Katelyn is featured in this Impact Policy podcast.
Katelyn, interviewed by Impact Policy Founder and Managing Director Sam Johnson, confesses that originally she planned to research Indigenous cooking for her major work for her compressed Aboriginal Studies project.
Instead, Katelyn took the opportunity to research and create a thorough investigation into how the media reports on missing and murdered Indigenous women and children.
Her 30,000-word report, which found consistent bias, was recently submitted for consideration by the Senate Standing Committee into missing and murdered First Nations women and children.
Katelyn has since spoken with Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and many other Indiginous and non-Indigenous people about her research, and has urged more Australian students to take up the opportunity to research matters of significance by taking Aboriginal Studies in high school.
“I want people to take a genuine interest in what is seen as Indigenous issues, and to see them as people’s stories,” Katelyn said.
She said she was stunned to discover that Australian doesn’t even collect statistics on what percentage of missing and murdered people are Indigenous people.
She was also shocked to discover a tendency for authorities to delay and downplay reactions to the disappearance of Aboriginal children and women, in comparison to their efforts to find missing non-Aboriginal children.
Katelyn discovered blatant racism, stereotypes, inaccurate portrayals, and even instances of Indigenous women seeking help from the police, only to discover themselves being targetted, in once instance for unpaid parking fines.
“Calling on the Police for help, but then ending up a victim …” Katelyn said. “Somehow the story gets spun and you get arrested.”
Her research helped her to understand how many Indigenous people feel about the police, compared to how a privileged white person expects to be dealt with.
Katelyn remarked on the strength and resilience of Indigenous people as they continue to fight for justice, and said she hopes to study and work in the fields of Psychology and Law in future.