At his side was his wife Renata and their children, alongside thousands of people who had joined the National Walk for Truth, including fifteen Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum who walked the final kilometres of the more than 900km journey from Naarm, Melbourne to Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country in Canberra.
Prime Minister Albanese welcomed Travis on his arrival and received the simple call for a national truth-telling process built in genuine partnership with First Peoples and the powerful message that “truth is not a weapon, but a way home.” (Excerpt Travis Lovett speech parliament house 27 May 2026.)
Give this nation the chance to know itself in full light, to tend to what has been broken, and to walk on, not as strangers fenced in by fear, but as one people beneath one wide sky, diverse as the stars, and held always by this beautiful land we all call home.
The National Walk for Truth built upon a long history of walks that have travelled Country to demand justice, dignity and truth for First Nations Peoples. It flows from the Victorian Walk for Truth in 2025 and Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission – Australia’s first formal truth-telling inquiry into historic and ongoing systemic injustices perpetrated against First Peoples through colonisation, led by First Peoples.
“Beneath every town name, beneath every fence line, beneath every paddock, bridge and roadside verge, there are older names, older wounds, older cries. There are places where our people were hunted and driven, where camps were broken, where blood entered the soil, and the rivers kept moving because rivers must. There are places where reprisal followed resistance, where survival itself was treated as defiance, where the first truths of this nation were buried under settlement, then roads, then monuments, then forgetting.” (Excerpt Travis Lovett speech parliament house 27 May 2026.)
On the 39-day journey across Country, through towns, cities and communities, Elders and community members joined Travis to share truths held for generations; families walked in honour of ancestors and supporters joined Travis and his team to listen and learn.
It’s changed how I see the world
When Samantha Cohen and her husband Steve Bartlett first heard Travis Lovett speak about the 2025 Walk for Truth in Victoria, they knew they wanted to be part of it.
That first walk became another, and then another. Together, they attended every public stage of both the Victorian Walk for Truth in 2025 and the National Walk for Truth in 2026.
What kept drawing them back was the opportunity to experience truth-telling alongside the communities sharing it.
“Learning about the lived experience and contributions, whilst on Country, is visceral; you feel it, not just hear it.”
Some memories have stayed with Samantha ever since. She recalls standing at Docklands during the Victorian Walk, listening to First Nations speakers as their voices echoed across the stadium. Another was a quiet conversation in Henty with a descendant of one of the district’s early settler families.
“There were some hard and important things to hear.”
Over two years, those conversations changed the way she listens and understands the world around her.
“I feel ‘unplugged’. I can now pick up on tone and language in conversations and attitudes that I would have missed before.”
Her understanding of truth-telling also shifted.
Truth telling is not just about seeking justice; it is about acknowledging the significant contributions of community.
She believes the experience of walking together creates conversations that simply can’t happen elsewhere.
“A shared experience hits differently to scrolling through social media and websites.”
Looking back, Samantha says the Walk has never really been about reaching the finish line.
“It means we don’t stop now; we keep the conversation going at home, school, work and with friends.”
Truth is the foundation for a stronger, fairer economy
One of those organisations was First Nations Traffic Management and Labour Hire, which provided traffic management services ensuring the walkers were always safe.
“Our motto is changing lives through meaningful employment,” says Lionel Dukakis, who established the 100% First Nations-owned traffic company with his business partner Peter O’Brien seven years ago.
They have offices in Victoria, Sydney, Brisbane and Tasmania and employ over 350 staff; 30% of their staff are First Nations people.
Lionel says that giving back to community is one of the many strengths of First Nations-owned businesses and it’s something he and Pete pride themselves in. They give a percentage of profits back to community through sponsorship and donations, but more than that, they give people a go at building their own financial stability.
“We had a young fellow reach out to us, and he just wanted to buy a car. We took him on and told the client that this fella is on a journey. He was so wrecked after his first day he took the next day off, but then he came back and went on to get full-time employment. That year he went from Centrelink payments to earning $240,000. He put in the hard work, and it just shows you that you have to give people a chance. I’ve seen on Facebook that he’s taken his wife, kids, nephew and niece up to the theme parks on the Gold Coast. Things that have never really happened for his family before.”
Lionel is Gunditjmara on his mother’s side, Rose Austin’s side, with his pop from Lake Condah and nan from Framlingham Mission and is himself a proud father of four and grandfather of seven. The Walk was personal for Lionel, who, along with his four older siblings, was stolen from his mother at just 18months old and put into foster care.
“The saddest thing was at my mother’s funeral when people got up and spoke about her. The five of us, we missed out on a loving, caring person.”
Lionel has shared his story with his children, with the Yoorrook Justice Commission and with corporate organisations undertaking cultural training, but it is not sympathy he is seeking.
I don’t want sympathy because sympathy has never changed anything. It’s about empathy, empathy is understanding. Understanding that these things happened and that we never have policies like that again. Truth-telling is not about holding individuals to account. It is about holding government policies and institutions accountable for the harm these policies caused.
It meant a lot to Lionel that the Prime Minister came out to meet Travis and the Walk’s supporters on the steps of Parliament House to accept the Walk’s Open Letter calling for a national truth-telling process and the Message Sticks that carried the voices, stories and hopes shared throughout the journey.
While the Prime Minister stopped short of committing to a national truth-telling process, he acknowledged the significance of the Walk and the work still ahead. “We have a long way to go,” he said. ” We’ll be a stronger nation when there is proper and full recognition of First Nations people and, of course, a full acknowledgement of our history.”
The National Walk for Truth may have ended on the steps of Parliament House, but as Travis reminded the crowd, “I have walked my part of the road. Now I ask this country to walk the next path with us.” It is an invitation that now belongs to all Australians.
Dusseldorp Forum is a proud supporter of the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the National Walk for Truth.
To learn more, please:
Learn more about the Walk for Truth.
Learn more about First Nations Traffic Management.
Learn more about truth-telling and the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Visit Together for Treaty to join the National movement for Truth, Treaty and Justice.
Image one by Luke Currie- Richardson.
