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International Childhood Trauma Conference
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Breaking the Colonial Machine: Truth-Telling, Childhood Trauma, and the Path to Healing - Lessons from Australia's Yoorrook Justice Commission
Keynote

Keynote

11:30 am

20 August 2025

Plenary 1

Keynote: Sue-Anne Hunter

Themes

ICTC

Talk Description
Aboriginal children in Victoria are 22.5 times more likely to be removed than non-Indigenous children - worse than during the Stolen Generations era. Drawing on testimony from 9,000+ participants in Australia's Yoorrook Justice Commission - the world's first Indigenous-led truth-telling inquiry - this keynote reveals how colonial child protection systems perpetuate intergenerational trauma.

Through powerful survivor testimonies across three generations, evidence of systemic racism, and stories of transformation, the presentation demonstrates how truth-telling enables healing. It presents Yoorrook's blueprint for systemic reform through Indigenous self-determination, offering crucial insights for international practitioners addressing childhood trauma and colonial legacies globally.
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