New powers, greater role for peak Aboriginal body in Victoria

Victoria’s peak Aboriginal body, the First Peoples’ Assembly, will be given a direct line to state ministers and the power to make appointments to government boards under legislation being finalised through the state’s treaty negotiations.

The assembly will also be given oversight on programs and policies designed to close the gap in life expectancy and living standards between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

First Peoples’ Assembly co-chairs Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray.Credit: Justin McManus

Ministers and government departments will be required to consult the assembly on any laws or policies “specifically directed” to Indigenous Victorians and the assembly will have authority to question government ministers and provide advice to them.

The first substantive details of what Victoria’s historic, statewide treaty with its First Peoples contains were released on Friday morning through a joint statement by Premier Jacinta Allan and the co-chairs of the assembly, Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg.

They confirm that Victoria’s first statewide treaty is strongly focused on the future authority and powers of the assembly as a foundational step towards Aboriginal people having a greater say over their own affairs.

Murray and Berg told The Age this signalled a break from Victoria’s past approach towards its traditional owners.

“As we negotiate Australia’s first ever treaty, we know we can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results,” they said. “That’s why we’re working to secure a permanent, evolved assembly that will make decisions, hold government accountable and provide advice on behalf of our people.

“This will be a powerful foundation that we can build on through future statewide and traditional owner treaties to further our community’s hopes and ideas.”

The statewide treaty is likely to be followed by further statewide agreements and separate treaties between individual traditional owner groups and the Victorian government.

Legislating to bolster the authority and power of the assembly will meet one of the key recommendations of the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s final reports tabled this week in parliament.

The commission recommended the state government negotiate with First Peoples to establish a permanent First Peoples representative body “with powers at all levels of political and policy decision-making”.

The commission found that exclusion from processes of government was one of the historical and ongoing injustices inflicted upon Victoria’s Indigenous people since colonisation.

“As shown in the evidence to Yoorrook, any inclusion of First Peoples in the State political life is limited, circumscribed and reliant on the continuation of political goodwill,” the commission noted.

“Numerous witnesses to Yoorrook submitted that the State continues to make government policy and laws for First Peoples, rather than with or by First Peoples. Government policy decision-making continues to largely disregard the voices of First Peoples Elders, organisations and communities.”

The treaty legislation is unlikely to be supported by the Victorian Coalition, which is opposed to treaty and the establishment of any body resembling the federal Voice to parliament, a concept rejected by the majority of Victorians and Australians at the 2023 referendum.

Opposition leader Brad Battin and opposition spokeswoman for Aboriginal affairs Melina Bath questioned the timing of the government’s statement about its treaty negotiations, which was overshadowed on Friday by the fallout from the state’s childcare crisis.

“This is a premier who waits until Friday, after one of the most distressing weeks for Victorian families in recent memory, to drop her government’s treaty plans,” Battin said.

“Labor knows full well that Victorians voted against the Voice, and they’re hoping no one notices this announcement while we’re all focused on protecting our children.”

The changes being negotiated would give the assembly powers well beyond those proposed for the Voice to parliament.

Powers currently subject to negotiation include: assuming a formal oversight role under the National Agreement to Close the Gap for outcomes in Victoria; deciding who is and isn’t an Aboriginal person; running Aboriginal community infrastructure programs; and making “certain statutory appointments for designated First Peoples seats on government boards and entities”, such as the Heritage Council of Victoria.

Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray.Credit: Chris Hopkins

The joint statement issued by the government and the assembly did not provide any details on how the assembly would be funded.

The Yoorrook commission recommended that the government use a portion of land, water and other natural resource revenues to establish “independent funding streams” for First Peoples.

The assembly was established in 2019 as an elected body to represent Victoria’s First Peoples in treaty negotiations with the government.

It was created by ministerial declaration, which can be withdrawn at any time. The Yoorrook commissioners argued that a representative body for First Peoples needed a stronger legal basis and greater independence from government.

“The highest degree of protection for the continued existence of the permanent body of First Peoples would be to enshrine it in legislation,” they concluded.

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