Published: 14 March 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Gomeroi woman NICOLE LAUPEPA and Jewish trainer JACQUI PARKER developed the Walking Together workshops to help Australians understand the Uluru Statement.
In anticipation of the Voice Referendum, Walking Together workshops help attendees understand the Uluru Statement and enable the wider community to take positive action towards a more just Australia.
These half-day workshops train participants in how to take meaningful action towards reconciliation. The content covers the importance of a Voice to Parliament, how individuals and organisations can play a role in ensuring it is established, and why reconciliation is an ongoing journey.
The Walking Together program was developed by Cultural Development Manager Nicole Laupepa and professional trainer Jacqui Parker – First Nations and non-Indigenous trainers respectively – through Father Chris Riley's Youth Off the Streets.
The Jewish Independent interviewed Laupepa and Parker about their working relationship.
JACQUI PARKER
What’s your background?
I’m a trainer and Jewish, which is relevant for the connection around the work that Nic and I do in terms of reconciliation. As I’m non-Indigenous, I talk about the facts, while Nic generously and graciously vests her lived experience – so it makes for quite a powerful workshop.
How did you become involved in presenting these workshops?
About four years ago, Nic was leading a workshop around culturally responsive practice, and she got me to work with her on that. Through that process we found … that a lot of people were very keen to work together to support the issues but had no idea how to go about that. So Nic and I decided we’d put together an educational program. We were working just within NSW but now we do a lot of work nationally.
