James Campbell: Jacinta Allan oblivious to the political danger she is courting

From the “Look mum – no hands!” way Jacinta Allan is speeding along ‘the path to Treaty’ it seems the Premier doesn’t realise the danger she is courting so close to the next state election.

From the “Look mum – no hands!” way Jacinta Allan is speeding along ‘the path to Treaty’ you could be forgiven for thinking Albo’s Voice referendum had been resoundingly endorsed by the electorate and not resoundingly rejected.

But almost two years after that political disaster the Premier seems oblivious to the political danger she is courting by moving Indigenous affairs to the centre of Victoria’s political debate with only 16 months to go until the next state election.

On Friday she announced that later this year the government will introduce a Statewide Treaty bill which among other things will effectively make the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria a state version of the federal body Victorians rejected in 2023.

Exactly what the state has agreed in its treaty – sorry Treaty – negotiations is unclear as they are being conducted in secret but the Premier is not ruling out tax relief, extra funding and land grants for Indigenous Victorians.

The Premier seems oblivious to the political danger she is courting. Picture: Nadir Kinani

Friday’s joint press release by the government and the assembly reveals it will have at least three important powers.

The first will be the power to decide who is to be considered Indigenous.

The second will be the power to make statutory appointments for designated First Peoples’ seats on government boards and entities.

At present the power to appoint people to boards is in the hands of the relevant minister to whom the appointee is effectively answerable.

Henceforth however at least one member of some boards will be answerable instead to the First Peoples’ Assembly.

Which entities this change will apply to is unclear; the release gives Heritage Victoria as an example but it could in theory apply to every statutory authority in the state as well the health networks.

The third important role will be “the right to make representations and provide advice to the government, including being able to ask questions of Ministers and creating a duty for Ministers and departments to consult with the Assembly on laws and policies that are specifically directed to First Peoples.”

The Premier is not ruling out tax relief, extra funding and land grants for Indigenous Victorians. Picture: Nadir Kinani

If you think that sounds like Albo’s Voice you’d be right.

The question we need an answer to here is ‘what exactly is meant by “specifically”?’

Because if it effectively means ‘exclusively’ that is to say only policies which affect only Indigenous people that is one thing, but if it means policies which affect everyone but which might impact Indigenous people particularly, that is another.

From the way the Premier is talking about it, you would think that creating an entity which puts the interests of 66,000 people – the Indigenous population of Victoria – at the centre of government decision-making in a state with a population of more than seven million, was no big deal for the rest of us.

This is surprising as people who know her well say her natural instincts in this space would be to be cautious.

How she could appear to be so oblivious to the political danger she is courting is a complete mystery until you consider some of the ministers who sit around her Cabinet table for whom Indigenous empowerment is an article of secular faith.

Originally published as James Campbell: Jacinta Allan oblivious to the political danger she is courting