VAN Talks Podcast
Heading back to our roots and building on the work we undertook in the leadup to the 2023 Referendum, Victorian Aboriginal News (VAN) Talks focuses on the positivity that is Aboriginal Victoria. Covering everything from Voice, Treaty and Truth and Reconciliation through to Aboriginal businesses and Traditional Owner initiatives, the VAN Talks podcast is the only podcast that travels across the State to deliver interviews and stories that are the truth of Aboriginal Victoria.
VAN Talks Podcast
Latest Episodes
S05-E15: Demand for true accountability in Indigenous Procurement Policy
Principal lawyer and founder of AMK Law, Matthew Karakoulakis, unpacks critical new updates to Australia’s Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP). He looks past the percentages on paper to explore why true First Nations economic self-determination...
S05-E14: The role of Blak media in the "fight for the soul of this country"
This is an episode not to be missed. Yorta Yorta man and award-winning journalist, Daniel James, gives a one-on-one interview with VAN Talks to discuss the critical role of First Nations media. Discussing current threats to community and cultur...
S05-E13: Advancing Victoria’s education model in a post-Yoorrook era
12 months after first speaking with Shelley Ware, one of Australia’s foremost First Nations education system reform advocates, we catch up again to talk about the future of Victoria’s education system in a post-Yoorrook era.
S05-E12: CEO of Settlement Council of Australia says, “It's time to roll up the sleeves and make it happen.”
In an interview with Victorian Aboriginal News’ Charles Pakana, Settlers Council of Australia CEO Maria Dimopoulos reflects on her first 12 months in the role. She addresses a profound, 25-year oversight: the total absence of dialogue regarding...
S05-E11: Rueben Berg urges local governments to work together in the Treaty era
In this episode of VAN Talks, Rueben Berg is interviewed by our founder and host, Uncle Charles Pakana, for reflections on his time at the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, and, now that he is no longer a co-Chair at the Assembly, how he spe...
Fan Mail
Hello, Van Talks, Charles Parkner. My name is Anna and I'm messaging from the lands of the Wandery Roy people of the Kulin Nation. Thank you so much for your informative podcast and all the hard work that you and the crew do. It keeps me as a non-Aboriginal person enlightened, informed about the issues impacting the First Nations people who have a culture that I just am so proud of as a what we know as an Australian. Your podcast really helps me stop myself from living under a colonial rock of utter white privilege and ignorance. Thank you for this chart the chance to listen to the amazing people you interview and hearing about all the hard work that they're doing to try and make this country better.
