- G'day, my name's Tom Forrest, I'm a Yorta Yorta man from a tribe in Victoria, and I grew up in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. I work as a journalist, filmmaker and storyteller, come with me. Growing up in a small Aboriginal community, I realized early on the importance of the relationship between the First Nations community and the non-indigenous community in town. It was that relationship that made these towns across the regions a community. I spoke to some mob from around town to find out what being an ally means to them.

- For me, a good ally to mob is not someone who just does it for show. It's someone who actually holds space and opens up doors for mob and gives them opportunities to go further. I've had, you know, some really great people that have held spaces for me in companies where normally mob aren't represented. So to me, that's being a good ally is actually doing the work behind the scenes, not when everyone's looking.

- I think that having the yarn with respect is an important part of the first steps. To be an ally, you can't just say, "Well, I'm wearing a flag on my t-shirt today and I'm an ally tomorrow." It doesn't work like that. I think that there needs to be a real understanding around what our people go through. And the easiest step that you can make is actually understand we are living, we are working, we exist, whose people were here long before anyone else?

- I think the main thing is all about listening, active listening, actually taking things on, not just waiting for a chance to speak over someone. I think it's really important to never forget history and all the things that did happen, it's a really intense and traumatic topic for a lot of, especially First Nations people. So it's all about creating a community where we have that connection between each other and that respect in understanding history but moving on in a way that uplifts and helps and supports First Nations people in that.

- I think if you are prepared to stand behind and not in front of someone who is indigenous, to really listen to the stories that they have to tell and the messaging that they have to share, ask questions where you can and be really open to hearing what kind of feedback comes your way. Sometimes that's not going to be a positive feedback but having that open-mindedness and being receptive to hearing indigenous perspectives, even if that means you're being put in a difficult position, is really important.

- I hope that these words can act as a form of advice and it gives you a better meaning of what it means to be an ally to the First Nations community. Thanks for watching.