What law can learn from lore

Senator Lidia Thorpe, the first Aboriginal Australian to represent Victoria in the federal Senate, spoke with Lawyers Weekly during the recent Reconciliation Week about what broader Australia can learn from Indigenous legal principles and how existing laws and legislative processes can be alienating for First Nations people. On this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Senator Thorpe, a DjabWurrung, Gunnai, and Gunditjmara woman representing the Greens in the Federal Parliament, about her personal and political interest in the Indigenous experience in Australia’s legal system, what drives her to advocate for change, and her perception of why there are fewer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lawyers in Australia relative to their numbers across the national population. Senator Thorpe also details how she feels existing laws and processes can be alienating for First Nations people and what impact this can have, the importance of self-determination and whether it can be attained in the near future, the benefits of Indigenous legal principles and how they can be applied in modern Australia, and how best lawyers of all stripes can use their professional standing to push for and enact societal change. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.   If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!