VAN Talks Podcast
Heading back to our roots and building on the work we undertook in the leadup to the 2023 Referendum, Victorian Aboriginal News (VAN) Talks focuses on the positivity that is Aboriginal Victoria. Covering everything from Voice, Treaty and Truth and Reconciliation through to Aboriginal businesses and Traditional Owner initiatives, the VAN Talks podcast is the only podcast that travels across the State to deliver interviews and stories that are the truth of Aboriginal Victoria.
Episodes
As the Victorian Government considers introducing even further backward steps in the State's already archaic bail laws, VAN's Charles Pakana catches up with the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service Director of Legal Services, Ali Besiroglu to discuss the current situation and Poccum's Law.
As we continue to explore the many facets of the Victorian Treaty process, VAN’s Charles Pakana speaks with Treaty Authority member and Yorta Yorta woman Dr Petah Atkinson and Worimi man Dr Jacob Prahn about the critical importance and role of data sovereignty and governance.
During a semi-regular one-on-one catch-up with Assembly co-Chair Rueben Berg, we learn more about the next iteration of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, and the belief that there could well be a signed and enacted statewide Treaty in place before the end of 2025
At 4am on the 28th of May 2025, an embargo was lifted on a media release that stated DJAARA - the representative body for Dja Dja Wurrung clans - was ready to enter into Treaty negotiations with the Victorian Government. That afternoon, we sat down with DJAARA's reserved seat holder at the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, Dja Dja Wurrung man Djaran Murray-Jackson.
I was fortunate enough to catch up and yarn with Yoorrook Commission Travis Lovett on the Portland foreshores - on Gunditjmara Country - 18 hours before the commencement of the Walk for Truth.
One of Australia's foremost authorities on - and advocates for - Aboriginal cultures and histories in the education system, Shelley Ware, talks with Charles about the need for change and how that change can be achieved.
Forty years on from the foundation of the Koorie Heritage Trust, VAN’s Charles Pakana meets up with CEO Tom Mosby to discuss the Trust’s role and relevance
For nearly 15 years, IndigenousX has been “stirring the pot” as a niche and fearless Blak media outlet. In this episode I catch up with it’s CEO and founder, Luke Pearson.
In this episode I catch up with Professor Dennis Foley, a descendent of the Gai-mariagal people, and Australia’s first professor of indigenous entrepreneurship. He speaks openly about the important cultural context of this subject as well as calling out key changes that need to be implemented in order for Blak businesses to be given better chances for success.
Following years of advocacy from historians and community, the Australian War Memorial is embarking on a project that will see “Defence of Country” realised in the form of a Frontier War exhibition within the next few years. I visit the War Memorial and catch up for an interview with the Indigenous Liaison Officer, Michael Bell.
We speak with Bangerang cultural educator and custodian Roland Atkinson about a new dictionary that will breathe new life into the Bangerang language and further strengthen culture
With the failure of the 2023 Voice referendum, the onus is well and truly on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Members of Parliament and Senators to help First Nations voices be heard and heeded. In this episode, we speak with Yamatji and Noongar woman, Greens Senator for Western Australia, Dorinda Cox.
With the final Yoorrook Commission report due in June 2025, Commissioner Travis Lovett is about to undertake a 370 kilometre walk from Portland in the Victorian south-west - where European colonisation started - to Parliament House in Melbourne. He speaks with VAN’s Charles Pakana about his aspirations for the walk and extends an invitation for all Victorians to join him.
There’s always a great deal of attention given to the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and, more recently, the Treaty Authority when it comes to the Victorian Treaty process. In the background, though, and playing an incredibly important part in ensuring that Traditional Owners are able to negotiate on an equal footing with the government, is the Self-Determination Fund.
In this episode, VAN’s Charles Pakana sits do...
VAN’s Charles Pakana speaks with Wurundjeri Elder and lore man Uncle Bill Nicholson, gaining an insight into the important role that a Welcome to Country has in the broader Australian social landscape.
With the Victorian State Government and First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria having agreed to an agenda of items for the first round of Treaty negotiations, VAN’s Charles Pakana catches up with Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg. They take a closer look at one of the main areas of the negotiations - what a future Aboriginal representative body might look like.
In this end-of-year episode, VAN's Charles Pakana brings together key points from two months of investigation and interviews focused on the Victorian Government's questionably-motivated decision to extend an Order in Council on the unprotection of dingoes across North-East and Eastern Victoria. He also discusses important updates on legal action being taken against the Government on this matter.
As we commence our closing off of the Victorian Government’s “dingo death warrant” across much of Australia, VAN’s Charles Pakana catches up with President of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Emma Germano. Even that organisation claims the government’s consultation on the matter was nothing short of “sham consultation”.
As submissions and evidence-giving closes for Victoria’s groundbreaking Yoorrook Royal Commission into truth-telling, VAN’s Charles Pakana catches up with Commissioner and Deputy Chair Sue-Anne Hunter. Together, they look back at the process that is set to bring about major systemic change across the State.
As we continue our investigation into the State Government’s blatant disregard of First Nations’ advice on the matter of dingo protection in Victoria, VAN’s Charles Pakana speaks with the CEO of DJAARA, the Dja Dja Wurrung clans, Uncle Rodney Carter. This conversation adds further weight to what appears to be a politically - or otherwise? - motivated decision by Ministers Ros Spence and Steve Dimopoulos.
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