Engaging with the Aboriginal people of lutruwita/Tasmania was a highlight of my term as Governor and led to Premier Peter Gutwein inviting me to lead a project on a pathway to truth-telling and treaty. After summarising my engagement with Aboriginal people during my term I will explain what we heard from Aboriginal people in the 62 community meetings we had during the project and what we recommended to Government. I will put this in the context of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the referendum, and the progress towards voice, treaty and truth at a state level in other states.
Kate Warner is an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania where she taught Criminal Law, Criminology and Evidence Law before her appointment as Governor of Tasmania in December 2014. Kate was Director of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute from 2002 until 2014. She was the first woman Dean of the Faculty of Law and was Head of Department in the Law School. She has served on numerous boards and is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology. In October 2021, with Professor Tim McCormack, she presented a report to Government on a Pathway to Truth-Telling and Treaty. And in 2022, with two interstate colleagues, she conducted a review of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute. She is currently working on a national project on judicial well-being, a new edition of a sentencing text and a book consolidating the results of the Australian jury sentencing projects. In 2012 Kate was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal at the University of Tasmania and in 2016 was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, for her significant service to the law.