Three months into 2026, the pace has not slowed.

The calendar has been full. The conversations have been loud. The commitments have been repeated.

2026 has already been a year of action.

Our staff came together for our first in-service, strengthening the work delivered every day alongside Aboriginal women.

We have delivered 23 Koori Women’s Place workshops, 3 Sisters Day Out events in Wodonga, Cranbourne and Swan Hill, and 3 Dilly Bags, reaching more and more Aboriginal women across the state.

I have spoken at four conferences already this year, carrying the same message we have been saying for decades.

The demand for our frontline work continues to rise as more Aboriginal women are speaking out, reaching out and getting the support they deserve.

But the growing demand for our work tells us something else.
That gendered violence has not stopped.
That systems violence has not changed.
That racism, in the home and outside, continues to harm Aboriginal women.

In just the first three months of this year, we have already seen 15 women murdered by male violence, including 5 Aboriginal women.

This is not a new story. It is the same one we are forced to tell, year after year.

While many celebrated International Women’s Day recently, with the theme “Balance the Scales”, we must not ignore the truth. The scales are not only unbalanced for Aboriginal women, they are deliberately and disproportionately tipped against us.

The ongoing impacts of colonisation and systemic racism continue to harm us. We see lives lost, children taken and Aboriginal women and children separated.

It is unacceptable that Aboriginal women nationally are 69 times more likely to be hospitalised with a head injury due to violent assault, and 11 times more likely to die from violent assault than other women.

Right here in Victoria, Aboriginal women are:
• 45 times more likely to experience family violence
• 21 times more likely to be imprisoned
• 11 times more likely to have police use force against them
• 23 times more likely to have their children removed, almost double the national average

These are not just statistics. These are Aboriginal women. Our mothers. Our leaders. Our nurturers. Our givers of life.

These numbers shows us how far we still have to go, to change the narrative for Aboriginal women in this country. When Aboriginal women are safe, children are safe and families are safer.

But we cannot balance scales that were never designed to be fair.

Justice requires structural reform. It requires self determination. It requires systems and policies that are redesigned with Aboriginal women at the centre, not pushing us to the margins.

On National Close the Gap Day on 19 March, we were again left asking the same question. Why, year after year, are we still calling out the same lack of action?

For over two decades, Djirra has put forward solutions grounded in the lived realities of Aboriginal women and children. Solutions that work.

But still, we are not heard.
Still, our solutions are not invested in.
Still, we cannot meet demand because funding is short term, limited and uncertain.
And still, Aboriginal women continue to carry the weight of racist and punitive systems.

Not just on Close the Gap Day, but every day, we are calling on governments to act.

Themes come and go. Words sit on pages. But nothing changes when governments are still not listening or acting.

Only 4 of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track.
4 have gone backwards.
4 have no new data, including Target 13 on family violence against Aboriginal women.

This is not progress. This is the result of governments not investing in Aboriginal women’s self determination and Aboriginal women and children live with the consequences every day.

If governments are serious about Closing the Gap for Aboriginal women, then our voices must be heard and our solutions must be invested in.

We call on government to act:

• STOP criminalising Aboriginal women for seeking safety
  
• INVEST in Djirra’s Child Protection Notification System so Aboriginal women have access to a legal advocate
  
• INVEST in Djirra’s proven, self determined solutions

Aboriginal women and children deserve better.

In early March, Victoria passed the Stability Bill, removing harmful and arbitrary timeframes that permanently removed children before many Aboriginal mums had access to the supports they needed.

For Aboriginal mums, this reform matters. It means courts can better recognise the barriers our women face and create more opportunities for mums to raise their children.

But legislation alone will not fix a system designed to punish Aboriginal women.

Aboriginal mums must have access to a legal advocate from the moment child protection becomes involved, not after the system has already moved to separate them from their children.

This is why Djirra continues to call for a Child Protection Referral and Notification System in Victoria. A system that ensures Aboriginal women are immediately connected to Djirra when child protection becomes involved.

Because early support is the difference.

The difference between staying safe and being criminalised. The difference between staying together and being separated.

Earlier in February, I was in Canberra for the launch of the first National Plan dedicated to ending violence against Aboriginal women, Our Ways, Strong Ways, Our Voices 2026 to 2036, alongside a $218 million commitment from the Australian Government.

This milestone reflects decades of advocacy led by Aboriginal women across the country.

But plans do not save lives. Investment does.

It is essential that the work of Djirra and other specialist Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services is prioritised within this commitment.

We know what works. Aboriginal led, specialist services designed by and for Aboriginal women keep women safe, hold perpetrators accountable, and keep women and children strong and connected.

What is missing is not solutions. What is missing is the will to invest in them.

Days like International Women’s Day and National Close the Gap Day come and go. But our message remains the same because the reality remains the same.

And we do not want to be sending this same message again in 2027.

We invite you to be part of Djirra’s story.

Stand with us.
Demand better.
Back Aboriginal women and the solutions we lead.

Because until governments act, the scales will remain tipped against us, and Aboriginal women and children will continue to pay the price.

Real change takes sustained commitment.

And it must start now.