By: Steve Dunster
Imagine a society where First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians enjoy flourishing relationship with one another.
It’s something our nation has wanted and needed for centuries.
Liam Glover from Australians Together chatted me about what can be done – and what is already being done – to help move us all towards this goal.
“Australians Together envisages a future where First Nations and non Indigenous Australians can flourish together,” Liam said.
He said that while we’ve come a long way, we still have a lot of work to do.
“There needs to be a heart shift and a mind shift, and therefore a response shift in the 97% of Australians.”
By focusing on enhancing leadership within indigenous communities and promoting collective growth, Australians Together has high hopes for future generations.
“We’re investing into the next generation of adults, so students, through schooling,” Liam said.
They are also proactively building cultural awareness and education by encouraging cultural responsiveness in workplaces and schools which, Liam says. This is a pivotal part of Australia’s journey toward reconciliation.
“We have developed a meaningful action toolkit that allows individuals, allows classrooms, allows people at work to pick up one of the things that are suggested in that toolkit and take a step forward,” Liam said.
“You can go along and discover knowledge, you can go on to Google and discover new information, you can read books, which is amazing. But a primary way of sharing knowledge from a First Nations perspective is doing it life on life.”
One reason for this is the diversity found within First Nations Australians.
“There’s very distinct cultures, different languages that exist across the different communities in Australia,” Liam said.
He explains that when we “develop that relationship over time and start learning local language for your local community,” this is where relationships begin to flourish.
Learn more about Australians Together and find out what you can do, to build flourishing relationships and connections between First Nations and non Indigenous Australian by visiting australianstogether.org.au
Article supplied with thanks to Salt 106.5.
Feature image: canva