2 Social Justice Commissioner’s foreword The success of many of our peoples in making native title work for us, in preserving our cultural unity and focus, and in working through internal conflicts generated by colonial acts of dispossession, is impressive and worthy of note in any legal or social commentary. This Report aims to elevate the voices of women involved in those impressive acts, as well as to highlight injustice and ongoing struggles they face, and to see the nature and impact of the native title system over the time of their involvement, and through their eyes. The point of this Report is to highlight the way the native title system is experienced. The stories told are the truths of the women who told them. I urge readers who might think that some aspect of some particular story or stories in this Report is incorrect to focus less on whether or not one woman’s interpretation of a particular element of her case is strictly accurate, and more on how, for example, it has come about that a competent, committed, experienced woman can have spent so long in the native title system and still not fully understand what happened. Notably, all of the women who contributed to this Report expressed their strong desire – need even – to tell their stories in order to progress a fairer, more just and more culturally relevant and safe system for determining land justice for their communities and for other Traditional Owning communities across First Nations Australia. 2.5 A call for connectedness The women’s stories in this Report tell the truth of the heartbreak associated with the native title system. The women’s stories also tell another important truth that I have noted – the strength of our people. I have had the privilege of experiencing this strength through my tenure as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. Engaging with our women and girls across Australia for Wiyi Yani U Thangani reaffirmed the harms inflicted by systems and structures. This Report voices those same harms that have been enabled by the native title system and identifies actors and structures within that system which uphold them. The system demands our people engage in a traumatic process. The work required by native title processes cannot be navigated without the entanglement of the traumas inflicted on our people. The historical trauma, the trauma of losing knowledge-holders, of disconnection and removal, of reconnecting, and of being denied our cultural and linguistic heritage. The influence of this history cannot be overstated as people return to Country and reconnect during native title processes. People want to know who they are, how they belong, and what their rights are as native title holders. This is important and the native title system has not recognised these needs, nor does it facilitate this community healing work. The native title system does not involve an understanding of the inherent need for inclusive spaces that support communities through this difficult work. This poses the challenge of how we build and nurture spaces to listen and learn; to reconnect and, in turn, mitigate the division that the native title system generates. My commitment to social justice is both a statutory and personal responsibility and I am proud to approach this responsibility from a position of deep listening. The result is a report which communicates the status of native title by listening to the stories of our women. These stories show their strength and resilience and narrate the need for systems-change. Australian Human Rights Commission 11