Inaugural Annual Lecture by Joseph Camilleri: The lecture by Professor Joseph Camilleri OAM, was a thought-provoking exploration of the recent Voice referendum and its profound impact on Australia's identity and direction, entitled 'Australia... The Week After'.

Key Takeaways from Professor Camilleri's Lecture:

• The Referendum Result and the Unspoken: Professor Camilleri shed light on the referendum's result and the public debate that preceded it. He emphasised what was said and discussed, but more importantly, what was not said or discussed. This scrutiny illuminated where Australia stands today and the path it must tread.Colonial Legacy and Constitutional Recognition: The "yes" case for the referendum was often framed around closing the gap, addressing disadvantage. However, Professor Camilleri stressed that we must also acknowledge the ongoing legacy of colonial settlement. He powerfully shared: "The colonialist legacy is still dominant in contemporary Australia. It continues the collective amnesia of past wrongs, refuses to acknowledge the historical fact of violent dispossession and idealises the commemoration of the colonial past”.

• Abandoning the Colonialist Narrative: Meaningful change, as advocated by the Uluru Statement of the Heart, necessitates letting go of the colonialist narrative, which perpetuates collective amnesia and idealizes a commemoration of the colonial past.

Indigenous Perspective on the Environment: Professor Camilleri highlighted the profound difference in how Indigenous culture perceives the environment. To Indigenous communities, the environment is an integral part of the self. Harming the environment equates to harming oneself, contrasting with the Western view of land as a resource to be exploited for personal gain. Professor Camilleri noted that this is in "contrast this with the Western view of land as something to be used and exploited for the benefit of self".

The Spiritual Connection to Country: Indigenous Culture sees humanity as part of nature, animals, plants, land have value in and of themselves. This discussion of the spiritual value, and the concept of Country as central to Indigenous Culture, as something to be nurtured and protected, resonated with audience members, and was further discussed in conversation time.

Dispossession, Climate Change, and Unfinished Business: Professor Camilleri pointed out the close connection between dispossession, colonial practices, climate change, and their devastating effects on Indigenous communities. The suffering of Indigenous communities and the environment, the suffering of Country, is in essence, the "unfinished business of colonial violence".

This edition of VOICES: The Conversation Series featured Professor Patrick McGorry AO, a leading international researcher, clinician and advocate for youth mental health reform. McGorry is Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, and founding editor of the journal Early Intervention in Psychiatry. He is Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health (OYH), a world-renowned mental health organisation for young people that has put Australia at the forefront of innovation in the prevention and treatment of mental illness.

Is justice for the First Nations of Australia getting any closer? What exactly can the Voice to Parliament achieve? We discuss these questions and more with special guests Marcus Stewart, Co-Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, and Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng from the Australian National University.

First published in 1964, Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country caused a sensation. The book was a wake-up call to an unimaginative nation, an indictment of a country mired in mediocre leadership and manacled to the past. Where do we stand 58 years later?

Professor Joseph Camilleri was interviewed on Ticker News, June 13, 2022.

Kristian Camilleri and Joseph Camilleri from Conversation at the Crossroads in a discussion about the responses to the conversations assignment held during the Navigating Life at the Crossroads series.