The call for truth telling is not new. It did not emerge in the past decade, it did not begin with a commission or a policy framework. The call for truth telling has been spoken, clearly and consistently by First Peoples for hundreds of years.

It is a call rooted in survival. In resistance. In a deep love for Country and for future generations.

During my time as Deputy Chair and Commissioner at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, I witnessed just how powerful truth telling can be when people are willing to listen. Not just to hear but to listen deeply, to sit with the truth and to allow it to challenge what they thought they knew. To recognise how deeply our shared history continues to shape the present. Again and again, community spoke about the need to come together, to walk side by side and to heal this nation so we can move forward together.

We saw that call come to life during the Walk For Truth from Portland to Parliament. More than 22,000 people put on their shoes and in some cases charged their wheelchairs to walk with us for a journey that was 513km long. They walked across Country, through towns and communities, to hear the truths of this land and the truths of First Peoples. They also heard the truths of descendants of colonisers, truths and lived experience shaped by silence, disconnection and a desire to understand. That walk showed what is possible when people choose truth over comfort and solidarity over denial, to open their hearts and their minds.

Since that final day on the steps of Parliament, I have heard from community, every day from right across this nation. The message is consistent and unmistakable: we need national truth telling. Not someday. Not selectively. Now.

Truth telling is no longer optional. It is a necessity if this country is serious about healing, about unity and about ending the systems that continue to harm First Peoples. It is necessary for Country to heal. Necessary for our people to heal and necessary for the broader Australian population to understand the true history of the land they call home.

There is only so long you can hear the same call, echoed across generations before you know it is time to act again. To put those walking shoes back on. To elevate what community has been saying for hundreds of years.

That is why we are walking.

The National Walk For Truth begins on April 19 in Melbourne and will finish in Canberra on May 27, coinciding with the first day of Reconciliation Week. We will walk across Country, through communities, highlighting culture, carrying truth and honouring the truths of this land. Some would say the timing is no coincidence, that it feels like a message from the Ancestors. A reminder that now is the time to be "All In".

On this walk, I carry the strength and wisdom of those who came before us. I carry the Ancestors who never stopped speaking truth, even when they were punished for it. I also carry the voices of community, Elders, families and young people who have shared their lived experiences, their pain, their resistance and their hope with me.

This walk carries all of that. It carries responsibility.

The National Walk For Truth is not about blame or division. It is about honesty, accountability and repair. It is about creating the conditions for real change, not symbolic gestures, that is led by First Peoples, and for a future built on respect, justice, healing and truth.

We are calling on people everywhere to join us. To walk, to listen, to engage. For those who cannot walk, there are other ways to stand with us. We have an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for a commitment to a national truth-telling process. Signing that letter is another way to walk with us, to show that this country and its people are ready to face the truth.

Leadership does not only sit in Parliament. Leadership lives in community. It lives in the people who show up, who speak up, who dust themselves off and who refuse to let this call be ignored any longer.

The time for national truth telling is now.

And we invite you to walk with us.

Travis Lovett

Kerrupmara, Gunditjmara, Boandik

Executive Director, Centre for Truth Telling and Dialogue. University of Melbourne

Former Deputy Chair and Commissioner, Yoorrook Truth and Justice Commission

For more information about the National Walk For Truth and to sign the open letter, visit www.walkfortruth.com.