CA SE STUDY Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices): Securing Our Rights, Securing Our Future Championing the voices of our women and girls Since then I have never lost that spirit of selfdetermination: that our women on the ground know what they are talking about, that they are leaders, survivors, teachers and healers. They carry with them a wealth of inherited, lived and learnt expertise.”19 June Oscar AO, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner As the first woman to be appointed as Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO made it clear at the start of her term in 2017 that she would champion the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls, and their families and communities. A proud Bunuba woman from Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, June launched a multi-year systemic change project, beginning with a year-long consultation with nearly 2,300 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls at more than 50 locations across Australia, from as far north as the Tiwi islands and south to Hobart. In cities, towns and remote communities across hundreds of ancestral countries, June met with women and girls providing critical care at home and at work, in jobs where they are frequently overworked and underpaid. June spoke to women in prison, women and girls living with disability, Sistergirls, academics, policy makers and, at every location, to teenage girls. Key policy officer Kimberley Hunter, a proud Nyikina woman from the West Kimberley Region, said June went into every engagement with no set agenda and a strengths-based approach. PHOTO: Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices report) workshop (Wayne Quilliam) 30 Transforming Power: Voices for Generational Change