To all Australians, a letter from an Aboriginal Christian Leader,
On the night of the Australian Referendum on 14 October 2023:

Tonight, there are mixed emotions – broken hearts, frustrated minds, hurting bodies.

Tonight, 97% of non-Indigenous Australians had a say on what affected 3% of their fellow Australians – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Tonight, we found out the reality of where we are in relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples of these lands now called Australia.

Tonight, I bathe my scars of racism, racist attacks, misinformation, and disinformation.

Tonight, I rest my weary head from the conversations correcting the myths and lies that Aboriginal peoples get extra benefits from the Government, that we get free cars, free houses, and free education, and that Aboriginal peoples can take your personal house and backyard. These things do not exist. These things are not true.

Tonight, I say Aboriginal peoples have been negatively impacted by colonisation, post colonial is only an academic aspiration and not a lived reality, and there are ongoing impacts of colonisation.

Tonight, to non-Indigenous peoples, if you have Aboriginal friends, send your Aboriginal friends and those Aboriginal people who have inspired you a personal message, a phone call, and in the days, weeks, months, years, and decades, ahead let their Aboriginal voices be heard louder, more clearly, and more readily, than your own.

Tonight, through 250 years of injustice and disadvantage, I continue to hold out my hand in friendship to non-Indigenous Australians and ask you to walk with me for a better Australia.

Tonight, I call on all Christians, Church denominations, Christian organisations, Heads of Churches, and the Christian Media in Australia to join me in a Truth, Justice, and Conciliation Commission which I will call and announce in the coming days just as I did with Aunty Jean on 26 January 2019. We have a model for a Truth-Telling Commission to share with Australia and we need you to turn up.

Tonight, the work of Reconciliation and Conciliation, of Truth-Telling and Treaty, of Justice and Human Rights, to Close the Gap, to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home Report, continues.

Tonight I pray you join me in building an Australia we build together, an Australia built on Truth, Justice, Love, and Hope.

Tonight, to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, draw on the strength of the ancestors, the work of the Elders past and present, and the fact we are part of the world’s oldest, living, continuing, cultures. You are seen. You are strong. You are resilient. You are valued. You are loved.

Tonight, and every day and night, may we:

Sit together in our pain,
Stand together against injustice,
Walk together in truth and friendship,
And pray together for change.

Yours in Reconciliation as friendship,
Brooke Prentis, Aboriginal Christian Leader, Wakka Wakka woman.