Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n On Sunday he will set off again, carrying message sticks and visiting sites of deep cultural and historical significance along the 500km journey from the steps of the Victorian parliament to the lawns of the Australian parliament.<\/p>\n Before departing, Lovett says he sent letters to \u201cevery federal politician in the country\u201d on \u201call sides\u201d of parliament \u2013 including the prime minister \u2013 inviting them to meet and walk alongside him. Ten replied to say they will walk with him and two declined \u2013 the rest have yet to respond.<\/p>\n The aim of the walk is to bring about a national discussion on truth-telling, a subject Lovett says is often misunderstood by the wider public. The aim is not to \u201cname and blame everyday Australians\u201d, he says, but to invite them on a path of healing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve heard it all before, the: \u2018why do I gotta say sorry to your people, I did nothing wrong\u2019. That\u2019s true. That is absolutely true,\u201d Lovett says. \u201cBut we don\u2019t walk for you, we walk because we need the institutions to be accountable for the institutional harm that they have caused our people.<\/p>\n The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, receives a message stick from Travis Lovett during a smoking ceremony before the Yoorrook Justice Commission hearing begins in Melbourne 2024. Photograph: Diego Fedele\/AAP<\/p>\n \u201cWe are walking for a national truth-telling process, not a new election commitment … This is not just for our people, but for all Australians.\u201d<\/p>\n Establishing a national truth-telling process was one of three asks of the Uluru statement from the heart<\/a> in 2017, which the Albanese government committed to implement. The voice to parliament, which failed at referendum in 2023, was just one part.<\/p>\n \u201cHe also said in the last election win [in 2025] a really important point,\u201d Lovett says. He said \u2018nobody left behind\u2019. We are being left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest report on Closing the Gap shows only four of the 19 targets are on track<\/a>. Rates of suicide, incarceration, and child removal are increasing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Progress on a national truth-telling body has been quietly shelved in the wake of the failed referendum. Asked by Guardian Australia if the government had abandoned the truth and treaty elements of the Uluru statement, a spokesperson for Albanese says it is \u201cimportant Australians have a deeper understanding of our shared history\u201d and that the prime minister supported work being done at a state and territory level.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Albanese government supports the work being done in jurisdictions like Victoria which has signed Australia\u2019s first treaty, following the significant work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission,\u201d they say. \u201cTruth-telling is taking place across the country in community-led projects.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8192.jpg\")
\u2018Bloody stains of colonisation\u2019: Victorian premier speaks at truth-telling hearing \u2013 video<\/p>\n