Lake Macquarie City Council annual NAIDOC Week flag raising ceremony

Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! www.naidoc.org.au

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a proud history of getting up, standing up, and showing up.From the frontier wars and earliest resistance fighters to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities fighting for change today, such as environmental, cultural and heritage protections, Constitutional change, a comprehensive process of truth-telling, working towards treaties, and/or calling out racism.

It’s also time to celebrate the many who have driven and led change in our communities over generations—they have been the heroes and champions of change, of equal rights and even basic human rights.

Getting Up, Standing Up, and Showing Up can take many forms.

We need to move beyond just acknowledgement, good intentions, empty words and promises, and hollow commitments. Enough is enough.

The relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non‑Indigenous Australians needs to be based on justice, equity, and the proper recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights.

Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! with us to amplify our voices and narrow the gap between aspiration and reality, good intent and outcome.