By Amara Bains, 27 March 2024

The defeat of the Voice referendum on 14 October 2023, aggravated an unhealed wound between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians with the majority of Indigenous Australia spending the following week in mourning.

The request for constitutional recognition by Indigenous Australians was the first step in a three-step plan for reconciliation and healing outlined in the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart.  Voice. Treaty. Truth.  With the first part of the plan overturned by disinformation and a legitimisation of racist sentiment, we must now throw our strength behind treaty and truths. 

At the end of December 2023, ARACY signed an Equity Partnership Agreement with Indigenous consultancy, Riteways, led by Dr. John Davis. It was the culmination of months of internal reflection on how we can do better in supporting First Nations colleagues and communities by starting with ourselves. The Equity Partnership Agreement is our tangible commitment to reconciliation and a beginning of our journey in decolonising our approaches.

At its heart, the Equity Partnership Agreement (EqP) is the acknowledgement that to truly support an equitable Australia, a First Nations perspective is required in all that we do – it must be incorporated into our strategies, our policies and our projects from the start.

Of course, ARACY had all these things – strategies, policies, projects – long before the EqP was signed, so our first step in bringing the EqP to life is to focus on the new. That means we seek Indigenous perspectives, ideas and critique from the very beginning – from idea generation to project design. By taking this approach we start to develop other ways of seeing and doing. This is the essence of decolonisation or, in Aboriginal English, dekol (Yunakaporta, et.al., in print).

In working to the principle of ‘beginning at the beginning’ ARACY actively moves away from tokenistic pre- and post-design consultations, flawed co-design and collaborations and moves towards a highly relational and dialogic model. A conscious effort to prioritise Indigenous knowledges, cultures and practices over the dominant hegemonies and values.

Before we unpack the dekol aspect, it’s important to understand why this is even something we are undertaking. Let’s consider the current socio-political context that we are working in – a context of staggering inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians where our First Nations people experience higher morbidity and mortality rates, higher rates of incarceration and alarming rates of removal of children from family and community, for example. 

Already, some state governments have started on the path to treaty and even the first truth-telling (makarrata) tribunals have been established, yet there is still an overwhelming need to change the narrative surrounding the origins of modern-day Australia.  It starts by coming to grips with our recent history – the attempted genocide of First Australians, the widespread use of slavery to build the country, and the policies that normalised racist belief and action into the Australian psyche and systems, for example the White Australia immigration policy.  It is time for non-Indigenous Australians to recognise the unparalleled value of over 65,000 years of continuous culture, a culture that has survived megafauna, an ice age and countless other calamities – including colonisation. It’s time to rediscover the systems and knowledges that supported a people to survive for over 65,000 years, especially now, as we sit in an ecosystem of poly-crises. 

This is why dekol is prioritised in our work. In its simplest understanding, dekol is about questioning your sources of knowledge and information, it is about opening your mind to the possibility of other ways of thinking, knowing and doing. For ARACY, this is about acknowledging that the knowledges, practices and cultures of First Nations Australians can provide us with alternative world views which bring with them opportunities to problem solve and create differently. It is about talking with First Nations Australians not talking to them.

Dekol provides an opportunity to build connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as well as to create space to heal and come together as a nation. Dekol means knowing our history, so we are not bound to repeat it.

For ARACY we are starting with ourselves. We are taking a long hard look at the way we do things. With our EqP, we can engage Dr John Davis to share his knowledge and to provoke us into different ways of seeing – especially his latest insights forged from around the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University as a founding Senior Research Fellow and fortified in his recent book, Riteway Flows- Strength-basing, empowering and regenerating Indigenous Knowledge Education.

Dr John, or JD as he is fondly known by his respective communities, calls on us to begin ‘the work’ from a culturally proficient standpoint. There is work to do and with the EqP and in relationship with JD and his expertise we begin this path together.

ARACY must shift our gaze wider and further for our children and for generations to come; to reconsider what has been considered immutable and to venture with respect to relearn old knowledges.  To move from pervasive instrumentalist approaches to knowledge and people to a more relational dynamic, for epistemic and intergenerational social justice. 

Recognise. Rediscover. Reconsider. Respect. Relearn. 

Amara Bains - ARACY Technical Lead Insights and Learning
Amara Bains – ARACY Technical Lead Insights and Learning