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Yoorrook Justice Commissioner Travis Lovett’s walk from Portland to the Victorian Parliament is a call to action for all Australians. By Travis Lovett.
Walking for Truth, Treaty and justice
As I walk from Portland to Parliament House in Melbourne, a journey close to 500 kilometres across Victoria, I carry the weight of generations. The truths of our people. Truths that have too often been ignored, dismissed or denied.
This is the Walk for Truth.
It began in Portland, the site of Victoria’s first colonial settlement, and will end on the steps of parliament – the place where decisions are made that can transform our future. It is not just a walk. It is a call to action – to every Australian – to listen. To learn, to engage and to act.
Walking through Country, we have carried and exchanged message sticks with Traditional Owners – a part of lore not practised for generations. These marked wooden objects, once used across Indigenous Australia to convey important messages between communities, remind everyone that our people developed sophisticated systems of visual and physical communication deeply intertwined with oral traditions and knowledge-sharing systems.
Walking on Country is something our ancestors have done for thousands of years. Since colonisation it has been an important way to advocate for change. Walking is both a powerful act of solidarity and a catalyst – consider the journeys that William Barak led 150 years ago from Coranderrk to parliament, or the Cummeragunja walk-off in 1939 to protest living conditions on that New South Wales mission.
As a proud Kerrupmara/Gunditjmara man, I carry the stories of my ancestors who lived and thrived on Country long before colonisation. I also carry the pain of what followed: massacres, missions, dispossession, systemic injustice. Our journey has seen setback after setback on land rights, on voting rights, our children’s rights, on Stolen Generations and our ability to have a voice and control our own lives. I walk for those who survived and those who didn’t. I walk for Truth. For Treaty. For justice and for healing.
Truth-telling is not new to us. Our Elders, our families, our communities have been telling the truth for more than 200 years. What is new is that the state is finally listening – through Yoorrook, the first formal Truth-telling commission in Australia, led by Victorian First Peoples. For the past four years, we have travelled across Victoria listening to powerful truths about the past and present. We have heard from Elders, young people, families, service providers, public servants, descendants of early colonisers, ministers and the current premier – and we have documented the truths of what we heard.
These are not anecdotes. They are evidence. Evidence of land theft, of stolen children, of lives damaged by policies rooted in racism, segregation and control. Yet what strikes me time and again is not just the trauma but the strength. The resistance. The determination to keep culture alive, to care for Country, to rebuild what was nearly lost.
Victoria is leading the way with a model for Truth, justice and Treaty-making processes. Treaty negotiations are already under way here, but progress at the national level has stalled. Across the country, Truth-telling processes are being wound back or abandoned altogether. Queensland cancelled its inquiry. In the Northern Territory, the Treaty process has been shut down. The political appetite in Canberra is wavering.
This cannot continue.
After four years of often-harrowing work at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the nation’s first formal Truth-telling process, the Walk for Truth is also a powerful act of healing. We are walking across a landscape that holds deep scars but also immense strength, culture and ingenuity. From massacre sites to missions. From the World Heritage-listed aquaculture systems at Budj Bim to ancient middens and stone fireplaces tens of thousands of years old. Our ancestors built nations with systems of law, knowledge and culture; engineered technologies; and developed rich and diverse languages that have endured for more than 60,000 years.
Why is Truth-telling important? Because it gives voice to the testimony and lived experiences of First Peoples – putting them on the public record, where they can no longer be ignored. Through Yoorrook, we are building a formal archive of Truth that will stand for generations to come.
This process is not just about documenting the past. It’s about helping all Victorians listen deeply and learn about our shared history: its impact and the strength, knowledge and resilience of First Peoples who have survived against all odds. The inquiry has investigated the ongoing impact of historical human rights abuses and of persistent racism in the health, education and justice systems.
This evidence is critical to bringing about much-needed systemic change and practical changes to laws, policies and practices. Truth must lead to action. It is there – grounded in law, in evidence, in testimony.
We call on the Victorian premier and parliament to enact the final recommendations of Yoorrook’s report without delay. We have waited long enough.
And we call on the federal government to finish what the Uluru Statement from the Heart asked of the nation in 2017: Voice, Treaty, Truth. In 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stood on the floor of parliament and promised to implement the Uluru statement in full.
That promise matters.
It matters to the Elders who trusted us with their testimonies. It matters to the young people walking alongside me who want a better future. It matters to the thousands of Victorians – Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians – who have joined the Walk for Truth in rain, hail and shine.
Since the Voice referendum, the government has turned its back on Truth and Treaty, claiming that it would be going in a “different” direction. This only serves to deepen distrust between Indigenous Australians and government.
Labor must use its historic win to rebuild trust and deliver on its promises. Beyond Victoria, there is a growing desire for healing. As Marion Scrymgour, member for Lingiari – the electorate with the largest Indigenous population in Australia – has said: “Our communities want healing. They want to heal with this country and move forward.”
In May, Senator Dorinda Cox called for bold action, saying the failed referendum required us to shift to a new chapter, and that Truth-telling and Treaty must be that chapter. She committed to reintroducing her Truth and Justice Commission bill this year.
It is encouraging that the minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, has not ruled out Truth-telling and Treaty in this term of government. She has acknowledged the opportunity to learn from the states already undertaking this important work and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the principles of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. We urge the federal government to look to Victoria and recognise the profound value and impact of a formal Truth-telling commission.
We are not asking for apologies. We are asking for honesty. For integrity. For justice.
Truth-telling lays the foundation for change. It enables us to recommend the reforms needed to laws, institutions and systems, so these can be addressed through Treaty negotiations. It’s how we begin to rebuild trust and to establish a new relationship between First Peoples, the state and all Australians.
This moment is not just about Aboriginal people. It is about the kind of nation we want to be. A nation mature enough to face its past. A nation proud enough to embrace the oldest continuing culture on Earth. A nation strong enough to take responsibility and act.
Some will say this is divisive. I say there is nothing more unifying than walking side by side, listening to each other, and working together for a shared future. That is what reconciliation looks like.
For our people, parliament has been a place of harm, where laws were passed that controlled every aspect of our lives. But it can also be a place of transformation. That is why we finish the Walk for Truth on its steps. Because that is where change must happen.
For too long, Truth-telling has been optional in this country. Something governments can pick up or put down depending on the headlines. It is time for a genuine commitment. It’s time for a national Truth-telling commission. It’s time for Treaty.
To every leader in this country: we are watching. We are walking. And we are not walking alone.
Let us move from truth to justice. From history to healing. From promise to action.
This is our opportunity. Let’s not waste it.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on June 21, 2025 as "Walking for Truth, Treaty and justice".
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