“Transparency doesn’t mean it’s an attack.” That line from a recent Facebook video stuck with me. When we treat scrutiny as sabotage, we teach our organisations to fear their own members. Accountability is not an ambush – it’s how leaders earn trust.
Across Australia, Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand, Indigenous peak bodies carry heavy expectations. They’re asked to advocate nationally while staying anchored locally and that tension is healthy if we normalise openness: who decides, who handles the money and how we fix mistakes.
The problem right now is a lack of transparency and accountability… and when members ask questions, they’re told to “keep quiet” or else.
“I don’t trust the current bureaucracy which exists, for example: Native Title representative bodies or the Tribunal. Especially in light of decades of unresolved misconduct allegations.”
And the Aboriginal Land Councils too…
Our peak bodies have failed us while spending lavishly on themselves and their “Allies”.
All while pretending to be the solution(s), when they are actually the problem (middleman).
The ladder is there for anyone to climb.
Indigenous leadership is strongest when it is most accountable / transparent… so let’s stop mistaking questions for attacks and build the kind of peaks / communities our people deserve.
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