As a person from English, Irish and Scottish descent, I’m privileged to be able to share this country with the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands. For more than 60,000 years these lands were cared for by First Nations people.

Sadly, the arrival of European settlement was catastrophic for many First Nations people and it is the responsibility of all Australians to build a better, fairer future for Indigenous people. One part of building that future is committing to reconciliation and acknowledging the past injustices that First Nations people have endured.

Reconciliation is everyone’s business and this week during National Reconciliation Week I’ll be striving, as I do every week, to live up to its promises and challenges. The theme this year is “Be Brave – Make Change” and I’m committed to being brave and making change in my role as Group CEO of Diabetes Australia as well as in my personal and social life.

Reconciliation is particularly important to Diabetes Australia because diabetes is the leading contributor to the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. That’s why reducing the impact of diabetes is a key priority for our organisation. That’s why we’re investing in First Nations team members, consulting and listening to First Nations peoples and advocating for more funding and more programs to better support First Nations people.

It is a significant challenge, but reconciliation has to be backed up with actions.