2026 National Reconciliation Week Breakfast
Description
Join Reconciliation Victoria and ANZ for breakfast to celebrate National Reconciliation Week 2026.
Reconciliation Victoria is honoured to announce that the key note speaker is proud Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman Sue-Anne Hunter, National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, and former Yoorrook Justice Commissioner.
Other speakers include Christine Couzens MLA, Parliamentary Secretary for First Peoples, Co-Chairs of Reconciliation Victoria Aunty Gina Bundle and Prof Andrew Gunstone.
There will also be a very special musical performance from Ngiyampaa and First Nations singer Songwriter Pirritu.
This year's Master of Ceremonies is the inspirational Uncle Charles Pakana, who will also be convening a Q&A session with our speakers.
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2026 is ‘All In!’ - a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation, not just during this week, but every single day.
Join us to hear from this outstanding array of speakers, while enjoying a delicious breakfast.
Lineup
Sue-Anne Hunter
Sue Anne National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People is is a Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman with extensive experience in governance and leadership. She has practiced as a qualified social worker and is a recognised leader in the First Nations child and family services sector. Her work across these sectors will be vital to ensuring that the rights, interests, and wellbeing of First Nations children and young people are protected. She will advocate across a range of issues, including the overrepresentation of First Nations children in out-of-home care. From May 2021 to 30 June 2025, Ms Hunter worked as Commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, and has previously served as National Sector Development Manager, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children. A child and family services practitioner by trade, she has over twenty years’ clinical experience responding to developmental, transgenerational and community trauma. Among her many accomplishments, Sue-Anne has helped shape policy and practice on Aboriginal guardianship laws in Victoria. This has included leading the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency’s NUGEL (Aboriginal Guardianship) program and developing a new model of child protection practices premised on Aboriginal organisations working in partnership with Aboriginal families.
Christine Couzens, MP
Christine Couzens is the Member for Geelong in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and a proud advocate for Aboriginal communities across Victoria. As Parliamentary Secretary for First Peoples, Christine works closely with Aboriginal organisations and leaders to support self-determination, cultural strength, and community-led initiatives. Christine brings decades of experience in community development and social justice, and she continues to champion equity, inclusion, and opportunity for all. Her presence at this graduation ceremony reflects her enduring respect for Aboriginal culture and her belief in the power of education to transform lives.”
Aunty Gina Bundle
Gina Bundle is a Yuin/Monaro woman and the Program Coordinator of Badjurr-Bulok Wilam – meaning ‘Home of many women’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri Peoples – at the Royal Women’s Hospital and is co-chair of the Board of Directors of Reconciliation Victoria. Gina has been instrumental to the ‘Baggarook Yurrongi’ and ‘NuraaghManmaBuliana’ caseload programs, which give pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women greater access to gold standard maternity care. The Baggarook Yurrongi program was awarded the Victorian Public Healthcare Award for Improving Aboriginal Health in 2019. In addition to supporting all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and families as they navigate care and services at the Women’s Hospital (and the wider Parkville medical precinct), Gina is also a skilled artist. She has run possum skin workshops to female inmates through the Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service prison program. At the invitation of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission, Gina facilitated the Treaty Possum Skin Cloak. The cloak is a symbol for the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and path to treaty and ushered in the historic first meeting of the Assembly at Victoria’s Parliament in December 2019.
Professor Andrew Gunstone
Professor Andrew Gunstone is the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Reconciliation Victoria, Foundation Editor of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues (which he established in 1998), and a member of several international, national, and regional reconciliation organisations, committees, and advisory boards. Professor Gunstone is an international authority in academic, industry, and community engagements and understandings of reconciliation. He spent 30 years in the higher education sector, where he researched areas such as substantive reconciliation, reparative justice, RAPs,truth-telling, white fragility, and allyship. Professor Gunstone established the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice at Federation University; established the National Centre for Reconciliation Practice and the Moondani Toombadool Centre at Swinburne University; and created ongoing Annual Reconciliation Lectures at both universities.
Karen Mundine
Karen Mundine is from the Bundjalung Nation of northern NSW. As the CEO at Reconciliation Australia, Ms Mundine brings to the role more than 25 years’ experience leading community engagement, public advocacy, communications and social marketing campaigns. An architect of the landmark Australian Reconciliation Barometer, Ms Mundine works with governments, the business sector and civil society to advocate for change. Over the course of her career, she has been instrumental in some of Australia’s watershed national events including the Apology to the Stolen Generations, Centenary of Federation commemorations, Corroboree 2000 and the 1997 and 2021 Australian Reconciliation Conventions. Ms Mundine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and was the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Australian UTS Alumni Award. In 2023 she was declared the National Winner of the Australian Awards for Excellence in Women’s Leadership. She is a member of the Council of the National Museum of Australia, a Company Director of Sydney Festival and the Council of First Nations and is a Member of Chief Executive Women.
Uncle Charles Pakana
Uncle Charles Pakana, while of Tasmanian descent, is a fiercely proud Aboriginal Victorian man. He is the founder of Victorian Aboriginal News, a not-for-profit podcasting and radio programming business that seeks to promote the voices of Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, along with those within the broader community who stand shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with First Nations. He is an ex-soldier and the second of three successive generations of Aboriginal journalists. Uncle Charles is our MC and will moderate the Q&A session
Pirritu
PIRRITU’s music is a gentle, honest, and melodic personal journey that entices you into the depths of sadness, love, and shimmering hope. With two album releases under his belt, The songman’s work honours a cultural journey to connect back to land, language, and family with a continual thirst for deeper understanding of his people and country. Pirritu’s music features folk instrumentation weaving amongst his unique vocals like the gentle wind and waters that the Ngiyampaa man sings of.
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