I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Bunurong, Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung, and Wadawurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Custodians of the land now known as Naarm (Melbourne) and the surrounding Country on which I live and work.

I pay my deepest respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging, and recognise the ongoing spiritual, cultural, and physical connection these communities hold to their land, waters, and skies. Sovereignty was never ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

I acknowledge the profound and ongoing harm caused by colonisation, including the violent dispossession of land, the disruption of cultures and languages, the forced separation of families, and the targeted killing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This harm is not just historical. It is present and active in the systemic and interpersonal racism and prejudice that is deeply woven into the fabric of so-called Australia; in a carceral system that continues to imprison Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including children, at devastating and shameful rates; in deaths in custody that continue with alarming regularity and without accountability; and in the everyday violence of a society that too often refuses to see, hear, or value Indigenous lives. It is perpetuated through the continuation of colonial structures, in government policy, in institutions, in law, and in the systems of power that were designed to marginalise, silence, and exclude Indigenous peoples, and which continue to do so today.

I commit to continuing to listen, learn, and do the work as an ally, knowing that this work is ongoing and lifelong. I am deeply privileged to call Naarm home.