The Three Things I Told the Prime Minister

He said:

“Chris… what are three things we can do to make a difference in the First Nations policy space?”

I took some time to think about it.

Then I said:

• Acknowledge our humanity and our capacity to be exceptional.
• Bring policy approaches that nurture hope rather than entrench despair.
• Do things with us, not to us.

Those words are easy enough to understand.

Giving effect to them is where the real work begins.

For almost 35 years, I have watched how First Nations policy and programs are designed and delivered in this country.

I have seen it from:

• community and grassroots perspectives
• academic and intellectual perspectives
• briefing ministers directly, sitting in cabinet rooms, and leading government departments

Across all of these experiences, I have become convinced of something very simple:

Policy cannot succeed where relationships fail.

• crisis
• dysfunction
• urgency
• compliance

We measure problems extensively while spending far less time understanding:

• human potential
• aspiration
• trust
• pride
• hope

Eventually, people stop feeling engaged in policy and start feeling subjected to it.

When people experience policy that way for long enough:

• institutions lose trust
• and good people within those systems become frustrated that effort is not translating into meaningful change

But I have also seen something very different.

I have seen:

• schools transformed
• communities rebuild confidence
• young people begin to believe in themselves again
• organisations change their culture

All of this happens when people are approached through:

high expectations relationships and a genuine belief in their humanity and capability.

None of this work happens accidentally.

It requires leaders who are prepared to think deeply about:

• how policy is designed
• how relationships are built
• how people experience both

Very few of us are given the opportunity to stop and seriously examine the assumptions driving our work.

We need to ask:

• Why do some approaches create trust while others create disengagement?
• Why do some policies strengthen agency while others unintentionally weaken it?
• Why do some communities experience institutions as places of possibility, while others experience distance, mistrust, and disengagement?

These questions matter because:

Policy shapes how people experience institutions, opportunity, and their own sense of possibility.

I will share:

• practical tools
• leadership insights
• lessons drawn from decades of experience across community leadership, government, education, and institutional reform

Participants will leave with:

• practical tools
• deeper insight
• a clearer understanding of how policy can strengthen trust, hope, and human capability

The quality of our policy is revealed in whether people experience hope, agency, dignity, and genuine partnership.