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28 May, 2026

Vice-President (First Nations) Professor Peter Yu today called for federal policy reform to reshape the relationship architecture and the economic and fiscal relationship between First Nations peoples, government and the wider Australian community.

Speaking to senior public servants, onlookers and supporters in a packed event at Parliament House in Canberra, Professor Yu also underlined the importance of ongoing legal action to gain more recognition of Indigenous land rights.

Professor Yu had been invited to deliver the 2026 Reconciliation Week lecture by the Parliamentary Librarian Steven Fox. 

Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Dr Steven Kennedy and Finance Secretary Matt Yannopoulos were among the audience. Seats were booked out within days of the event being announced. Others watched the speech online. After the speech Professor Yu answered audience questions in an extended Q&A session facilitated by Mr Fox.

A new way forward

Professor Yu said that after decades of failed attempts to address the inequality and injustice inflicted on First Nations peoples and in the aftermath of the failed 2023 Voice Referendum, it was time for a new approach

“So far, in the 50-odd years of Indigenous public policy administration, we have been 'flogging a dead horse',” he said.

“The green branches that promised greater Indigenous autonomy in the wake of the Mabo decision 30 years ago and the recognition of native title have not been nurtured.

“Instead of building from that opportunity for a genuinely new and equitable relationship, overwhelmingly, governments have sought to cut and stifle the expansion of Indigenous autonomy.

“The demise of these opportunities is represented by the referendum defeat.

“Governments have lost some of their will, and our people have had too much of our autonomy absorbed by bureaucracies and political caution.”

Professor Yu said truth-telling and trust were key to delivering economic self-determination and real reconciliation for First Nations peoples.

“The truth is, Reconciliation has not delivered the transformation promised. Closing the Gap has not led to a marked shift in our well-being nor in our relationship with governments and wider society,” he said.

“If we are to have any hope at improving our relationship and realising Reconciliation, we need to focus on building trust and mutual respect.”

Professor Yu suggested three immediate priorities to transform the relationship between Indigenous peoples, governments and the wider community.

National Indigenous Relationship Agency

The first priority is a new National Indigenous Relationship Agency “specifically focused on the big-picture political and economic transition”.

“What I am talking about is restructuring the national public policy administration so that it is better organised and capable of making a positive difference in the lives of Indigenous people,” Professor Yu said.

He said the new agency should be part of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and take charge of national reforms including:

• Operationalising the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Advancing a national truth-telling framework
• Establishing a national native title compensation response. 

Indigenous Economic Framework

The second priority is a national Indigenous Economic Framework. This would build on the first-ever First Nations Economic Partnership agreement signed by the Australian Government in September 2025. Professor Yu and the First Nations Portfolio were instrumental in bringing the economic agreement to life.

“Our economic marginalisation has been a feature of colonisation, punctuated by the dispossession of our lands,” Professor Yu said.

He said the Canadian example of bespoke First Nations laws and institutions has transformed the economic relationship between Indigenous peoples, governments and the wider Canadian economy.

“Loan guarantees, affordable finance, long-term beneficial leasing and support for local revenue capability are not utopian ideas. They are workable policy tools. The question for Australian governments is whether the will exists to build them here.”

Unfinished business and the law

Professor Yu said the third priority is for First Nations to continue pressing for recognition and compensation through court action.

Major cases such as the Mabo decisions and more recently the Timber Creek, McArthur River and Yinjibarndi compensation cases “established a powerful foundation for native title compensation relevant across Australia,” Professor Yu said.

“Strategic efforts in the courts may provide some momentum to take us into a future of reconciliation tethered to substantive real-world outcomes.”

True Reconciliation

Professor Yu said these three priorities could make a real difference and deliver true Reconciliation, complete with economic empowerment and self-determination.

However, he said the decisive factor would not be government action. “It will not be Reconciliation Weeks and commemorations, however well intentioned,” he said.

“It will be us, as Indigenous peoples, deciding how we organise ourselves, how we move beyond political frameworks that limit our agency, and how we build the structures that allow our people to exercise power responsibly and for the benefit of our communities.”

Watch a video of the speech and Q&A session .