He has been a strong critic of the Intervention in the Northern Territory, and the lack of economic and educational development in communities affected by it.

While growing up in Angas Downs in the 1960s, Forrester grew angry with what he saw as a lack of human rights for indigenous people.

[2] He rebelled against the government's assimilation policies during his school years,[4] and then joined the campaign for indigenous land rights.

In 1982, he represented Australia at the first session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, held in Geneva.

[5] In this position, he would serve as an advisor to the governments of Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke on matters relating to indigenous people.

[3][9] In 1979, a group called the National Aboriginal Government occupied Capital Hill in Canberra and set up the Tent Embassy.

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said he would only discuss the matter with the NAC, since it was the only elected body representing Aboriginals.

[10] After his appointment as the NAC chairman for the Northern Territory, Forrester was put on the subcommittee in charge of drafting the Makarrata proposal.

A lot of central Australian communities depend on grants to mining companies for income, but Forrester argues that this reliance must be broken.

[15] While working in tourism, Forrester became outspoken about the lack of job opportunities for indigenous people living in the centre of Australia.

[2] In 2006, an ABC television program reported that children in Muṯitjulu as young as five had contracted sexually transmitted diseases and that girls were being prostituted for petrol.

[18] A formal inquiry later found that alcoholism and child sexual abuse were widespread in remote Aboriginal communities of the Territory.

In February 2008, he travelled to the Tent Embassy in Canberra to hear the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, formally say sorry to the members of the Stolen Generations.

[4] Despite statistics showing that the number of sex crimes against children in Muṯitjulu was going down, Forrester maintained that the community was still in crisis.

[16] Forrester claimed that the government has been too slow in dealing with the source of the problem (jobs and education),[23] and that life in Muṯitjulu has only gotten worse since the intervention laws.

He has since semi-retired and lives on the outskirts of Alice Springs with his wife and daughter but is also an elected member of the First Nations Referendum Council for Constitutional Change to recognise Indigenous sovereignty.

Traditional methods, tools and techniques are used to grind natural pigments into powder form, and then mixed with a binder to become a thick, sticky paint.

[1] His painting Resurrection at Mutitujulu Waterhole, done using these methods, was chosen as a finalist for the Togart Contemporary Art Award in 2012.