Rita Panahi: This is an issue that could turn an election, but for that to happen the state Libs would need to find their spine

The Victorian Liberal Party has been handed a gift. If it cannot turn the calamitous race politics of the Allan government into a massive win at the state election in November 2026, it should cease to exist.

Someone needs to explain to Premier Jacinta Allan that no means no.

Victorians said “No” clearly and resoundingly, but state Labor is defying the referendum result and pushing ahead with a permanent and costly legislated Indigenous Voice and a costly treaty.

The Victorian Liberal Party has been handed a gift.

The Allan government is pushing ahead with a permanent and costly legislated Indigenous Voice and a costly treaty. Picture: Justin McManus

If it cannot turn the calamitous race politics of the Allan government into a massive win at the state election in November 2026, it should cease to exist.

This week we saw the output of the Yoorrook Justice Commission and its frankly absurd recommendations which follow a so-called “truth-telling inquiry”, the first of its type in Australia.

The Truth Be Told report is some 455 pages long and the list of demands are as radical and out of step with the Australian mainstream as the ideology behind the endless grievance-mongering.

One cannot express just how toxic and divorced from reality this report is in the space afforded here.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s recommendations are frankly absurd.

It starts badly with a foreword written by former premier Steve Bracks, who opens with this: “Until now, official histories of Australia were written by the colonisers, the oppressors, the ‘victors’. The stories about First Peoples’ occupation of this land for thousands of years were ignored, distorted and covered up; written out of history — as was the devastating impact of British colonisation from 1788.”

Say what? In what state has Bracks been living? The black armband view of Australia has been relentlessly pushed down our throats for decades.

I recall it well during my high school days too many decades ago and that messaging has only intensified further.

As for the “devastating impact of colonisation”, Bracks does not explain whether Indigenous folk in this state had a longer life expectancy before the arrival of British settlers or now, or whether the infant mortality rate improved.

The black armband view of Australia has been relentlessly pushed down our throats for decades. Picture: AAP

Indeed, the race-obsessed malcontents fail to admit that colonisation, while bringing devastating diseases like smallpox and measles, also came with great positives like modern medicine, housing, technological advances and greater rights and protections for women.

And, colonisation was of course inevitable.

The landmark report concludes that there was a “genocide” in Victoria and that it was a result of “a co-ordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups”.

And, it adds that “colonial systems” are to blame for disparities that exists today.

“The scars of colonial invasion – its massacres, violence and relentless erasure – are not confined to the past. They reside in the present, shaping the lives of First Peoples in Victoria today …

“From the first footsteps of invaders to the halls of contemporary power, the machinery of dispossession persists,” it said.

Of course among the 100 recommendations is the demand for monetary and other compensation “for injustice which has occurred during and as a result of the colonial invasion and occupation of First Peoples’ territories”.

Along with the demands for funding are demands for greater control amounting to “self-determination”.

Recommendation 3 includes a demand that the Victorian government to “transfer decision-making power, authority, control and resources to First Peoples, giving full effect to self-determination in relation to their identity, information, data, traditional ecological knowledge, connection to Country, their rights to their lands, waters and resources, in the Victorian health, education and housing systems and across economic and political life.”

Gosh, what could go wrong?

You’d think the Premier would be aghast by these wild recommendations – and I assure you the other 99 are just as entitled and radical – but Allan was full of praise.

“When you listen to people, you get better outcomes, and that’s what treaty is all about. I reckon we’re up for that as a state,” she said.

“Thank you to the commission for these historic reports – they shine a light on hard truths and lay the foundations for a better future for all Victorians.”

The Victorian Liberals share some of the blame for the ruinous race politics in this state.

It must not be forgotten that they initially backed the establishment of the Yoorrook Justice Commission and – incredibly – they backed a treaty until the Voice referendum injected a dose of reality into proceedings.

This is an issue that could turn an election, but for that to happen the state Libs would need to find their spine and principles.

The Brad Battin-led Liberals have vowed not to support a treaty or permanent Indigenous voice to parliament but they must offer more than that; they must stand strongly against the recommendations of this report and the divisive race politics of the Left.

Originally published as Rita Panahi: This is an issue that could turn an election, but for that to happen the state Libs would need to find their spine