Abstract

As First Nations young people present, we are a small representation of the many more back homein our communities and across our vast country.  As a collective we are diverse in our viewpointsand in our lived experience. This is what makes us strong. We can debate and challenge each otherwith love, care and respect. These are demonstrations of our readiness to exercise our self-directingfreedom, our moral independence, our autonomy of our own bodies, our lives, our families and ourcommunities. It is our birth-right to be able to exercise our autonomy over our culture and our future.

As the largest demographic of First Nations people, young people deserve the right to speak and be heard. There are so many other youth voices that have not been heard or valued. We want to come together with young women, men, trans and non-binary mob, neurodiverse mob and mob with disabilities. We deserve more time to connect across our diverse experiences. We deserve a national space to build meaningful relationships that enable us to create systemic change. We seek your support to host the FIRST Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander National Youth Summit that is led, designed and hosted by First Nations young people. As we step up to drink water from the well, we will not forget who dug the well. Together we will raise our families and our communities in a new future.