National Reconciliation Week 2020: In This Together
We celebrate this National Reconciliation Week 2020, and its theme In This Together. We also acknowledge 26 May, which is Sorry Day, the day before NRW2020. Please read the AASW's 2004 Statement of Apology.
Everyone has a role to play in Reconciliation, especially in light of the Black Lives Matters protests playing out across the US and now in Australia. Australia has a dark history of oppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity for us to reflect on this history and to do better into the future. As AASW President Christine Craik said in this year’s media release, “For social workers, National Reconciliation Week is also about learning from the past and working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities to address the structural disadvantage and discrimination they face in all facets of their lives, which is an ongoing consequence of colonisation. This includes advocating for Australian governments to listen to Indigenous voices and embrace a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice to parliament.”
Now, more than ever social work has the ability to mend our past wrongs and to be part of the solution of Reconciliation.
Linda Ford, AASW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Director, reflected on this year’s theme and the opportunity it affords us in these difficult times, “The theme is about all Australians being ‘In This Together’. As we have demonstrated in our response to COVID-19, we are able to come together for a common purpose. Let us come together for Reconciliation!”
The AASW is currently finalising our Reconciliation Action Plan 2020-2022 and we hope to launch it in the coming weeks.
Video
Watch our video below between AASW National President Christine Craik and AASW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander board director Linda Ford, reflecting on the theme.
Radio
Listen to Linda Ford on Kool n Deadly brekky show with host Gerry “Gman” Terati Lyons Wehi Wehi of the North Island of Aotearoa.
Read Linda's profile on the Kool n Deadly website.
Podcast episode
Social Work Focus
Read our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander editions
