In the year of the Voice, Australians must overcome a language barrier if we're to speak to each other, to hear the same truth

As a Wiradjuri man Stan Grant says authority rests in his elders, "drawing cultural legitimacy from ancestors and exercised within our territory. That is sovereignty". (By Stephen Blake)

We have a communication problem in Australia. Words that come out of a Black person's mouth are often heard so differently by white ears.

Take the ex-Green now crossbench senator Lidia Thorpe. She is constantly referred to as a "radical". Why? Because she is a champion of First Nations sovereignty.