There are renewed calls for the federal government to establish a national truth-telling process, with an open letter urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to commit to a formal, properly resourced framework.
Issued as a video on social media to the Prime Minister, as well as Minister for Indigenous affairs, Malarndirri McCarthy, and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, the video coincides with Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man Travis Lovett's announcement of a second "walk for truth", travelling from Naarm to Canberra.
"The Walk may be literal: on the roads and tracks we travel as we walk the truth," the open letter says.
"It's also moral and political: choosing to hear what is hard to hear, to sit with discomfort and to stay at the table long enough for something better to be born."
It urges Mr Albanese to "commit to a national process of truth telling in genuine partnership with First Peoples" and continues calls from Indigenous leaders since the referendum about the need to implement other aspects of the Makarrata commission.
"A country that silences the voices of First Peoples cannot claim to be fair or just," the video states. "Truth-telling is not about blame. It's all about healing."
Featuring First Nations leaders and allies — including journalist Narelda Jacobs, former Victorian treaty adviser Jill Gallagher and federal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss — they argue the Australian government needs to adequately fund a well-resourced national truth-telling body.
This, the letter says, will ensure the "truths shared through this process are not just heard and shelved — but deeply listened to".
"Truth-telling cannot remain scattered and fragile, held only in courtrooms, commission archives and the memories of those who remember," it says.
"It must become national. It must be embedded in our laws, our institutions, our schools, our media and our public life; supported by a clear, resourced process that honours and builds on the work already done."
Truth-telling is one of the three pillars of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, alongside Voice and Treaty. While the Voice was rejected at the 2023 referendum, advocates have consistently argued that Treaty and truth-telling remain essential.
Mr Lovett told National Indigenous Times the invitation to the Prime Minister to "walk with us" extends well beyond Parliament House and is directed at all Australians.
"Friends, families, colleagues, and communities, as well as businesses. In particular, those with a Reconciliation Action Plan," Mr Lovett said. "Truth-telling is embedded within those action plans, and this is how we move beyond words on a page and into meaningful action."
In Victoria, the Yoorrook Justice Commission — the nation's first truth-telling body with the powers of a royal commission — delivered its final report last year, making 100 recommendations.
Over four years, the commission held 67 days of public hearings, heard evidence from more than 200 witnesses, engaged with more than 2,000 people — including 1,500 First Peoples — received more than 1,300 written submissions, consulted over 9,000 individuals, reviewed nearly 10,000 state documents and participated in more than 400 community events.
In December, the Victorian government formally apologised to First Peoples — a key Yoorrook recommendation — for the harms caused by the "actions and inactions of the state" and "the colony that came before it".
A former Yoorrook commissioner, Mr Lovett will begin his second walk for truth from Victorian Parliament on Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Country in April and May, finishing at Parliament House in Canberra on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country.
It follows his 513-kilometre journey in 2025 from Portland to Victorian Parliament, which drew more than 22,000 people along the route and more than 5,000 supporters at its conclusion, coinciding with the completion of Yoorrook's final report.
Writing in National Indigenous Times last month, Mr Lovett pointed to federal calls to expand Holocaust and Jewish history education following the Bondi attack, and urged a broader overhaul of Australia's curriculum to reflect what he described as the "true history of this country".
"We cannot talk about addressing racism while continuing to hide the foundations of this nation, foundations built on genocide, dispossession and the ongoing harm inflicted on First Peoples," he wrote.
"If we are serious about preventing hatred, then truth-telling must sit at the centre of any reform. Because you cannot build a safe, united future on a false story."
