Introduction
We, the delegates, call on all Australian governments to take urgent and ongoing
action to invest in the solutions of First Nations women to end violence, and ensure
commitment to our human rights. It is the responsibility of all levels of government
to ensure our rights are protected by listening and acting on the solutions put
forward by First Nations women, victim-survivors and specialist communitycontrolled organisations. Delegate Statement, Wiyi Yani U Thangani Women’s
Safety Policy Forum
The Wiyi Yani U Thangani First Nations Women's Safety Policy Forum (the Forum) was held virtually on 12
September 2022. It brought over 150 participants together including First Nations community members,
practitioners, researchers, specialist experts and government participants to consider how to address
the root causes and drivers of violence, as the government prepares to deliver on its commitment to
develop a standalone National Plan to End Violence against First Nations Women and Children
(standalone National Plan).
The Forum was designed as a self-determining space, where First Nations women could speak on their
own terms, drawing on their expertise and lived experience. It drew together the diversity of issues,
united voices and sought common ground to consider the way ahead. The Forum’s ultimate intention is
to re-set the relationship with government, where First Nations women become central to shaping the
policies and systems that impact their lives.
Forum participants consistently highlighted that First Nations women have always been central to
providing the care and doing remarkable, often unrecognised, work to keep family and kin safe and well.
Women are both the backbone and at the forefront of social and economic change work, such as
establishing and running holistic organisations grounded in culture and community, which respond to
immediate harms, enable healing, and implement culturally responsive violence prevention approaches.
First Nations women also hold an extensive body of ancestral knowledges—at times referred to as
Grandmother’s Law. These knowledges speak to the flourishing of intergenerational life. Amongst many
things, women learn and enact knowledges about maintaining social and ecological equilibrium;
supporting the healthy growth of babies and educating children; keeping families and communities
strong and connected; sustaining societal safety; and protecting children and families against danger.
When First Nations women are invested in, and their lives, roles and knowledges are recognised and
reflected in surrounding systems, children thrive, economies grow, communities are cohesive, and
harms and violence are minimised. This was a key message underpinning the Forum discussions and
understood as vital to transforming systems to end violence and revitalise cycles of intergenerational
wellbeing.
Wiyi Yani U Thangani • First Nations Women’s Safety Policy Forum • Outcomes Report | 8