Latest news with #Widi
The Age
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
‘The rocky path will only become more difficult': Leader wants more than basic rights
The rocky path towards reconciliation will only become more difficult without truth-telling and redress, Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner says, ahead of delivering a major speech in Cairns on Friday night. Katie Kiss, a Kaanju and Biri/Widi woman who grew up in Rockhampton, will give the Mabo Oration in the far north Queensland city on the speech's 20th anniversary this week. Kiss took on the national role at the Australian Human Rights Commission after serving as executive director of the body supporting Queensland's Path to Treaty. That process, which included a truth-telling and healing inquiry, was halted by the Crisafulli government shortly after it was elected last year, with the LNP declaring its focus was on 'better health, housing and education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders'. As she prepared to deliver her speech in Cairns, Kiss told this masthead that health and education were 'vital areas of focus', but more was needed. Loading 'Firstly, reparations for the stolen generations is very different to providing for health and education – which are basic human and citizenship rights that we are entitled to, as are all Australians,' Kiss said. 'A redress scheme is a formal recognition of past injustices ... allowing survivors to access financial compensation, mental health services, and support to reconnect with family, culture and country. 'Without an explicit commitment to reconciliation through measures such as truth-telling and redress, then the long, rocky path towards reconciliation will only become more difficult.'
Sydney Morning Herald
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The rocky path will only become more difficult': Leader wants more than basic rights
The rocky path towards reconciliation will only become more difficult without truth-telling and redress, Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner says, ahead of delivering a major speech in Cairns on Friday night. Katie Kiss, a Kaanju and Biri/Widi woman who grew up in Rockhampton, will give the Mabo Oration in the far north Queensland city on the speech's 20th anniversary this week. Kiss took on the national role at the Australian Human Rights Commission after serving as executive director of the body supporting Queensland's Path to Treaty. That process, which included a truth-telling and healing inquiry, was halted by the Crisafulli government shortly after it was elected last year, with the LNP declaring its focus was on 'better health, housing and education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders'. As she prepared to deliver her speech in Cairns, Kiss told this masthead that health and education were 'vital areas of focus', but more was needed. Loading 'Firstly, reparations for the stolen generations is very different to providing for health and education – which are basic human and citizenship rights that we are entitled to, as are all Australians,' Kiss said. 'A redress scheme is a formal recognition of past injustices ... allowing survivors to access financial compensation, mental health services, and support to reconnect with family, culture and country. 'Without an explicit commitment to reconciliation through measures such as truth-telling and redress, then the long, rocky path towards reconciliation will only become more difficult.'
