Travis Lovett takes ‘Walk for Truth’ from Naarm to Canberra to push for national truth-telling

A 820-kilometre walk for truth is underway, with Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man Travis Lovett leading a six-week journey from Victorian Parliament in Naarm (Melbourne) to Parliament House in Canberra to push for a national truth-telling process.

The campaign, called Walk for Truth, runs from 19 April to 27 May 2026 and follows a route through Victoria and New South Wales. Organisers say the journey will include community gatherings and cultural protocols along the way, with participants expected to seek permission from Elders when entering Country.

Mr Lovett, a former Yoorrook Justice Commission deputy chair and now executive director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Truth Telling and Dialogue, says the walk is designed to bring Australians into a deeper conversation about the nation’s history and its ongoing legacy.

“Our people have walked countries for 60-plus thousand years. It’s part of our culture, it’s part of our ways of connecting with people and sharing knowledge and sharing lived experience” he said, describing walking as both cultural practice and political statement.

Central to the campaign is an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for a national truth-telling process “led in genuine partnership with First Peoples” and backed by laws and proper funding. Supporters are being encouraged to add their names to the letter online and to join sections of the route.

The open letter frames the work as a national project of repair, arguing that truth-telling is not about blame but about healing.

Mr Lovett is also carrying message sticks as part of the walk, drawing on long-standing First Nations protocols for communicating between communities. Advocates say the practice underscores that truth-telling is not only about what happened in the past, but about relationships and responsibilities in the present.

The renewed push comes as debates about the next steps in reconciliation continue in the wake of the 2023 referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament. While Victoria has run Australia’s first formal truth-telling inquiry through the Yoorrook Justice Commission (which delivered its final report in 2025) Mr Lovett and supporters say national action is needed so truth-telling is not left to state-by-state processes.

The walk has drawn backing from a growing coalition of First Nations organisations and allies, including social enterprise Clothing The Gaps, which has urged supporters to join sections of the route and sign the pledge.

Along the way, organisers say the walk will highlight places of cultural significance and sites linked to frontier violence, as well as contemporary First Nations contributions to caring for Country. The goal, Mr Lovett has said, is to bring people together to listen, learn and commit to meaningful change.

With the walk ending in the national capital on 27 May, supporters hope the physical journey will translate into a clear federal commitment to a national truth-telling framework and a broader public willingness to hear First Nations histories on their own terms.

Key information: The Walk for Truth runs from 19 April to 27 May 2026, covering 820km from Victorian Parliament in Naarm (Melbourne) to Parliament House in Canberra. Supporters can sign the open letter or join sections of the route at walkfortruth.com.