Is the Australian justice system broken? Was it ever sound when it comes to the discipline and punishment of First Nations’ people? What can history and lived experience tell us about the relationship between law, politics, colonialism and social control? And can legislation itself be the instrument of reconciliation? An historian, a criminal defence lawyer, a First Nations’ elder and a legal scholar discuss the institutions and applications of ‘justice’.

Aunty Kella Robinson, Wemba Wemba elder and cultural adviser to the Victorian Koori Court

Kate Auty, former magistrate and vice chancellor’s fellow at the University of Melbourne

Russell Marks, criminal defence lawyer and author of Black Lives, White Law: Locked Up and Locked Out in Australia

Megan Davis, First Nations legal scholar and co-author of the Uluru Statement from the Heart

Neane Carter (host), solicitor at Terri Janke and Company

Recorded at the Bendigo Writers Festival on 6th May, 2023.