Public Talk by Megan Davis

When:
Monday,
12 March 2018

Listen

Megan Davis

The Uluru Statement: Towards Truth and Justice

A public lecture by Professor Megan Davis, Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous, Professor of Law, University of New South Wales and 2018 UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

For over a decade, Australians have been debating whether and how to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within Australia’s constitutional system. One of the most important moments in that debate occurred in May 2017, when hundreds of First Nations delegates gathered at a First Nations Constitutional Convention in Uluru to deliver the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Through the Uluru Statement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples offered a clear and powerful vision of constitutional recognition, calling for voice, treaty and truth-telling.

Professor Megan Davis has been an influential figure in discussions over Indigenous constitutional recognition. As a member of the Federal Government’s Referendum Council, she played a pivotal role in the process that led to the Uluru Statement. In this lecture, Professor Davis will reflect on a decade of debates over constitutional recognition and examine the centrality of truth and justice to Indigenous aspirations for constitutional reform.

Professor Megan Davis is Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Law, UNSW. Professor Davis is an expert member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Davis is a constitutional lawyer who was a member of the Referendum Council and the Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission. Megan supports the North Queensland Cowboys and the Queensland Maroons.

Professor Davis is a UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow. 

The lecture is co-sponsored by the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies, the UWA Law School and UWA School of Indigenous Studies.