New powers, greater role for peak Aboriginal body in Victoria
Victoria's peak Aboriginal body, the First Peoples' Assembly, would be given a direct line to ministers and the power to make appointments to government boards under legislation being developed through the state's treaty negotiations.
The assembly would also be given oversight over programs and policies designed to close the gap in life expectancy and living standards between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Ministers and government departments would be required to consult with the assembly on any laws or policies 'specifically directed' to Indigenous Victorians, and the assembly would have the authority to question ministers and provide advice to them.
The proposed reform, which would make the assembly a statutory corporation and bring it under the power of Victoria's public sector anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC, would satisfy one of the key recommendations within the Yoorrook Justice Commission's final reports tabled this week in parliament.
The commission recommended the state government negotiate with First Peoples to establish a permanent, First Peoples' representative body 'with powers at all levels of political and policy decision making'.
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The commission found that exclusion from processes of government was one of the historic and ongoing injustices inflicted upon Victoria's Indigenous people since colonisation.
'As shown in the evidence to Yoorrook, any inclusion of First Peoples in the State political life is limited, circumscribed and reliant on the continuation of political goodwill,' the commission noted.
'Numerous witnesses to Yoorrook submitted that the State continues to make government policy and laws for First Peoples, rather than with or by First Peoples. Government policy decision making continues to largely disregard the voices of First Peoples Elders, organisations and communities.'
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