Wednesday, 18 June 2025

 Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (09:50): Today I am standing here as one of the first and few First Nations people ever elected to the Victorian state Parliament, and it is a place that not so long ago was the epicentre of some of the most harmful and destructive laws to my community that have ever existed in Australian history – laws that systematically devastated Victoria’s First Nations people, our culture and our community. We have come a long, long way from that, but we still have a long road ahead of us, and it is a road that we must walk together. No-one has shown more the importance of this work than Yoorrook commissioner Travis Lovett, who later today will walk up to the front steps of this place after his journey from Portland to signify the end of years of hard work, hard conversations and even harder truths. I cannot begin to express my respect, gratitude and deep solidarity to all those involved in Yoorrook, and I acknowledge the strength and determination of all those involved who went and shared their stories, their experiences and most importantly the pain that they felt as individuals, as families, as community and as culture. I am proud to be able to mark such a significant step in my community’s journey to self-determination in this place later today, one that we will all, I hope, walk together.