The Next Generation is this year’s NAIDOC theme, a celebration of strength, vision, and legacy. It’s meant to honour our people, uplift our youth, and imagine a future led by First Nations people.

But how can governments, corporations, and institutions celebrate NAIDOC while they continue to harm the very young people they claim to support?

How can we talk about “the next generation” while locking them up, tearing them from family, denying them healthcare, and letting racism kill them?

Our young mob are over-policed, under-protected, and forced to navigate a world that surveils them more than it supports them. They carry the weight of systemic violence every day and still, they fight, create, lead, and survive.

This event is about naming that reality. It’s a night of truth-telling, resistance, and community-led by Blak youth and frontline organisers. There’ll be performances by young poets, musicians, Brolga Dance Academy and a panel unpacking the systems we’re up against and what justice could actually look like.

We’re not here for morning teas. We’re not here for black squares and branding exercises.

We’re here for our youth. And we won’t talk about the future while this generation is still being hurt.