Tuesday, 28 May 2024

The Torch

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (13:27): The 15th annual Confined exhibition, presented by the Torch, is currently on at the Glen Eira City Council gallery. The exhibition consists of over 400 artworks by 380 talented First Nations artists. I had an amazing tour of the exhibition last week. The exhibition reflects on the disproportionate representation of our First Nations Australians in our criminal justice system; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 2 per cent of Australia’s population yet make up 28 per cent of the national incarcerated population.

Programs run by the Torch make real change by creating opportunities for their participants to generate income through selling their artworks, and there are a lot that have been sold through the exhibition. The exhibition runs until Sunday, and the last week coincides with National Reconciliation Week this week. National Reconciliation Week marks some significant milestones in our nation’s journey towards reconciliation – the 1967 referendum and the High Court’s Mabo decision, and obviously we recently had National Sorry Day, which commemorates the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report in 1997. It is an important time to learn about our nation’s history and how together we can move forward towards reconciliation. After the recent referendum it is more important now than ever for us to stay engaged and focused on what our role in reconciliation is, because we all have a role to play on our nation’s journey towards reconciliation and this state’s journey towards treaty, now more than ever.