Reflections from Changefest25 – My thoughts, insights & musings

I acknowledge the Whadjup people as the Traditional Custodians of the skies, lands and waters of the place where Changefest25 was held. I honour their culture and care for Country.

I acknowledge the Erawirung people as the Traditional Custodians of the skies, lands and waters of the place where I live and wrote this blog. I honour their culture and care for Country.

I acknowledge the Wadawurrung people as the Traditional Custodians of the skies, land and waters of the place where I was born. I honour their culture and care for Country.

I extend my respect and gratitude to all First People of Australia, for their care and custodianship of this incredible continent that I call home. I honour their survival for millennia despite it all.

I acknowledge that spiritual connection to Country is vital for our wellbeing and resilience.

I acknowledge my role in truth telling in caring for Country.

I acknowledge my privilege to be able to attend Changefest25 and be welcomed into a national movement of hearts, minds, and hands committed to community-led systems change, working together to create a future where all people and Country thrive.

I acknowledge that at its heart, ChangeFest is guided by First Nations leadership, knowledges, and songlines — the deep, interconnected wisdom that has shaped life and belonging on this continent for tens of thousands of years and offered through the ChangeFest Statement as an invitation to all communities across the continent.

Please read this blog in the spirit it was shared; with love, compassion, and a desire to learn. I wish to state that in no way am I wanting to impose myself on others with my writing, but I feel a deep desire to share my thoughts and inspirations with whoever may be reading this, and I am very grateful that you are, I warmheartedly wish you all the very best.

I strive to be a better person each day but sometimes I am not. I wish to live in a society that sustainably exists within our planetary limits and that has a loving heart at its core. Hopefully my writing will go some way to showing why this is important and how we can achieve this.

I hope this blog inspires some reflection and hope and who knows, it might even encourage you to consider attending next year’s ChangeFest.

…

Held during Kambarang, the Noongar season of change and renewal, this year’s theme, ‘Creating a New Way’, invited us to explore community agency in addressing the injustices of the past and imagining new futures through the strength of collaboration in the present. The foundation of the theme comes from the Walyalup Story as developed by the Elders and told below.[1]

Walyalup has always been a place of deep connection — of bringing our communities together. Historically, linguistically and culturally this is a story of our community. Where we take a lead in truth telling, in building peace, in creating a future where we share, work and learn together.

In Walyalup we acknowledge the trauma of the past that continues now into the present. We practice taking a minute’s silence in our meetings. We practice processes of truth telling. It is important that we tell the stories of our past, that we tell the truths of our past. It is by telling the truth we can start to heal and work with our young people to create better futures.

All our families are impacted by the Stolen Generation and continued racism, and this plays havoc with our kids and our grand kids. Our young people are important — we have a focus on healing the past trauma in our current generation, to ensure we are teaching our emerging leaders the ways of the Elders. We are not asking for sympathy — but for empathy and trust.

We are taking these steps from a strong foundation. We have shifted mindsets through our local events and celebrations — a catalyst for a growing conversation about changing the date in which we celebrate Australia’s national day. It’s now just the way we do things around here and everyone is included.

With reconciliation – with the right agreements in place with the Government, non-government agencies, local government, (all parts of the community) with truth telling, and with a focus on the future we are creating a new way. A way that is community led first and always.

We have to be forward, because we’ve been left out for so long. This is what ChangeFest means to us. An opportunity to step up and share our stories — our stories of past hurts, our stories of strength and resilience. To find a new way. To build a future with our young people based on truth and healing.[2]

DAY 1 Wednesday 19^th November

We were greeted with a peach of a morning for the first day of ChangeFest25. Still being on South Australian time, I was awake early so was up and about making the most of the awesome weather with a walk in and around Fremantle. This is the second time I have been here and I just love it; the place has a great vibe.

Today started at the Esplanade Park for the Opening Ceremony. As is my usual routine I arrived early and found a spot under the shade of the big Norfolk Island Pines to read my book and await the start of proceedings. I have just started reading Revolusi by David Van Reybrouck which I bought at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival a couple of weeks ago. It is a great read about Indonesia’s struggle for independence.

It wasn’t long before Julie from Our Town Berri joined me for a chat, it was Julie who made me aware of ChangeFest in the first place, resulting in me attending ChangeFest24 in Mildura last year. It was such a profound experience I had to come to Fremantle this year. Julie and I chatted often over the next 3 days about what we learned, it’s great to be able to share the experience of ChangeFest with friends.

The Opening Ceremony was hosted by the Walyalup Elders and Leaders group and the local Aboriginal Community. Thank you to Uncle Simon Forrest who welcomed us to Walyalup with the message to be kind, to be generous, and to be open. I look forward to living those values while on Walyalup land. I am also looking forward to listening and learning.

It was moving to witness Aunty Faith Green and the Mildura Elders pass the message stick to the Walyalup elders, it brought back memories of last years ChangeFest. The importance of this moment was captured by Aunty Faith when she said, “These songlines of change bridge time and place … each handover is a longer weave in the turning of the wheel…threads of stories, place and responsibility, stretching from one place to the next.”

This officially marked the beginning of ChangeFest25.

Tanya Plibersek, our Federal Minister for Social Services, shared her Opening Statement followed by a frank and honest conversation with Narelda Jacobs. It was refreshing listening to a politician speaking from the heart. We need more of it and less of the media grabs and manipulation.

Some of the points she made resonated with me, including that genuine change requires risk and that it’s the ordinary person who will make the change the world needs, as Minister Plibersek said, “Real leadership doesn’t always come from people with titles. It comes from people who know their communities, who live the challenges, and who work together to find solutions. It’s why I believe so strongly in community-led change.”

The opening ceremony was coming to an end just as some light rain started to fall. I guess the ancestors were telling us it’s time to wander up to Fremantle Oval and get into ChangeFest25.

We all made our way from Esplanade Park to the Fremantle Oval. One of the things I most enjoyed about Changefest in Mildura was walking on Country between the venues to get to the next session and this was the same for Fremantle as well. It provides the opportunity for either a chat or some self-reflection on what you had just heard. Thinking is sometimes best done on our feet.

Morning tea was delicious as was the catering for the next three days, we were all well fed and watered.

We had already met one of our MC’s for the event, Ingrid Cumming, down at Esplanade Park, but it was much to my delight to learn that Ingrid was sharing MCing duties with Mark Yettica-Paulson. Mark MCed with Shanesha Togo last year and they were awesome. And this year, Mark and Ingrid were also awesome, bringing such a warm, energetic, fun and thought provoking vibe and energy to Changefest, they both really made the event a delight.

Ingrid & Mark our MCs (photo courtesy of ChangeFest Facebook Page)

Mark and Ingrid kicked things off, reminding us of the importance to bring ceremony into the everyday. They also reminded us of the 3 underpinning principles of the ChangeFest Statement:

Shared leadership between First Nations and other Australians
Collaboration and recognising that everyone has a role to play in changing the systems they are a part of, and
Power, which is needed to bring change.

The opening plenary included Narelda Jacobs sharing her perspectives on the stories that are being told by and in communities across this continent. Together with local Elder, Dr Jim Morrison and former Fremantle Mayor, Brad Pettitt, this session explored the stories of Walyalup and Western Australia that are helping this community step into new futures and how the ChangeFest principles are setting the foundations of change that we see across the nation.

There were three things that stuck with me from this discussion. Firstly learning about the history of Wadjemup (Rottnest Island). Before the sea rose some 7,000 years ago, it was joined to the mainland and the history of Whadjuk Noongar people details ancestors walking to Wadjemup to perform ceremony and look after Country. Wadjemup, meaning the land across the sea where the spirits are, holds a deep cultural connection for Whadjuk Noongar people.

However, the island is now a sorrowful place for many Aboriginal people. For nearly a century, from 1838 to 1931, Rottnest Island was used as a place of incarceration, segregation and forced labour for over 4,000 Aboriginal men and boys who were forcibly taken from regions across WA. Of those taken to the Island, almost 400 died while imprisoned, and were buried in unmarked graves on the Island.

Secondly, listening to Brad Pettitt recount the experience of being the Mayor of the City of Fremantle when it decided to scrap its Australia Day fireworks and hold a more ‘inclusive’ event on January 28. This was quite an emotional moment and there was a lot of love in the room. Brad is now on the Legislative Council in WA, elected in 2021 after being the Mayor of the City of Fremantle from 2009 until he stepped down to run for the Legislative Council.

Thirdly, learning about the work by Yokai from Jim Morrison. Yokai supports the needs of individuals and families in Western Australia adversely affected by the policies and practices of separating Aboriginal peoples from their families, communities, countries and cultures.

Jim spoke passionately about the impact of intergenerational trauma and the fact that people were kidnapped and arrested, not stolen. He shared this video – Will You Stand With Us?

Yokai was born out of the inaugural State Convention of WA Stolen Generations Survivors held in 2013. At the State Convention, the core themes of truth, justice and healing mirrored those of the Bringing Them Home Report. This report acknowledges the enormity of the harms caused by the state condoned, forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families between 1910 and the 1970s, as a result of racist assimilationist policies. The Report has 54 recommendations for enabling healing for Stolen Generations survivors and the wider community. Yokai follows these recommendations. The impact of generations of forced child removal in WA and to a lesser extent the rest of Australia is now publicly and internationally recognised as part of Australia’s Genocide.

This is substantiated in the film, Genocide in a Wildflower State released in 2024. Here is a link to the trailer – Genocide in the Wildflower State. The film is also available on SBS on Demand.

Jim also highlighted the failure to acknowledge indigenous history and lamented that the Burrup Rock Art isn’t revered like the pyramids are. To be honest, I was not aware of the Burrup Rock Art, so after a little search on the interwebs I have learned that the Burrup Rock Art is part of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape. Murujuga is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and encompasses the Burrup Peninsula and 44 islands, islets and rocky outcrops that form the Dampier Archipelago. The Murujuga Cultural Landscape has been nominated to the World Heritage List and covers 99,881 hectares of land and sea Country.

The Murujuga Cultural Landscape is one of the longest continuous cultural landscapes in the world, with tangible and intangible attributes that document at least 50,000 years of land and sea management by Aboriginal people and holds one of the world’s most dense and diverse collections of rock engravings (petroglyphs). The tangible and intangible attributes that contribute to the significance of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape include petroglyphs, stone structures, spiritual and sacred sites, archaeological sites, traditional knowledge and cultural practices that continue today, ecological knowledge and stewardship, social and cultural kinship systems and obligations through Law.[3]

I digress, but I get Jim’s point. We have failed to acknowledge the cultural history of this continent which is to our detriment as it is such an important part of the human story and holds so much wisdom and knowledge. Thank you to Nerida, Brad and Jim for sharing your stories. We need to sit with these stories to start change and through the ChangeFest principles we can change for the better.

This afternoon I had a bit of a conundrum. It was time for the first breakout session and there are five to choose from. I was interested in attending the session titled ‘Australia’s community-centred systems change Funders Practice and Learning Framework’ as it was presented by several of the philanthropic organisations who support community-led change and I’d like to learn more about them, I was also interested in ‘Centering Communities in Government Reform: From Vision to Practice’ as I have worked in the Local Government sector for many years . But the conference also offered a ‘Manjaree Walking Tour’. I was really keen to experience the walk and I figured this afternoon was the best time to do it. I had to make that call before I got here as bookings were required for the walk as numbers were limited.

The walking tour was one of my highlights of ChangeFest25. It was an enjoyable and informative walk and the facilitator, Levi Islam was brilliant. As was Rueben Hayden-Nelson, who assisted Levi and together they shared their knowledge with the group. There was a strong rapport between Levi and Rueben and as Levi said, it … “Was a joy to walk alongside him and share culture and story.”

Rueben has a website, KNB Culture & Arts, check it out. KNB Culture & Arts makes rebuilding strength in Koorlangka (Children), Yok (Women) and Maaman (Men) the main objective, by highlighting their journey through Cultural Knowledge, Kinship Connections and Social Investment.

The tour started at the Walyalup Aboriginal Cultural Centre, affectionately known as the WACC. The WACC hosts a program of workshops and classes for art, craft and languages and there are examples of the art and craft on display throughout the centre. I learned that the programs coincide with the six Noongar seasons:

Kambarang: October/November. The wildflower season and birth of many birds.
Birak: December/January. Noongars family groups moving together on the coast.
Bunuru: February/March. The hot season, camped on the coast, fishing and gathering coastal delicacies.
Djeran: April/May. The fat season, salmon schooling and couples paired up.
Makuru: June/July. Noongars go back inland, fertility seasons and swans moulting.
Djiba: August/September. Grass season and time to harvest root vegetables.

The Walyalup Aboriginal Community Centre (WACC) – Photo courtesy of WACC Facebook page

Levi and Rueben took us up to the Roundhouse and down to Bathers Beach, sharing stories about Whadjuk history and culture, in particular stories of Walyalup, a place of ceremonies, significant cultural practices and trading. I enjoyed the story about how the mouth of the Swan River was created, where Wagyl fought the Crocodile spirit and used the crocodile’s tail to separate fresh water from salt water. We also learned about the strong connection to Wadjemup (Rottnest Island). I am fascinated by the stories of the rising sea level and floods. There are 29 places around the coast of Australia where First People stories recall a time when the sea level was lower than today, and today I have learned about two of them, from the Whadjuk and as well as those associated with Murujuga. These stories represent some of the oldest oral traditions in human history.

Anyways, the walk was great, albeit it was pretty hot and humid this arvo, so I got a good sweat up. Whilst the walk gave me a much greater appreciation of Whadjuk Noongar history and culture, I was also thankful to meet Levi on day 1 as we caught up regularly for the remainder of the event, and I really enjoyed our conversations. Thank you for the chats, encouragement and fellowship Levi, I look forward to meeting again one day.

Tonight I dined at The Cray Seafood & Grill with friends from the Our Town movement, the food was delicious and the company awesome. Thanks for a great evening.

DAY 2 – Thursday 20^th November

Before we embarked on the day, Mark and Ingrid encouraged us to reflect on how we interact with the day and each other, by being mindful of …

What was music to the ears? (Listen)

What caused a stirring in our stomach? (Feel)

What was healing for our heart? (Connect)

We were encouraged to stay in the tension if it arises, don’t just hear what we want to hear, and don’t avoid.

The program for today highlighted stories of community-led reconciliation, peacebuilding and healing, and shared practical approaches for driving change – including measuring impact, sharing power, building community accountability, community-owned resources, and embedding reflection and learning.

The first session was a special video plenary, ‘The Power of Communities for Brave New Futures’ with Cormac Russell. His most recent books are The Connected Community and Rekindling Democracy and he is an exponent of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). Cormac invites us to reimagine the future by returning power to where it truly belongs, in communities themselves.

He talked about how we are good at seeing the symptoms but missing the causes. An example of this for me is the recent social media ban for kids under 16. I think the ban is ridiculous. The cause of our issues with social media are due to the algorithms trying to keep our attention so it can be monetised. Perhaps we should just legislate that the algorithms used for social media should encourage an inclusive, honest, curious and loving community. I digress. Anyway …

Cormac made a few other statements that resonated with me, including that it is important to think of people as citizens and not clients, the neighbourhood is the primary location for health and wellbeing and the aim of all governments and institutions should be to support people to bring their gifts to the community.

Central to Cormac’s message is Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) a philosophy and practice related to asset (strength) focused, place based and community driven initiatives. While practiced intuitively by many community builders for a long period, it was the work of John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann over a 40-year period and their creation of the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA in 1995 that gave it its name and prominence. To learn more about Asset Based Community Development I recommend this link. Within it I found the following quote from Lao Tzu that I think encapsulates what community leadership is all about …

Go to the people. Live among them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build on what they have. But of the best leaders when their task is done, the people will remark – “We have done it ourselves.”

Perhaps instead of thinking of being community leaders we think of ourselves as community connectors?

Reflecting on this session, Julie talked about Berri. Berri has become the ‘Rundle Mall of service providers’, creating a situation where people are lost in a world of service providers and entrenched into a welfare state. There is no denying the need for essential services and assistance, however, many of the services people depend upon, should only be temporary measures to assisting them through a difficult time or crisis. The goal of service delivery should be to make people as independent in their own community as possible especially when the longer a person relies on a service, the harder it becomes to break away. Similarly, the longer a person is disconnected from their community, the harder it becomes to re-engage.

The challenge we have coming out of this session was changing the conversation from focusing on community needs to community strengths. To change the perspective from one of scarcity to one of abundance.

For the first break out session after morning tea, I decided to attend ‘Centering community for a democracy that works for all people and country’. This session asked us, what could it look like to reimagine democracy in Australia so that it genuinely works for all people and Country?

Democracy is a central theme in the book I am writing and this is the sort of question I have been asking myself over the last few years, especially as many of us are losing our faith in democracy. Most of us here in Australia perceive democracy as voting in an election every 3-4 years. The text book would tell us that we have a representative democracy[4] and constitutional monarchy. Some may argue that we are a liberal democracy[5].

Beyond thinking about the formal structures and definitions, we can reimagine democracy as practices, relationships and ways of being together. And we only need to look to the First People of Australia to learn from their deliberative systems rooted in their practices of deliberation and democracy. An example is the yarning circle, where people sit in a circle to share experiences, knowledge or ideas. It is a practice that involves speaking and listening from the heart and fosters respectful relationships. Yarning circles have been used for thousands of years and act as a conversational process for storytelling, sharing knowledge, safeguarding beliefs and culture, and finding the right ways to solve problems and criticisms without conflict, hostility, or blame. Or as said today, we talk it out until resolved. Indonesians have something similar that they call Musyawarah mufakat, which embodies a profound commitment to consensus-building and collective decision-making.

When we think of democracy as practices and relationships it can encourage us to be open to listening. To be connected and to show up with curiosity. To be comfortable being uncomfortable. To me the essence of democracy is building trust. Trust can be built by bringing effort and sincerely to all things.

David Graeber in his book ‘Debt’ talks about communism being the foundation of all human societies and the basis of all human relationships. This is not communism as a system or political ideology but recognising it as our fundamental interdependence and the substance of social peace.[6]

Democracy is the thread to bring us together, it is how we interact with each other and the world.

The following potential future was considered at this session, and I think it’s a great way to end this summary and leave you with something to ponder. What if …. “Democracy is not a fixed form of government but a living architecture that evolves … to expand belonging, deepen agency, build shared decision-making … It is, at its heart, a self-renewing process through which societies learn to live together within complexity and volatility.” (Johar 2025)

We need space to dare to dream and I dream of living in a democracy like this.

After lunch there was another 5 breakout sessions to choose from. I decided to head over to the Fremantle Council Offices where ‘Meaningful Change – Walking with Aboriginal Peoples and Organisations’ was being held in the Bibbool Council Chambers. This session asked, When / Where / What does it take to create meaningful change by turning the lens within? AnglicareWA is allowing a process of decolonisation to take place, and shifting the balance of power by building trust, growing respectful relationships, listening, learning and sharing knowledge with Aboriginal Peoples and organisations.

This session was led by Jarred Wall who also shared his own story as part of this session. This was the most poignant, and inspiring, part of the session. As luck would have it, I found a link to a recording of Jarred sharing his story on the Centre for Stories website, here is a link.

Congratulations goes to Jarred as he was recently named as the 2025 recipient of the RAC Arena’s Limelight music support fund. Jarred’s stage name is Boox Kid and this support will go towards completing his second EP. I look forward to listening to it.

For the final session today we shared our reflections. I was sharing my reflections with Jenny from NSW and she made some observations that I’ve thought about often since ChangeFest. Firstly, she said that it felt like we (white/western people) were thousands of years behind First Peoples cultures and that we are playing catch up. She spoke of the holistic approach and wisdom that everything is interconnected. She also mentioned the difference in considering wealth. For us it means money, material possessions, property and hoarding and for First People it means when you have enough to give to others, be it materials, spirit or support. This is a much more humane way of being and we should be building our society around those values instead of those imposed by capitalism.

My reflections on the day went something like this …

The music to my ears was changing the perspective from one of scarcity to one of abundance.

The stirring in my stomach was the sense that our institutional settings are so baked in that we cant see an alternative, it feels like we are rattling towards madness.

The Healing for my heart came from remembering that great things happen when people get together (especially sharing a meal or a drink) and always take the time, however long it takes.

This evening I joined the Fremantle Biennale Walking Tour with the festival Artistic Director Tom Mùller. Fremantle Biennale is a festival of site-responsive contemporary art. We visited a bunch of installations and exhibitions located throughout the historic west end. I really enjoyed this tour albeit I didn’t quite get the first exhibition but some of the others that followed were awesome. But that’s art, some things you get and like, others you don’t. What’s that saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

Day 3 – Friday 21^st November

The final day of the program provided opportunities for storytelling, listening, reflection and planning action for ourselves, our communities and the ChangeFest movement. Today was all about stepping bravely into the future.

We were encouraged to be inspired by country, conversations and connections.

We heard from storyteller, Ron Bradfield. Ron is one of those people you can sit and listen to for hours, I really enjoyed his story. I didn’t find the story he told on the interwebs but here is a link to Ron’s story about how a chance meeting with a stranger led to a trip down memory lane into the multicultural heritage and harmony of Broome in the 1950s. I found this on the Centre for Stories website.

Ron said a few things that resonated with me, the need to let go of fear of others and that people are awesome. But the main message was never get sick of making cups of tea. Cups of tea are all about yarning and kitchen tables … if only we could distil all the wisdom shared around our kitchen tables.

Democracy starts at home around the kitchen table so never get sick of making cups of tea.

And keep turning up with effort and sincerity.

I made a few notes from today, including we need human understanding more than ever but humanities is being decimated in our universities. Emotion is not something to flee, it is something to hold. Everything comes back to Communication, Kinship and Relationships.

As ChangeFest25 came to an end we were asked the following questions…

What am I taking away from Changefest25?

As mentioned, democracy is a central theme in the book I am writing so the discussions that came from the session where we asked what it could look like to reimagine democracy in Australia have reiterated some ideas and opened my mind to some more. I think it is imperative we reimagine democracy, for example I believe the senate should be filled by sortition, a ballot whereby any citizen could be selected to be a senator. We could keep elections for the House of Representatives, but sortition could ensure a truly representative house of the people to ensure government decisions reflect the will of the people. Sortition as a key to democracy is actually some ancient Greek wisdom.

The Enlightenment came about due to the influx of ideas that Europeans were being exposed to from the societies and cultures that were coming under their control. As David Graeber and David Wengrow wrote, …there is a reason why so many key Enlightenment thinkers insisted that their ideals of individual liberty and political equality were inspired by Native Americans. Because it was true.[7]

The human story is best defined as a great exchange, at times in violence and conflict, but also in admiration and the adoption of ideas and philosophies. It is time for the wisdom and knowledge of all First People from across the world, especially here in Australia, to be given its due recognition and respect. It is this wisdom that will hold the key for us to create a society that sustainably exists with a loving heart at its core.

I am also taking away an idea that has been bubbling away in my head for a while now. That is, a legacy of colonialism is the need for healing. This requires connection between each other and with the earth and we can enable that through more deliberative and inclusive democratic practices.

We must change our perspective from one of scarcity to one of abundance.

We need space to dare to dream.

Great things happen when people get together.

What do I want to see ChangeFest do in the future? What can we improve?

Just keeping doing what you are doing.

What am I going to do?

I have to finish my book. That is my priority as I am already way behind the deadlines I have set myself.

But in 2026 I will also get involved with Our Town Berri and learn more about community led change.

I want to spend more time around kitchen tables sharing cups of tea.

I need to work out how I can get myself to Cairns for the next ChangeFest.

…

One final story to end this blog. I was on the train heading to the Perth airport, the fella sitting next to me started a conversation. I had my suitcase with me so I was obviously going somewhere. He asked where I was heading? I told him I was heading home to Loxton and that I was here attending ChangeFest. His eyes lit up, he asked if I knew a Levi, I said I did. He said he met Levi on this train yesterday. Levi had his yidaki with him, so he was asking him about it. Levi proceeded to play the yidaki which was followed by applause from all in the carriage. We just got to his stop, and I forgot to get his name, anyway, we wished each other all the best and safe travels. I love random interactions like these, reinforces the idea that we should think of strangers as friends we haven’t met yet.

…

I feel blessed to have attended Walyalup ChangeFest on Wadjuk Noongar Country and am grateful there are so many people doing amazing things in their respective communities. I have learned so much from so many different people over the last couple of days.

Thank you to all ChangeFest peeps who put this event on. Especially Mark and Ingrid, our MCs, they were awesome.

To wrap up this blog I will leave you with the final words from Tanya Plibersek’s opening statement …

So today, I want to leave you with a call to action.

Keep leading. Keep collaborating. Keep caring.

It takes courage to lead change. It takes patience. It takes heart. And I want you to know—I’m right here with you.

Uncle Shane from Redfern once said, “We had to change it ourselves. We built this together—and that’s what makes it strong. That’s what makes a difference.”

That’s the spirit of ChangeFest. That’s the spirit of community-led change. And that’s the future I want for Australia.

Thank you for reading this blog.

All the best.

If you enjoyed this blog, you may enjoy some of my others …

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