “Truth-telling is not something locked in the past. Our history has a huge impact on our Indigenous populations today. I don't think we'd have the social and economic disadvantage but for the fact our wages were stolen, our children were separated, all those types of things. If you want to address the issues today, you're in that sector, you want to address social and economic disadvantage. Well, you need to understand how it's been impacted by our history and what the foundation is. I don't think you can truly ever address it unless you understand the past.”

“I wanted to make sure that people knew that this isn't just black history. This is not just a version of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people sitting around a room coming up with their own version of history. This is something that all of our ancestors have been a part of. There are many really important stories of non-Indigenous Australians out there advocating for us for a generation or generations now.”

“I think that we can't let the politicians off the hook. This does need to happen at a state level. It does need to happen at a national level, and we need that advocacy… …and it shouldn't just be the Indigenous individuals and the Indigenous organisations who are championing truth-telling. This is a journey for all of us.”

“I've realised no matter how educated you are, if you've grown up in Queensland's education system or Australia's education system, it's very highly unlikely that you would have learned anything about our Indigenous history. So truth-telling for us is to pull back the curtain on that part of our history, and for all Queenslanders and all Australians to understand it.”

Stacey Thomas: “I think at its essence, it's fear. I think there is a fear that if we acknowledge the truth, we're gonna have to give something up in the process.”

“For the everyday person on the street. What does it mean? I feel there's this ingrained fear that has been developed through the conversations that we haven't been able to have over decades, if not centuries. That has meant it's just hard, right? People don't want to step into a space not knowing what the answer's going to be. The wisdom and everything that I've learned over my very brief journey is that it's not about that. It's not about that at all. It's exactly what we've been talking about. It's validation, and it's being heard.”

“I think truth-telling is internal work. It's actually you learn the truth, but what are you going to do with it as an individual? It can be quite an internal piece of work. Therefore, there is nothing to fear, because it's just you. It's you figuring out what you're hearing, what you're learning and what you're going to do with it. If you start with you and your role in that, I think it can actually remove some of that fear.”

“Having a look at our own practices and how we can try to remove some of those unconscious biases that are there because they've been handed down to us from businesses and managers before us.”

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For those who are keen to dive deeper and do differently, here are some links to learnings and resources mentioned by the speakers and/or related to the open learning topic:

What does Truth-telling for Social Change Look Like?

Summary

Show notes and quotes

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