Yoorrook hits back after government rejects ‘crucial’ Indigenous reforms

Aboriginal advocates have questioned the Allan government’s commitment to “dream big and be bold” to deliver the country’s first treaty after it delayed action on some of the biggest recommendations from the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

Handing down its response on Wednesday, the government said it would support in full four of the 46 recommendations from the truth-telling inquiry related to child protection, justice and police oversight.

An interim report by Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission.

Twenty-four recommendations were supported in principle and another 15 remained under consideration. The state rejected three recommendations on raising the age of criminal responsibility, bail reform and pursuing human rights abuses through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Yoorrook said it was disappointed these recommendations had been passed over as they were “crucial, given the alarming over-incarceration of First Peoples adults and children, and ongoing deaths in custody”.

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, a body elected to represent Aboriginal people during negotiations for a treaty, said the government’s response revealed it was not moving fast or hard enough.

Assembly co-chair and Gunditjmara man Rueben Berg said the government needed to shift gear if it shared the assembly’s vision of major reforms as part of a treaty.

Rueben Berg, co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, pictured last year.Credit: Chris Hopkins

“Aboriginal people are all too familiar with promises written in the sand. So the assembly will be looking to hold the government to these ‘in-principle’ commitments in treaty negotiations and with the next round of truth-telling recommendations, we’ll be wanting focused evidence-based outcomes that we can really lock in, so there’s no wriggle room,” Berg said.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said the government’s response was light on detail and unworthy of the painful truths told during the inquiry.

“The Victorian government’s response to the Yoorrook for Justice report does not give our people any confidence that they are ready to commit to the transformational change treaty requires when they can’t even lay the groundwork in the child protection and criminal justice systems,” Waight said.

She said it seemed paralysis had set in under Premier Jacinta Allan’s leadership, after the government last month abandoned a long-standing promise to overhaul bail laws for children.

“Treaty needs to transform Victoria. That is going to require the Victorian government to dream big and be bold. I want to help them to do that. I want Premier Jacinta Allan to be the first leader in Australia to sign a treaty with our people – but the premier needs to commit to a big vision and whip her government into shape so that it can deliver.”

Yoorrook was first announced in June 2020 as a truth-telling inquiry that would use the powers of a royal commission to probe historical and systemic issues related to First Nations peoples in Victoria.

In September, Yoorrook published 46 recommendations related to the child protection and youth justice system, including calls for overhauls that would give First Nations people greater control.

After waiting until Wednesday to hear the government’s position, advocates also criticised the pace of the government’s response.

Treaty and First Peoples Minister Natalie Hutchins thanked those who had participated so far and said she understood some people in the community would want more and faster.

Minister for Treaty and First Peoples Natalie Hutchins.Credit: Darrian Traynor

But she rejected suggestions that the response showed the government was not listening.

“I can understand people have had to battle the effects of colonisation for more than 200 years, that they would want quicker solutions to some of the problems that were talked through and brought to the surface,” Hutchins said on Wednesday.

“I understand the frustration. But we have an obligation as a government to the Victorian people to make sure we get the laws and the changes and the policy settings right. And that’s why we’re going to take the time to do this and get it right.”

The government supported proposals to better report funding to child protection services, improve cultural training for staff in this sector and to include Aboriginal people when assessing the effect of decriminalising public drunkenness. It also agreed to laws protecting confidential information provided to the commission for 99 years.

A smoking ceremony was held before the Yoorrook Justice Commission released its first report.Credit: Jason South

Some of the report’s biggest reforms have been pushed back for further analysis or as part of the state’s treaty negotiations.

This includes calls for First Peoples to have a standalone child protection system and to be put in control of parts of the criminal justice system, including an expansion of the Koori Court.

These two recommendations proposed giving Aboriginal Victorians a say over how these systems are designed, how resources are allocated and their oversight. Both will be discussed during the state’s treaty process.

Separate recommendations such as a new police oversight body, preventing racial discrimination through legislation, and improving access to pre-charge cautions have been listed as under consideration, meaning they require more time and work.

A similar approach will apply to significant reforms to justice and child protection, including a proposal to decriminalise offences linked to homelessness, disability and mental health.

Hutchins said leaving a recommendation under consideration was not a delaying tactic before a rejection.

The government rejected a recommendation that the state’s human rights charter be altered so that individuals could bring cases to VCAT and seek compensation when they believed the charter had been breached. Hutchins said this would be a significant expansion of VCAT’s purpose but that it may be possible to do it within a different court.

Changes to bail have also been rejected, given the government already legislated its own changes to the adult system (which will be reviewed) and abandoned plans to provide the presumption of bail to children.

Yoorrook called for the age of criminal responsibility to be immediately raised from 10 to 14. The government does not support this and is pursuing its own timeline to raise the age to 12 by the end of the year and plans to increase this to 14 by 2027. The second stage of reform would come with exceptions, and is dependent on the implementation of an alternative care model.

Yoorrook chair Professor Eleanor Bourke said commissioners expected to see progress on the 15 recommendations still under consideration.

“Given the weight of evidence presented throughout the inquiry, which included deeply personal accounts from First Peoples witnesses of suffering, which many continue to experience every day, commissioners are disappointed by the government’s decision not to support three recommendations,” she said.

“These recommendations were not made lightly. They go to the heart of addressing ongoing injustice against First Peoples.”

The Human Rights Law Centre said the response was “feeble”.

Ngarra Murray, co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly and a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dhudhuroa and Dja Dja Wurrung woman, said it was frustrating to come up against the same sticking points.

“The justice system and child protection systems simply aren’t working for our families and we need urgent reforms now. We need real action now,” Murray said.

A Victoria Police spokesman said on Wednesday that the force was making significant progress to ensure tangible change since the chief commissioner’s formal apology to the Aboriginal community at an inquiry.

“The commitment aims to reduce over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, provide greater transparency of policing outcomes and build the cultural competency of our employees,” the police spokesman said.

Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.