Coinciding with the National NAIDOC Awards, the National NAIDOC Forum in Boorloo/Perth will bring together around 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speakers to reflect on the 2025 NAIDOC theme: 'The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy.'

Among them is keynote speaker Professor Jackie Huggins AM, who will take the stage on Friday, July 4. For the Bidjara and Birri-Gubba Juru Elder, such events — especially during NAIDOC Week — are vital opportunities to show the wider public the enduring strength of First Nations cultures.

She said it's important to remind people of the "incredible continuing culture and presence we have as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the oldest living culture in the world".

NAIDOC Week, she added, is a time for pride and visibility.

"We need to celebrate and embrace the rich diversity of our knowledge and experience in order to pass down to future generations," Professor Huggins said.

"When our knowledge is shared it creates a space for reconciliation and truth telling which is so needed in our country. We are just on the precipice of doing so."

Earlier this year, Professor Huggins was appointed the ABC's inaugural Elder-in-residence — a full-circle moment, having started her career at the national broadcaster at age 16.

A prominent voice in reconciliation for over four decades, she served as Queensland co-commissioner during the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families between 1995 and 1997, and was Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit at the University of Queensland until 2017.

Despite the progress made, she says at present, many of the current challenges are those that have always been there: "The inability of governments to listen to what we propose is a way forward."

"Now is the time to listen and act to find solutions at a local level," she said.

"A space needs to be created whereby genuine negotiation and effort in real and deliberate partnerships lead to better outcomes for First Nations peoples."

One of the barriers, she says, is the pressure Indigenous children carry in predominantly Anglo systems, noting the "colonial load our children carry is an enormous burden on cultural safety in predominantly white workplaces".

"Racism is as endemic as ever and must be arrested at all levels," Professor Huggins says, adding the lack of adequate recognition of people with disabilities is another ongoing issue.

"Half our population has them," she said.

She pointed to the failed Voice referendum as a setback, but not the end of the road.

"Our people and allies are getting on with the business — despite what governments have determined is best for us," Professor Huggins says.

"Here in Queensland, we are proceeding with truth-telling and Treaty in communities — particularly Cherbourg and Minjerribah Stradbroke Island."

When asked what message she most wanted to share, Professor Huggins said it was about resilience.

"Despite all the obstacles put in our way, we have survived and will find ways to manoeuvre around them," she said.

"Allies must support and come along with us in this work. We know that there are millions of people out there who believe in a fair deal. Never give up and stand with First Nations peoples."

National Indigenous Times is an official media partner of Perth's National NAIDOC Forum, tickets can be purchased on Humantix.