24/03/2023, 10:36 Larissa Behrendt -Achieving Social Justice Indigenous Rights and Australia’s Future https://ebrary.net/171518/law/larissa_behrendt_achieving_social_justice_indigenous_rights_australia_s_future#251 1/26 Larissa Behrendt -Achieving Social Justice Indigenous Rights and Australia’s Future Robyn Oxley Introduction Before I begin this chapter, it is imperative that I position myself within the literature I am about to engage with. I am a Tharawal and Yorta Yorta woman. A proud Aboriginal woman who does not reside on my country. It is important for me to acknowledge that I am a visitor on Wurundjeri land, part of the Kulin Nation in Victoria. I pay my respects to the traditional and ongoing owners of the land on which I conduct my research. I also pay my respects to the author on whom this essay is based on. Larissa Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Technology Sydney. Distinguished Professor Behrendt completed a LLB/B; Juris at the University of New South Wales and went on to complete an LLM and SJD at Harvard University. Larissa is one of Australia’s foremost leading thinkers about social justice. She is knowledgeable in this area as she is an Aboriginal woman, who was born a few years after the 1967 referendum, which saw the change in how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were seen as citizens in their own country and included in the national census. Larissa has not only completed her legal studies, she is an expert in her field, and her contribution to law and social justice will be celebrated not only by the current researchers, but the future generations. The purpose of this chapter is to examine what was happening around the time Larissa Behrendt (2003) published Achieving Social Justice: Indigenous Rights and Australia’s Future. It takes the reader on a journey through the eyes of an Aboriginal scholar, whose research is in Criminology and Indigenous Justice. It is important to learn from the ways of Aboriginal scholars as the Home Law A Renowned Criminal Law Leader - Birchgrove Legal Relentless commitment. Technical excellence. The Criminal Law Specialists birchgrovelegal.com.au