Reconcilation Week prompts Leanne Liddle to call out those who silence her

In a week that asks for bravery, NT Australian of the Year, calls out racism and the people that have silenced her. Read here.

Reconcilation Week calls for bravery; for everyone to challenge the way racism impacts the lives of First Nations’ people.

The Northern Territory’s Australian of the Year, Leanne Liddle, will share her personal story at an event in Darwin on Wednesday.

The grandchild of central desert people, Leanne’s story highlights the systemic failings of governments and institutions that oppressed generations of women in her family.

The speech, shared with the NT News ahead of Wednesday’s event, proudly titled ‘Stay in Your Lane’ is less about Ms Liddle’s achievements and more about what “people did and didn’t do”.

“My grandmothers could speak 12 languages between them and recreate landscapes with fire skills that would send shivers up any environmental scientist,” her speech reads.

“But my nanna was only seen as ‘valuable’ when she gave birth to a baby girl with almost porcelain-white skin.”

The speech quickly takes the audience through a history steeped in racism - from slavery and the Stolen Generation to people silencing her own voice.

Leanne wants to antagonise privilege.

“Buckle yourselves up,” she said.

“Because your privilege is not the same as mine and it never will be. Your privilege is white privilege.”

Leanne will bluntly call out those who have been a ‘theif of (her) privilege” and told her “that (she) must stay in her lane”.

AJA Board

She will walk the audience through her own history as a police officer, lawyer and more recently her work creating the Aboriginal Justice Agreement.

Work she is deeply proud of, not for simply what it has penned but for the change she hopes will reform justice, reduce incarceration and ultimately improve the lives of all in the Territory.

“Racism has been present in almost every aspect of my life, so it was of no surprise to me when it was raised at every consultation for the Justice Agreement, all 160 of them, across the entire Territory.”

Shared on the 30th anniversary of the Mabo decision, The Night Under the Stars with Leanne Liddle event will cap off Reconciliation Week, which runs from the May 26 to June 3 every year. Tickets for the event at the Darwin Botanical Gardens are still available.

Originally published as Reconcilation Week prompts Leanne Liddle to call out those who silence her