Without truth-telling, there can be no justice for First Peoples

by Travis Lovett

In 2025, more than 22,000 people joined First Nations Peoples in the Walk for Truth in Victoria. This year, the movement is going national. Travis Lovett explains why now is the time for the Federal Government to commit a national truth-telling process.

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When this country confronts its history honestly, it becomes impossible to pretend that January 26 is a day of shared pride. It marks invasion, dispossession, violence and the attempted erasure of people and culture. Too often, this is dismissed as something confined to the past, history that is finished and no longer relevant.

Yet, as we saw with the attack in Boorloo on January 26, the attack at Camp Sovereignty last year, the continued deaths in custody, the over-representation of First Nations people in prisons and the continued over-representation of our children in state care, these harms are not historical. First Nations people continue to face these threats today.

Our nations history holds deep trauma, but it also tells a powerful truth of survival and resistance. First Peoples have always spoken truth. Naming atrocities while asserting our sovereign rights, continued presence, strength and humanity. Now more than ever, we need people to listen to the truth, to our lived experiences and to understand the why.

We need our allies who show up on January 26 and march side by side with us to understand that allyship and advocacy must extend beyond January 26. A commitment to truth, justice and healing cannot be limited to one day of the year and it cannot rest solely on the shoulders of First Peoples. This is why we are walking. Why we are calling for truth-telling to be embedded in our nation and it must be done nationally.

We often hear governments speak about closing the gap through statistics, targets and reports, while avoiding the deeper question of why the gap exists at all. The National Walk For Truth is a reminder that numbers without truth will never deliver justice. It is no secret that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience poorer outcomes in health, housing, education and justice.

To truly close the gap, we must walk toward the truth of how and why it was created and why the gap still exists.

The gap has long been framed through a deficit lens. It positions First Peoples as the problem, instead of exposing the systems that were deliberately designed to fail us. This framing hides the truth.

There is a reason First Peoples are the most incarcerated. A reason our children are removed at alarming rates. A reason our people experience homelessness on our own lands.

These outcomes are not accidental. They are not isolated. They are the predictable result of laws, policies and systems built to dispossess, control and eradicate First Peoples.

This is not a failure of the system. It is the design. In many ways, it continues to function exactly as it was intended. The systems governing our lives today remain embedded in their colonial roots. From policing and prisons to child protection, housing, health and education, these systems continue to reproduce the same harms. That is why fixing one part while leaving the rest untouched will never work and why Australia needs a national truth-telling process.

Truth-telling is necessary because the harm has been national. The policies were national. The impacts are national. Without a shared, honest reckoning with this history, the same systems will continue to produce the same outcomes.

Truth-telling creates the foundation for accountability, structural reform and real change, not symbolic gestures. First Peoples are not without answers. We have always held the solutions. When our communities are respected, properly resourced and empowered to lead, we deliver stronger, sustainable outcomes for our people. This is not theory. It is proven. It is fact.

Truth-telling demands that people listen. Not only to the trauma inflicted on First Peoples, but to our strength, resistance, survival and knowledge- for our country and for our people. It asks the nation to listen deeply, to challenge long-held myths and to confront an uncomfortable question: why were we never taught this?

Without truth and without First Peoples leading the way, there can be no justice. There can be no healing. And there can be no unity.

If this country is serious about closing the gap, ending systemic harm and creating a shared future that is united, then a national truth-telling process led by First Peoples is not optional, it is essential. That is why we Walk For Truth.

The National Walk For Truth is a collective act of responsibility. It brings people together to walk side by side, across Country and through communities, carrying the truth of this nation. The painful, the confronting, the powerful and the hopeful. It is about showing leadership not just in words, but in action.

To heal this nation, to close the gap, we must first come together and tell the truth. We do that by walking, alongside First Peoples, alongside one another and by showing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, political leaders, community leaders and everyday Australians that this nation is ready to face its history honestly.

When we walk together on the National Walk For Truth, we walk step by step for love of Country, respect for people, accountability for the past and responsibility to future generations.

This is how healing begins. This is how unity is built.

I invite you to come join us.

The National Walk for Truth will take place from Sunday 19 April to Wednesday 27 May, starting from the steps of Victorian Parliament and moving together towards Canberra. Find out how you can get involved here.

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About the author

Travis Lovett

Travis is a proud Kerrupmara Gunditjmara, Boandik man and Traditional Owner who served as Deputy Chair and Commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia’s first formal truth-telling inquiry. A lifelong advocate for justice and cultural preservation, Lovett has held senior leadership roles in the Victorian Public Service, including Executive Director and Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet. His leadership has been pivotal in advancing Treaty and truth-telling, reforming Koori Courts and protecting cultural heritage across Victoria.

Lovett’s commitment to truth was powerfully embodied in his 513km “Walk for Truth,” a symbolic and deeply personal journey from Gunditjmara Country to Melbourne, marking the Commission’s closing chapter. His work helped amplify First Peoples’ voices, illuminate the enduring impacts of colonisation and deliver a landmark report with over 100 recommendations for systemic reform including, leading to a historic apology from the Victorian Government.

He is passionate about practicing Culture, working with Community and preserving Aboriginal languages, with a focus on healing, unity and creating lasting change.