Summit Youth Statement

May 2023

In a statement presented by youth delegates of the summit, they shared their commitment to action and vision for the future

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.

Institute Updates

Spending time with our Ways of Working

Come on the Journey to designing a First Nations gender justice workplace with us! As an Institute, we strive to embody First Nations gender justice principles in our workplace culture, employment conditions, policies and practices. As we develop this approach, we hope to be able to support other individuals, groups and organisations to become safe, non-discriminatory, inclusive, creative and meaningful working environments which enhance wellbeing and drive change. The way in which we are constructing this model at the Institute is by embedding into our work process, and embodying in our actions, our Ways of Working, Measurement, Evaluation and Learning approach and systems change practices.

The Ways of Working outlined in our Change Agenda are more than principles—they are living practices that guide how we foster connection, respect, and transformative action. These practices are grounded in the ancestral knowledge, cultural protocols, and lived experiences of First Nations women, girls, and gender-diverse peoples.

Impact Opportunties

We are highlighting opportunities across Australia for First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse mob to engage a variety of opportunities to amplify their voices. If you know of more opportunities available, please share them with us so we can highlight them in our next newsletter. You can also find opportunities posts on our Instagram and LinkedIn.

Please note: These opportunities are not affiliated with the Institute. We are highlighting them in an independent capacity.