27/05/2026
Before National Reconciliation Week begins, I challenge each of you to consider:
What would reconciliation look like if we treated it as a daily practice instead of a yearly event?
What would 365-day reconciliation actually require from us?
Not slogans. Not social media tiles. Not symbolic gestures that disappear when the week ends. But everyday choices.
Maybe it would look like:
- creating culturally safe environments every single day
- changing hiring practices instead of only changing language
- embedding Indigenous perspectives beyond NAIDOC and NRW calendars
- building relational governance, not just consultation processes
- listening deeply instead of listening defensively
- staying engaged long after the spotlight disappears
.. I could go on longer... But reconciliation was never meant to be seasonal.
It was meant to shape how we walk with one another consistently. And truthfully, people can feel the difference between organisations that engage because it’s expected… and those that engage because relationships matter. Real reconciliation asks more of us.
It asks us to:
1. remain uncomfortable long enough to grow
2. shift behaviour, not just branding
3. prioritise connection over optics
4. move from awareness into accountability
5. understand that trust is built slowly, relationally, and over time
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, this has never been a one-week conversation. So maybe, before this week begins, the question isn’t:
“What are we posting for Reconciliation Week?”
Maybe the better question is: “How are we embedding reconciliation into the way we lead, relate, employ, listen, and walk together every day of the year?”
That’s the kind of reconciliation worth building.
