‘Path towards unity’: First traditional owners group seeks individual treaty

Central Victoria’s Dja Dja Wurrung people have started their journey towards a local treaty with the state government, the first of multiple traditional owners group expected to do so alongside statewide negotiations.

The move opens up a new phase in treaty discussions starting in Dja Dja Wurrung Country, which includes Bendigo and the state electorate of Premier Jacinta Allan.

Dja Dja Wurrung Group chief executive Rodney Carter.Credit: DJAARA

Public attention on Victoria’s treaty process has largely focused on the statewide treaty, which is being negotiated between the state government and the First People’s Assembly of Victoria.

But the process was always intended to secure two types of treaties, including individual ones between the state and traditional owners groups that discuss more specific issues and ambitions for their regions and communities.

On Wednesday, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, known as DJAARA, will announce they have registered on behalf of the Dja Dja Wurrung people to begin the first of these local negotiations.

They have made a formal notification to the state’s Treaty Authority, an independent body that oversees negotiations on both the statewide and local discussions.

Under this process, the Dja Dja Wurrung will be added onto the authority’s negotiations register and a public notification period begins. The body will then work with the traditional owners group on preparations before the state will be invited for formal negotiations to begin.

DJAARA chief executive Rodney Carter said nothing was off the table, and they wanted an “enabling environment” to implement plans they had developed over the last three years in areas such as agriculture, water and renewable energy.

“This is about mutual consent and agreement. There are some really brilliant conversations to be had,” he said.

“What is this usefulness that Dja Dja Wurrung brings as a traditional owner group?

The ceremonial Opening of Treaty Negotiations on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country in the Darebin Parklands in November 2024.Credit: Justin McManus

“We’re a significant contributor to the regional economy across tourism, agriculture and other activities so we really want support for us to be able to lead in those areas, but partner with people.”

Carter said DJAARA was a significant investor in public lands but had encountered challenges in planning approvals that could be improved as part of treaty discussions.

“We would hope, going forward, that’s one of these legislative or regulatory changes that empowers us to be doing things more efficiently, so we’re not wasting money,” he said.

After the unsuccessful referendum for an Indigenous Voice to parliament in 2023, some state governments reconsidered their commitments to their treaty processes, and Queensland’s newly elected LNP government last year scrapped the state’s pathway to treaty.

But Allan has remained committed to the process, and the announcement of the first local treaty process takes place in Country that includes Bendigo, where the premier grew up and still represents voters.

The state opposition is opposed to treaty, last year dumping their vow to support the process, , raising the possibility of further political tussling over the policy as local negotiations begin. Previous flashpoints have included cultural heritage and land use.

Carter urged Victorians with doubts to support the process and keep informed.

“Component parts contribute to the whole,” he said, and if DJAARA’s local discussions were fruitful they could provide comfort to the public about the statewide negotiations.

“There is always that question in the room, what’s in it for me? For Dja Dja Wurrung in particular, we can evidence a significant economic contribution to central Victoria,” Carter said.

“We [also] need to be held to account, to be informing others and helping them understand because sometimes this stuff, I don’t think it’s easily understood and that might make people suspicious.”

“Hopefully, through our historical achievements, others will want us to be doing bigger and better things here at our homelands.”

The statewide process will cover broader themes such as evolving the First People’s Assembly as a representative body and accountability in closing the gap in Aboriginal life expectancy.

Victorian Treaty and First Peoples Minister Natalie Hutchins welcomed Dja Dja Wurrung’s entry to the negotiations register as a historic first.

“If you listen to the people directly affected by policies, you get better outcomes – that’s common sense – and traditional owner groups are experts in their communities, languages, cultures and caring for Country,” she said.

Dja Dja Wurrung man Djaran Murray-Jackson said treaties with traditional owner groups would allow Aboriginal communities to come up with local solutions based on their local knowledge.

Murray-Jackson is a director on the DJAARA board and sits on First People’s Assembly of Victoria on a reserved seat for the Dja Dja Wurrung people. There are 11 reserved seats, one designated for each formally recognised traditional owner group.

“Country, our connection to the land, is such an important part of who we are as Aboriginal
people, so there’s no doubt that initiatives around land and caring for Country will be a
focus for the negotiations,” he said.

DJAARA will begin forming a delegation responsible for conducting negotiations before inviting the state to commence, consulting with local communities in the meantime to set priorities for the discussions.

Treaty Authority chair Jidah Clark said treaties would recast the relationship between the state and First Peoples, bringing both closer together.

“This is an important marker on the path towards unity.”

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