Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Friday 21 October
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Presented in partnership with the Melbourne Festival.
From the battles for basic civil rights four decades ago, to the overturning of terra nullius and the stolen generations apology, Australian Indigenous activists have achieved much over successive generations. Yet it would seem many aspirations have been left behind along the way, and there is so much left to achieve. What are the short-term and long-term goals Indigenous Australians are setting for their communities? How are the pathways to change themselves changing? And who will be leading the way?
Featuring
Linda Burney
Linda Burney was elected Member for Canterbury in 2003, representing the ALP. Linda is the first Aboriginal Australian to be elected to the NSW Parliament and is a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation.
Linda is currently the NSW Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Planning Infrastructure and Heritage, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation, Shadow Minister for the Hunter, and Shadow Minister for the Central Coast. Her commitment to Indigenous issues spans more than 30 years.
Kim Hill
Kim Hill is the chief executive of the Northern Land Council in the Northern Territory.
Before joining the Northern Land Council as CEO in 2008, Mr Hill worked as a senior government advisor to the Northern Territory Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and the Business Minister.
In 1990 he was elected to the Yilli Rreung ATSIC Regional Council in Darwin and went on to be elected Chairman. He also served as ATSIC Commissioner for the North Zone and was appointed by the ATSIC Board of Commissioners as their representative on the board of Indigenous Business Australia.
Kim began his career at the Northern Land Council in the Land Claims section from 1988 to 1994, before joining the now defunct Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) as a Project Officer based in Katherine. He went on to work for former MLA Jack Ah Kit and as an indigenous consultant to the Family Court of Australia.
Kim Hill was born and bred in Darwin and belongs to a number of language groups including the Ngarriman, Tiwi and Jingili peoples of the Northern Territory. He was educated in Darwin at St John’s College and then Darwin High School.
Tania Major
Tania Major is a Kokoberra woman from the remote community of Kowanyama in Cape York Queensland. Since 2002 Tania has publicly addressed many national and international forums, speaking on indigenous and youth affairs.
Tania’s aim has been to bring the realities of life in many remote communities, particularly those in Cape York, to the foreground of wider Australian thinking and to engage mainstream Australians in the collaborative challenge of seeking solutions to longstanding problems.
Tania was her community first university graduate, attaining a degree in Criminology from Griffith University. At 21 she became the youngest elected regional councillor in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).
Robbie Thorpe
Robbie Thorpe is a long-time activist and the presenter of Melbourne community radio station 3CR’s ‘Fire First’ program.
Robbie is from the Krautungalung people of the Gunnai Nation, the traditional owners of Lake Tyers. He has been active in indigenous solutions and has been a strong advocate for ‘Pay the Rent’, an indigenous initiative intended to provide an independent economic resource for Aboriginal peoples.
Karla Grant
Karla Grant is host and executive producer of SBS Television’s ‘Living Black’.
Karla has dedicated a huge part of her career to working in Indigenous news and current affairs, witnessing and reporting on the shifts in policy and attitude towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Karla started at SBS over 16 years ago, as a presenter, producer, reporter and director of the Walkley Award-winning ‘ICAM’ (Indigenous Current Affairs Magazine) program. In 2002 she was appointed executive producer of the network’s Indigenous Media Unit and from there she developed the concept for ‘Living Black’, which first aired in February 2003.
Karla has also produced TV specials on reconciliation, land rights and the 1998 Federal election, as well as crafting documentaries on the 2001 and 2002 Survival concerts. For the past seven years, she’s overseen SBS’s coverage of the Deadly Awards, the national awards for Indigenous excellence in music, sport, entertainment and community service. She also regularly devotes her time to do volunteer work in her community.
Before joining SBS, Karla worked as a producer, director, reporter and presenter of Channel 10’s ‘Aboriginal Australia’, a national Aboriginal magazine program. She also worked for a leading production house in Canberra and hosted a weekly show on community radio station 2XX.
A keen long-distance runner and athlete, Karla was born in Adelaide to a Dutch father and an Aboriginal mother. She is proud of her heritage and is passionate about giving Indigenous Australians a voice. She also believes that ‘Living Black’ successfully fosters better understanding among all Australians about the plight of Indigenous people.
Karla lives in Sydney and is a devoted mum to her three children, Lowanna, John and Dylan.