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
124 episodes
S04-E04: Victorian Local Governments prepare themselves for Local Treaties
A partnership led by the Municipal Association of Victoria, and including Victorian Aboriginal News, First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, Treaty Authority and Reconciliation Victoria, sees Victorian Local Government Authorities start educating ...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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22:29
S04-E03: A valuable look inside the workload experienced by the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung
Every day the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation receives engagement requests from government, corporations, community groups and individuals; and with 29 Local Government Authorities (Councils) operating on its Cou...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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24:23
S04-E02: Closing the education gap for First Nations students
For nearly 30 years, RMIT's Ngarara Willum Centre has been providing critical student support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. We speak with Indigenous Access and Engagement Senior Advisor, Bundjalung woman Talia Elliott abou...
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21:43
S04-E01: Traditional Owners and Local Governments work together to achieve common goals
North of Naarm (Melbourne), the Taungurung Land and Waters Council (TL&WC) and the Local Government Authorities on its Country, have banded together to establish a forum - one that seeks to identify and achieve common goals for the good of ...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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26:18
S03-E40: Keeping the Treaty process on the straight and narrow
Treaty Authority chair, Djab Wurrung man Jidah Clark, talks frankly about the current state of the Victorian statewide Treaty, and the Authority's commitment to work with ALL parties, especially Local Government Authorities, in regard to local ...
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Season 3
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Episode 40
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18:02
S03-E39: Uplifting and advocating for the voice of Victorian Traditional Owners
Taking on the role of interim CEO of the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations, Kaley Nicholson - one-and-a-half weeks into the job - already has firm ideas on how the Federation can further promote and advocate for the voices ...
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21:43
S03-E38: Victorian Government failing Aboriginal community with outdated bail laws
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 dis...
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Season 3
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Episode 38
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21:40
S03-E37: Protecting Aboriginal data from weaponisation
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 ...
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Season 3
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Episode 37
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22:16
S03-E36: Victoria to expect a Treaty by the end of 2025
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 pl...
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Season 3
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Episode 36
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23:56
S03-E35: Dja Dja Wurrung Clans ready for Treaty with Victorian State Government
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 ...
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Season 3
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Episode 35
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20:46
S03-E34: Travis Lovett 18 hours before Walk for Truth
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.
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Season 3
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Episode 34
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20:37
S03-E33: Aboriginal cultures and histories in the Australian educational curriculum
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.
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Season 3
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Episode 33
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22:25
S03-E32: The Koorie Heritage Trust 40 years on - its relevance and role
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
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Season 3
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Episode 32
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19:23
S03-E31: The man behind the force that is IndigenousX
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.
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Season 3
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Episode 31
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21:09
S03-E30: Shining the light on Australian indigenous entrepreneurship
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 ca...
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Season 3
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Episode 30
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21:33
S03-E29: Australian War Memorial to recognise Frontier Wars
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 Mem...
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Season 3
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Episode 29
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20:59
S03-E28: Breathing new life into the Bangerang language
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
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Season 3
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Episode 28
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19:57
S03-E27: Bringing and seeking cultural change in Australian Senate
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 N...
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Season 3
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Episode 27
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21:23
S03-E26: All Victorians invited to join in an historic Walk for Truth
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 26
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19:59
S03-E25: Equal footing for Traditional Owners in the Treaty process
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 par...
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Season 3
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Episode 25
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21:58
S03-E24: Welcome to Country - a cultural and contemporary perspective
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.
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Season 3
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Episode 24
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20:11
S03-E23: Deep diving into the current Victorian Treaty negotiations
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 l...
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Season 3
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Episode 23
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18:20
S03-E22: Summing up a catastrophic year for the Victorian dingo population
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 22
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24:23
S03-E21: “Sham consultation” claim on government from Victorian Farmers Federation
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 gov...
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Season 3
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Episode 21
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23:43
S03-E20: Yoorrook Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter reflects on Victoria’s truth-telling process
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 th...
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Season 3
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Episode 20
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19:44