Latest news with #truthTelling
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
What Aboriginal Australians could get under a proposed compensation plan for post-colonisation pain
A landmark truth-telling inquiry's call for redress for the post-colonisation pain and suffering of Aboriginal people has not been ruled out. The Yoorrook Justice Commission's final reports feature 100 recommendations across five volumes and an official public record of Victoria's history since colonisation in 1834. The Australian-first Indigenous truth-telling body calls on the Victorian government to provide redress for injustices. It suggested redress could take the form of restitution of traditional land, monetary compensation, tax relief or other financial benefits. Other recommendations include shifting prison healthcare from the justice department to the health department, more cash to First Peoples-led health services and establishing independent funding streams for the state's self-determination fund. Premier Jacinta Allan indicated none of the ideas were off the table, refusing to rule in or out any of the recommendations. 'We're going to take our time to consider and respond to the report,' she told reporters on Wednesday. 'I am not going to respond to the individual recommendations or the report as a whole through individual questions at a press conference. 'That would not do justice to the years and years of work and evidence.' Yoorrook held 67 days of public hearings, gathering the testimony of Stolen Generations survivors, elders, historians, experts and non-Indigenous advocates. It found there were at least 50 massacres across Victoria by the end of the 1860s, with eight colonists killed compared to 978 First Nations people. The mass killings combined with disease, sexual violence, exclusion, eradication of language, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation brought about the 'near-complete physical destruction' of Aboriginal people in Victoria. The 'decimation' of the population by 1901 was the result of 'a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups'. 'This was genocide,' one of the documents read. Ms Allan said the findings made for 'tough reading' because they 'tell the truth' about how the state was colonised. The recommendations will inform treaty talks between the state government and the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, with enabling legislation expected to be introduced later in 2025. Ms Allan said reparations were not up for discussion as part of treaty talks amid backlash over Yoorrook's findings and recommendations. 'I'm not focused on people who want to divide people,' she said. First Peoples' Assembly member Nerita Waight warned Ms Allan not to let Yoorrook's work go ignored, as politicians have done with previous major Aboriginal-related inquiries. 'The truth has been told and now the government has an obligation to act,' the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive said. Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe called on the federal government to press on with national truth and treaty processes. 'Genocide has not just occurred in Victoria, but has been perpetrated against all First Peoples of this continent,' she said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to set up a 'Makarrata Commission to oversee a national process for treaty and truth-telling' in 2021. His government allocated $5.8million to commence work on establishing the independent commission, but it has not materialised after the failed voice to parliament referendum in 2023.
SBS Australia
09-07-2025
- General
- SBS Australia
From horror to healing: a truth-telling journey on a Bass Strait island
From horror to healing: a truth-telling journey on a Bass Strait island Published 9 July 2025, 8:57 am On Flinders Island in Bass Strait sits a little-known place, significant to not only Tasmanian and the nation's history, but global history. It's known as Wybalenna and it's a place of deep sorrow for the Aboriginal community. More recently, the community has been working to make it a more comfortable place to spend time and continue the truth-telling that's been happening since colonisation. This year marking NAIDOC week at the site with a flag raising in what's believed to be a first. A warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers that the following story contains images of people who have died.
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Aboriginal policy vacuum from Liberals, Labor as NAIDOC Week starts
Aboriginal flag-raising ceremonies have been held across Tasmania ahead of a week of cultural events and activities for NAIDOC Week celebrations. The theme this year, for the event's 50th anniversary, is 'the next generation: strength, vision and legacy'. But so far, the issues of treaty and truth-telling have not been mentioned by either of Tasmania's major political parties in the lead-up to the state election on July 19 — which has disappointed some Aboriginal organisations. Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre's (TAC) Nala Mansell said she was disappointed by how little attention treaty and truth-telling had been given during the state election. "For the whole time the Liberals have been in government, we've reminded them that we want a treaty here in Tasmania, and we want some of what's been stolen from us returned," she said. In 2021, then-premier Peter Gutwein appointed former Tasmanian governor Kate Warner and law professor Tim McCormack to lead talks with the state's Aboriginal people to map out a pathway to treaty and truth-telling. In May, while announcing funding to establish truth and healing commissioners, the state government said it would no longer progress talks for a treaty with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. Ms Mansell said at a recent meeting with Tasmanian Aboriginal people the consensus was to reject the offer for the truth-telling commission. "Most people agree that truth-telling is important especially in Lutruwita, Tasmania where the state has fully swept Aboriginal history and the treatment of our people under the rug. "But everyone in the room that day agreed that we reject the Liberal government's offer of truth-telling without any type of action. "[It] acknowledged that the truth-telling commission will give no land back to Aboriginal people. It will return nothing of what has been stolen from us." Greens leader, Rosalie Woodruff, said both the Liberal and Labor parties need to commit to processing a treaty and land returns. Last week, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission handed down its first report after four years of work. It found Aboriginal people in Victoria have endured crimes against humanity and genocide. "We need to be following what Victoria and other states have done, having a truth-telling and healing, and treaty process. That needs to start this year," Ms Woodruff said. Premier Jeremy Rockliff was asked on Monday whether he thought his party had done enough towards reconciliation with Aboriginal Tasmanians. "What's important about reconciliation and indeed truth-telling is that it needs to be Aboriginal-led," he said. "We have embarked on a truth-telling journey and a healing journey with Tasmanian Aboriginal people particularly when it comes to the commissioners that we've announced," he said. Premier Rockliff said the Liberals had prioritised several closing-the-gap measures. "We've been investing and supporting social enterprise. In the north-east when it comes to abalone quota, a great social enterprise, First Nations product … we've committed to for a further 10 years," he said. "We need to ensure that we're focused on closing-the-gap when it comes to life expectancy, educational attainment, lessening the incarceration rates and improving housing for Tasmanian Aboriginal people." Labor Leader, Dean Winter, said the party is open to revisiting treaty with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. "We understand that there needs to be truth-telling, we understand that there needs to be a pathway towards treaty, but you need to bring Tasmanians along on the journey towards that," he said. "Tasmanians want to see a state that is united and together and we've got to treat our Tasmanian Aboriginal community with respect.
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Is Australia's multicultural project in trouble?
The Prime Minister has roundly condemned a series of "shocking" anti-Semitic acts, which Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has labelled "an attack on all Australians". But do the attacks point to a fraying of Australia's social cohesion? And as NAIDOC week celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Minister for Aboriginal Australians has indicated a willingness to consider truth-telling at a federal level, but is Anthony Albanese on board? Patricia Karvelas and Jacob Greber break it all down on Politics Now. Got a burning question? Got a burning political query? Send a short voice recording to PK and Fran for Question Time at thepartyroom@
The Independent
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
British colonisers committed genocide against Australia's first people: landmark inquiry
Australia 's first truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, concluded that British colonisation of Victoria constituted genocide against Aboriginal people. The commission's final report detailed atrocities including mass killings, sexual violence, and cultural erasure, leading to the decimation of the First Peoples population. Key recommendations include financial and non-financial compensation for Victorian First Peoples and redress through a treaty framework for historical injustices. The report also called for the First Peoples Assembly to become a permanent decision-making body and urged truth-telling initiatives in education, health, and memorialisation. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan welcomed the report and committed to considering its findings, while the Liberal opposition stated it would not support making the First Peoples Assembly permanent or the treaty process.
