The inaugural Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People shares her powerful story of fighting systemic injustice.
Proud Bundjalung and Widubul-Wiabul woman Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts has experienced the injustices of the Australian legal system firsthand. Forcibly removed from her family and community at age ten, she spent her adolescence in out-of-home care. She later became a human rights lawyer, and last year was appointed the inaugural Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.
For the 2024 E. W. Cole Lecture, Turnbull-Roberts shares how her personal experience led to a career spent advocating for and amplifying the voices of First Nations children. From the out-of-home care system in Australia to the practices of family policing, she will discuss the institutional structures that enable the removal and incarceration of First Nations children and young people.