Tekan Cochrane on First Nations justice ^{CEFR B1}

Tekan Cochrane is an Australian Indigenous lawyer of Kooma, Yuwaalaraay and Torres Strait Islander heritage. Raised on a farm in central Queensland, she was the first in her family to attend university. In 2025 she was a finalist for the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Law Award.

She is Executive Officer of the Tarwirri Indigenous Law Association of Victoria, which is funded through the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement. Tekan founded TC Law & Consulting and has served on legal committees and as a non‑executive director of Women of Colour Australia. She helped create and manage the Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations Package and completed a Master’s with a comparative dissertation on Indigenous peoples in Australia and Colombia.

Speaking in January 2026, she described over‑incarceration as a failure of systems rather than individuals and called for a shift from punitive policies to prevention, community‑led diversion programs, culturally safe youth services, justice reinvestment and accountability for police and child protection. On child removals she warned of a risk of a new “stolen” generation and urged investment in early family support, housing stability and culturally appropriate services. She said solutions must be designed and led by First Nations communities with governments fully on board.