‘Say it in the room’: Blak women on allyship

‘If I had a dollar for every person who told me after a meeting, “Oh my god, I’m so glad you said that”, I’d be rich.’

Wry, knowing smiles and audible agreement flashed across the room as Tanya Hosch, General Manager of Inclusion and Social Policy at the AFL, continued.

‘If you’re an ally, and you’re thinking that, can you just say it in the room?’

Hosch’s message was in perfect step with the theme of NAIDOC Week 2022: Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! They’re actions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are already very familiar with. As noted by Hosch, we’re also familiar with doing it on our own.

We were not on our own, though, on Monday morning. Quite the opposite. Almost three hundred people packed into the W Melbourne for Future Women’s inaugural NAIDOC Week Breakfast Panel, for a discussion that honoured a powerful, storied, at times difficult past and looked to the future.

L-R: Nerita Waight, Kimberley Benjamin, Tanya Hosch and Madison Howarth discuss what the new federal government can do to support mob.

Tanya Hosch was joined by two other incredible First Nations women. They were proud Yaruwu, Bardi and Kija woman Kimberley Benjamin, a filmmaker, director and producer; and Nerita Waight, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s Chief Executive Officer.

‘NAIDOC is only one week of the year, but it’s an amazing opportunity for us to really spotlight and think about those who’ve paved the way for us and the mob that are still here today advocating,’ said Benjamin, who also sits on the National NAIDOC Committee.

The goal of this year’s theme, she explained, was to honour how mob continue to fight and advocate for many issues.

‘We thought if we can just say, “come on mob, get up, stand up, show up”, then we can encourage people to think about how we do that every day in our lives. But it’s also quite broad, there’s many different ways that we can do that.’

The discussion then moved onto what the new federal Labor government can do to support mob. For Hosch, there was one key priority: raising the age of criminal responsibility from ten.

‘It’s absolutely appalling that in Australia we lock up ten year-old children. And we know that that disproportionately impacts Aboriginal young people in particular,’ she said.

‘The research is really clear about the incredibly detrimental impact that has on brain development, to go through the trauma of being picked up in a police wagon and strip searched in a police cell at ten years old.’

L-R: Keeley Meijer, Jamila Rizvi, Kimberley Benjamin, Nerita Waight, Tanya Hosch and Madison Howarth at Future Women’s inaugural NAIDOC Breakfast Panel.

While Hosch urged the federal government to show leadership on the issue, Waight expressed hope that it would avoid a political blame game with the states.

‘It needs [to be] a partnership between the federals and the states in the raise the age discussion, [otherwise] the states will blame the feds, the feds will blame the states and they will come to a wall because they don’t know how to work together.’

As she continued, the room fell quiet.

‘Many [Aboriginal] children are put on remand while in state care. For things you’d put a child in a time out for, state carers call the police.’

I thought about the fact that solutions must come with accountability – and how absent it’s been, especially in the justice system. How, I wanted to know, do we measure progress and ensure accountability across institutions?

‘One of the important parts is actually having access to the data,’ replied Hosch. ‘There is a whole bunch of data that we don’t have access to. And making sure that we’re actually getting access to accurate information, because I think we all know that there’s definitely gaps in the sort of information we get.’

Waight, for her part, doubts that progress is possible without embedding accountability into every state and federal institution.

As a filmmaker and knowing how pertinent all forms of art are to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Benjamin said she hopes the government will think about how it affects everyone, especially after the pandemic. She said she sees a big thirst for First Nations stories and that as innovators, mob are finding new ways to tell their own stories.

Filmmaker Kimberley Benjamin says there is a thirst for First Nations storytelling.

‘Storytelling is, for mob, just inherently how we live our lives through learning our place in our culture and our family history through creation stories,’ said Benjamin.

‘So I think for a lot of mob involved in the film industry, it feels like a natural thing for us to do in just engaging in new forms of that. We’re in a new era where you’re able to access so many people through different forms, not just television. Blackfulla TikTok,’ she said to laughs, ‘it’s just so good.’

‘First Nations communities are not just stories of the same disadvantage. We are stories of adversity, yes, but strength and determination and purpose and innovative solutions.’

Hosch’s final thoughts were about the steps that allies can take – how they can get up, stand up, show up – to support First Nations voices.

‘Power allied with ignorance is the most ferocious enemy that justice can have. And so, think about one collective action you can take – something that you know is clearly important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,’ said Hosch.

‘Even when we’re feeling weak, if we choose not to use our voices, then we’re giving away the power or agency we’ve had.’

The mood in the room was palpable. And Benjamin urged people to use what they’d heard, seen and felt.

‘Channel the energy in this room that we’ve created today, and think about the ways that you can take this into your own worlds.’

After a morning where their words opened far more eyes than the hotel’s coffee, Waight left the crowd with one final thought.

‘First Nations communities are not just stories of the same disadvantage. We are stories of adversity, yes, but strength and determination and purpose and innovative solutions.’

Thank you to our premier partner, Maurice Blackburn and our partner, Witchery, for making this event possible.

EVENT ARTWORK: KJHARTWORKS
PANEL’S CLOTHING: WITCHERY
FLOWERS: GATHERMORE FLORAL EVENTS
HAIR AND MAKEUP: ITHINKSHEAFREAK
PHOTOGRAPHY: JACINTA KEEFE PHOTOGRAPHY
LOCATION: W MELBOURNE 
MISSED OUT? READ THE EVENT TRANSCRIPT HERE