Latest news with #YoorrookJustice
Sky News AU
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Mundine labels Vic truth telling reparations a ‘slippery slope' that could cripple state
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has the Victorian truth telling commission's recommendation for the government to provide First Nations Australians with financial reparations was a concerning 'slippery slope.' The Victorian government's Yoorrook Justice truth telling inquiry handed down its final report on Tuesday after four years of proceedings and claimed that the state had been illegally occupied. It also claimed that Victoria's First Peoples had been subjected to genocide. The commission made 100 recommendations to the Victorian government including providing Indigenous Australians with tax relief, financial reparations and land grants. But Mr Mundine, who was a driving force behind the No to the Voice to Parliament campaign said the proposal did not represent the view of all Indigenous Australians and said the move would further divide the country. 'It is a slippery slope. We know that because we know that when people ask for something, and it's only a small minority of Aboriginals, you know, more radical Aboriginals and when this starts, they ask for more, and they ask for more,' Mr Mundine told The inquiry claimed the government needed to atone for colonial 'injustices' and further ordered Indigenous groups to be given access to cash generated from state resources. The truth telling inquiry implored the state government to treat Indigenous groups as separate nations, and that taxpayer funds should be used to create a Traditional Owner organisation that would inherit a portion of state revenues. Mr Mundine unleashed on the commission and questioned why it was "asking for more things" given the High Court's recent native title decision which essentially confirmed property rights for Indigenous Australians. 'I think that was the right decision so why is this body in Victoria asking for more things? They are late to the party. 'I think some of these things get a bit crazy and a bit overboard, you know we're trying to bring our nation together and we're trying to treat everyone as equals and we (Indigenous Australians) have every right as equals as every other citizen.' Some Indigenous commentators have criticised the sweeping financial recommendations. One said the cash compensation in addition to tax exemptions for Indigenous people, could potentially send the debt-stricken state broke, according to the Herald Sun. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to rule out paying compensation to First Nations people. Mr Mundine said the Victorian government needed to channel its efforts into improving the living standards of the Indigenous community. He said funding inquiries and implementing legally risky policies with far reaching ramifications was a "bad joke". 'What I would like to see is that the Victorian government actually takes a sensible common-sense approach to this thing rather than dividing the country," he said. 'What they are saying is that they have failed Australian citizens because the last time I looked at the Constitution Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders are Australian citizens if they're not looking after them then then that's a failure of government.' Three of the inquiry's five commissioners, who were each paid between $250,000 and $370,000 'did not approve of the inclusion of the key findings in the final report' which included the creation of a permanent First People's Assembly and a treaty between Indigenous groups and the government. Mr Mundine said if there was disagreement among the inquiry's commissioners, then the parliamentary process to respond to the recommendations would be a nightmare. 'It doesn't worry me that there was disagreement between the commissioners because this just tells you how volatile this is going to be, could you imagine if the commission is arguing about this what is it going to do for the wider Australian community, the wider Victorian community and government?' Mr Mundine said. 'I can bet you a dollar that if it happens in Victoria then other Labor governments will be looking at doing this across Australia.' The Victorian government has a deadline of 24 months to respond and implement the recommendations, which are non-binding, with Ms Allan conceding that 'the recommendations and indeed the findings are incredibly challenging'.
ABC News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Long walk for truth and Victoria's plan for treaty
Cheers erupted among the thousands of people gathered on the steps of Victoria Parliament as the Yoorrook Justice Commissioner, Travis Lovett, reached his destination after 508 kilometres and 25 days of walking. "The silence ends here, the time of not knowing, of choosing not to know, is over," Commissioner Lovett told the sea of supporters. "Truth-telling is not a ritual, it's not symbolic. It's a reckoning, it's a commitment to change. Truth-telling is treaty in motion. "The work of truth-telling, of treaty, of transformation, that belongs to us all now." Commissioner Lovett set out on the Walk for Truth on Gunditjmara land, his traditional country in Portland, where first European settlement began in Victoria. His walk is one of the final steps of the state's four-year truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission, ahead of a "new chapter" with an official report detailing the impacts of colonisation on Victoria's First Peoples. The findings will also inform Victoria's statewide treaty, currently being negotiated between First Nations people and the government — the first of its kind in the country. "In our culture, [we] listen before we talk," Commissioner Lovett told the ABC. "Before the treaty, we need to have the truth to understand what has happened to our people, and what is continually happening." The walk began with 500 people, swelling to around 3,000 in Melbourne for the final day. Conversations on the road focused on the past and the present. Participants opened their hearts during the walk. Like Stolen Generations survivor Lionel Dukasis, who met cousins for the first time during the journey, an experience that reinforced the power of family for him. "When I'm on the phone to my kids or grandkids I tell them I love them, because I never heard that and as a kid those are the words you want to hear: 'I love you,'" Mr Dukasis said. The commissioner of the country's first truth-telling body stood tall as he handed over a message stick marked with symbols, initials and markings from people along the way — one "he carried for all Victorians". "This message stick comes with expectations that the government will implement Yoorrook's recommendations," Commissioner Lovett said. It was also for the opposition, who withdrew their bipartisan support for treaty soon after Victorians delivered a majority no vote in the Voice referendum. "We are coming in here to give this to you. We as people have expectations on them too … for them to support truth-telling and treaty." Commissioner Lovett had also exchanged message sticks from Country to Country as he walked across the state to meet the Victorian premier today. "When we walk through other people's Country, we have always taken a message stick to let them know our intentions," the proud Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man said. "These message sticks are about truth, they are about expectations, they are about learning from history." The route was mapped out with guidance from local traditional owners of each town. "We began where the first wounds were struck into the earth, where footsteps came ashore not as visitors but as claimants, where the smoke of fires long burning were ignored and where our presence was declared absent," he said to the thousands who gathered on the steps of Parliament House. "A path drawn across Country, never straight, never simple. It bent with memory, with resistance, with the shape of old scars but new hope." Commissioner Lovett said he walked for his children and for other children so they could "dance in celebration". His journey was inspired by activists who stood on the steps with placards, like Wurundjeri leader William Barak who made the trek to Parliament House to fight for change. "Since 1856, parliament has made decisions that have controlled and segregated First Peoples' lives, but it's also the place where we can transform our futures, not just for First Peoples but for all Victorians," Commissioner Lovett told the ABC. It has been an almost month-long journey through torrential rain, pockets of hail, and wintry sunshine. The conversations revisited painful memories of the past but there were also moments of laughter and joy, described by some as a "transformative energy". "We're here to walk together in unity," Commissioner Lovett told hundreds of attendees in Geelong. "We're not blaming everyday Australians for what has happened to our people. "We are asking for the institutions to be accountable for the institutional harm that they've caused, and the current systems that are still informed and embedded by their colonial roots." Walkers would often hear Commissioner Lovett refer to himself as an "emu" — his strides so long and fast that attendees jested it should be a "Run for Truth" not a Walk for Truth. Lionel Dukakis, the First Nations traffic management director, was essential to the success of the walk. Wearing a hi-vis vest directing traffic, he ensured the safety of the particpants. "Walking for all those days or sitting in the truck, protecting the crowd and travel and all that is paramount. But [the highlight was] meeting cousins for the first time at 63 that I'd never met in my life," the Gunditjmara man said. At just 18 months old, Mr Dukakis was forcibly removed from his family under the power of government policies at the time. He would spend his life between institutions and a foster family. It's an experience almost too difficult to talk about. "I'd have to tell you personally it was hell on Earth for us, the way we're treated," he reflected. He has turned his adversity into success running a business and raising a big, loving family. "Being part of history is really what it is about for me and a legacy that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren will read about in years to come," he said from his truck. Lionel was one of the 9,000 First Nations people who engaged with the Yoorrook Commission. Victoria has the highest rates of Aboriginal child removal in the country, and it is one of the issues that the commissioners raised in their 46 urgent interim recommendations two years ago — to give decision-making power and resources back to First Peoples, negotiated through a treaty. The government accepted 30 recommendations to varying degrees, six in full, with a further 13 under consideration. Commissioners were "beyond disappointed at the lack of action", condemning the government's decision to toughen bail laws and backflip on a commitment to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. The Yoorrook Commission has heard from 229 witnesses, including the Victorian premier eliciting 16 government apologies, notably from the Victorian police commissioner. Another 100 recommendations will be laid out in the final report that will be tabled in parliament by the end of this month. It will be reviewed before the government's official response. "Our people as First Peoples get to write the full history of what's happened," Commissioner Lovett said. The Yoorrook Justice Commision report will bring a statewide treaty closer to reality. In Parliament House, traditional owners handed over message sticks directly to Premier Jacinta Allan. "Truth does not end today, rather truth marks a beginning," Ms Allan told politicians and First Nations leaders who had gathered. "We know the important work of the commission will inform negotiations on treaty now and into the future. "Negotiations on treaty that will ultimately lead us back to this place Naarm. "So to the members of parliament who are here today, it will come back to this place and present us with that historic transformative opportunity to create a foundation on which justice is built and on which healing can begin and where real lasting change can take route." Ngarra Murray, a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Dhudhuroa woman, is in the room negotiating with the Victorian government as the co-chair of the First People's Assembly, established with a mandate to negotiate treaty. "That call was really strong from our community, that we can't have treaty without truth," Ms Murray said. "We know that treaty is the pathway to a better future for our people … whether it's child protection, the criminal justice system, whether it is health, housing or education." Ms Murrays great-grandfather was Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls, an activist who was part of the Day of Mourning calling for rights for Aboriginal people in 1938. "We come from strong blood," she said. "It's a responsibility that we have, and it has been a lot of contributions of our old people to get us to where we are today." The government says they hope to sign a treaty ahead of the state election next year. "We're working really hard across the parliament and the political sphere to bring people on this journey with us," Ms Murray said. Victoria has embarked on a "hybrid" approach in which statewide treaties will be negotiated alongside local treaties with traditional owner groups. "The expectations are really high. It's the very first treaty and there's only so much we can achieve in the first one. That is why there will be many treaties," she said. At the local level, Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) recently became the first group to register to start treaty negotiations with the Victorian government. Gunditjmara man Reuben Berg, also co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly, explained that this treaty will be groundbreaking. "It's not intended that this first treaty will resolve all those matters, but it's going to set a framework so that we can continue to have those conversations and wherever possible, place decision making in the hands of First Peoples," he said. A key aspiration for the First Peoples' Assembly is to be an ongoing representative body for shared decision-making, such as keeping the government to account on Closing the Gap targets. "My hope [is] for a First Peoples' Assembly that can make decisions about First Peoples' business," Mr Berg told the crowd in Melbourne. He invited everyone to continue to walk with them as the end of Yoorrook drew to a close and their work continues to negotiate the first statewide treaty. "At the moment [we're] a democratically elected body of First Peoples solely focused on treaty," Mr Berg said. "We want to see that body evolve into a much stronger body that can actually talk directly to parliament." 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