Victorian government announces plan to establish Treaty with Indigenous Australians and expand powers of state Voice

Sky News AU

a day ago

The Victorian government has released a joint statement with the states First Nations assembly revealing its plan to draw up a Treaty with Indigenous Australians and to further make the state's Voice to Parliament a permanent institution.
The Victorian government's Yoorrook Justice truth telling inquiry handed down its final report on Tuesday after four years of proceedings and claimed the state had been illegally occupied.
The commission also made 100 wide-ranging recommendations to the Victorian government including providing Indigenous Australians with tax relief, financial reparations and called on the state to finalise a Treaty agreement.
Yoorrook Justice Commission chairperson Professor Eleanor Bourke said the inquiries third and final report 'sets out some recommendations to be advanced through the treaty process and others through urgent actions and reforms that should begin now.'
The Treaty, which was previously in negotiation stages will now progress to parliament, with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and the state's First People's Assembly confirming on Friday that legislation to pass the agreement would be tabled after the winter break.
The statement declared that a draft Treaty had been settled behind closed doors after a lengthy consultation phase.
It also revealed that the state's First Peoples' Assembly would be made permanent.
The announcement comes after the state government announced earlier in the week that it would enshrine the Assembly in law as a statutory corporation, a move that was blasted by the Opposition.
The statement said the reinforced body would give 'decision-making powers to make sure First Peoples' communities can design and deliver practical solutions for their communities'.
'The proposed body will sit within our existing parliamentary and democratic structures. It will not have veto power on policy or legislation — a power that does not exist under Victoria's parliamentary system.
However, the state government has not disclosed how much it would cost to pass the Treaty, nor make the changes to the state Voice.
The document also made mention of numerous issues being debated behind the scenes which will be lumped within the Treaty legislation including granting First Peoples' seats on government commissions and boards and commissioning a new Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program.
The bill will further stipulate for truth-telling, healing and reconciliation events to be held across Victoria and for members of the Assembly to now have the capacity to ask ministers questions as they see fit.
Under the policy the Assembly will be able to ask ministers and departments to consult and involve the body before making laws pertaining to Indigenous peoples.
The statement said a considerable number of the Yoorrook Commission's recommendations would feature in the legislation.
These encompassed land grants in addition to providing Indigenous groups with cash generated from state resources.
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine, who was a driving force behind the No to the Voice to Parliament campaign, said the Yoorrook commissions findings were a 'slippery slope' and that Victoria's First Nation's Assembly did not represent the views of all Indigenous Australians.
'Aboriginal people are not supportive of this idea and so this idea that there's some sort of consensus out there is just rubbish,' Mr Mundine told SkyNews.com.au.
'We saw that in the vote for the first people's assembly that only 7 per cent of eligible aboriginals actually voted for it, so 93 per cent didn't see it as a true representative of themselves and didn't give a toss about it.'
Mr Mundine also said the developments in Victoria went against the views of the Australian people, with over 60 per cent of the country resoundingly voting down the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023.
'The Australian people have already spoken, you know over 60 per cent of Australians rejected the idea of the Voice to Parliament.'
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to rule out paying compensation to First Nations people.