June Oscar: Visions of a social fabric weaved by women

ISSUES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE * The Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute and Change Agenda for First Nations gender justice will be housed at the Australian National University, raising the voices of Indigenous women and girls * First Nations women and girls living rich matter to the healthy formation and growth of societies and environments * Current patriarchal structures exclude and dismiss the recognition of Indigenous women - and all women - from their role in the functioning of society * The care and work done by First Nations women to keep their communities together continues to be devalued despite an estimated market value of up to nearly $119,000 in annual salary * "I don't believe in locking up children. We should be treating them based on the need for guidance - for love." - Ms Oscar's response to a question on the age of criminal responsibility * "Rather than weaving together the social fabric, we are pulling all our reserves into safety nets; constantly responding to the crises born from trauma and hopelessness, those 'wicked problems' of widespread addictions, suicides, family violence, poverty and cycles of incarceration." * "It is the Australian sentiment post-referendum that tells me Australians want to unite, and we can through gathering the threads of the past which shape our present." * "I exist holding this vision, where I stand tall next to my grandmothers and mothers, our feet bare in the warm pindan soils of our country; gathered around us are our people and hundreds of other women and men with heritages from every part of the world ... my non-Indigenous brothers and sisters ... We all hold digging sticks and seeds, fires are lit, we sing, the country hums. All is safe, all is well."