Justin Mohamed is Australia’s first diplomat for Indigenous issues. He is determined to make sure his people’s voices are heard around the world.
Justin Mohamed, like so many others in his Indigenous family, struggled with the thought of what the day would bring on October 15.
In the months that followed Mohamed has been at the coalface when foreign governments ask: what happened? Mohamed, a Gooreng Gooreng man originally from Bundaberg, Queensland, has been an Indigenous leader for more than three decades in the Aboriginal community controlled government and corporate sectors, on issues spanning health, social justice, human rights and reconciliation.
Justin Mohamed says because his role is both a first in Australia and globally, there’s no real blueprint on how it should work.“There is definitely room for improvement, there’s a number of things that we aren’t getting right. I think the more you try to skirt around that or hide that, you never really take the time to say how we’re going to address it because you spend most of the energy trying to manoeuvre around and sidestep the truth that is in front of you.
“Part of this role is fighting for Indigenous peoples to have the rights to speak about issues that affect them in these kinds of forums,” he says. “And it’s now generating a broader conversation in places like UNESCO and OECD and other UN forums.
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