Hepatitis ACT reflects on the significance of National Sorry Day and reaffirms its commitment to walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Video credit to: www.reconciliation.org.au
Each year, on National Sorry Day, we are asked not just to remember but to truly reckon with the past. It is a day of reflection, truth-telling and solemn acknowledgement of the immense pain caused by the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, cultures, and lands. This legacy of trauma known as the Stolen Generations continues to affect families and communities to this day.
At Hepatitis ACT, we acknowledge that this day is not symbolic, it is lived. The grief, loss, and intergenerational trauma experienced by survivors of the Stolen Generations is real, enduring, and demands both recognition and action.
We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live and work, and we pay our deepest respects to Elders past and present. We also extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, whose strength, culture, and ongoing connection to country is a source of wisdom and resilience for our whole community.
Bridging Now to Next: Reconciliation Requires Action
This year, National Reconciliation Week’s theme “Bridging Now to Next” calls on us to move beyond words, beyond well-meaning gestures, and into genuine, sustained action. For reconciliation to be meaningful, we must first acknowledge the truth of our shared history and how its consequences live on in today’s systems, including health.
We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to face significant health disparities, including higher rates of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and liver disease including, a more rapid development of cirrhosis and liver cancer. These inequities are not due to individual choices, they are rooted in historical and ongoing systems of oppression, racism, and inadequate access to culturally safe healthcare.
At Hepatitis ACT, we see reconciliation as an ongoing responsibility, not a moment. As a health promotion and harm reduction organisation, we believe reconciliation lives in how we listen, how we design our services, how we represent stories, and how we partner with First Nations-led organisations. It is embedded in the decisions we make daily, from the language we use in our materials to how we co-create programs with communities.
Our Commitments to First Nations Health and Justice
As part of our reconciliation journey, Hepatitis ACT is committed to:
- Elevating First Nations voices in our health messaging and campaigns
- Partnering meaningfully with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and other culturally-led services
- Embedding cultural safety and trauma-informed practice across our team and service delivery
- Challenging stigma and discrimination in all its forms, especially in the context of drug use, hepatitis and healthcare access
- Continuing education within our team around cultural awareness, history and health justice
These commitments are part of our broader vision for health equity and dignity for all. They are not performative, they are ongoing, evolving, and made in genuine partnership with the communities we seek to support.
A Time to Reflect and a Call to Action
While National Sorry Day is rooted in remembrance, it is also a powerful call to action. As a community health organisation, we know that healing does not happen in silence, it happens when we make space for stories, when we centre First Nations voices, and when we take accountability for the roles we each play in shaping a future.
We invite all members of our community to reflect not only on what National Sorry Day means but what it asks of us.
- Learn the history of the Stolen Generations
- Listen to First Nations voices without defence
- Support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations and initiatives
- Speak up against racism and stigma in your communities
- Consider what actions you can take personally and professionally to be part of the change
We at Hepatitis ACT walk alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples not just today, but every day.
Today we honour the stories, acknowledge the trauma, and recommit to truth, justice, and reconciliation from now to next.
🔗 For more on National Sorry Day and this year’s reconciliation theme, visit Reconciliation Australia – Bridging Now to Next
