Hope state ‘voice’ can work for the nation
The founder of Victoria’s treaty process says the body established to negotiate the historic agreement will endure as a voice and hopes it can inspire a national advisory group.
The founder of Victoria’s treaty process says the Indigenous representative body established to negotiate the historic agreement will endure as a voice and hopes it can inspire a national advisory group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander matters.
Treaty legislation setting out a new Indigenous representative body’s ongoing powers and responsibilities is expected to be introduced into the Victorian parliament as early as next week.
Gunditjmara woman Jill Gallagher, who laid the groundwork for the legislation as Victoria’s treaty advancement commissioner from 2017 to 2019, told The Australian on Monday: “It is a voice.”
Dr Gallagher said treaty was only possible in Victoria after the establishment of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, the elected Indigenous body that has been negotiating a statewide treaty with the Victorian government for five years.
“People were saying we need treaty before voice but we knew very well we couldn’t do that,” Dr Gallagher said.
“The voice (in Victoria) was a mechanism for treaty. That was my thinking back then when the state government first put treaty on the agenda for real in Victoria. Their first question was ‘who do we talk to?’
“So I thought ‘can we design something’, and my role as a treaty advancement commissioner was to create a mechanism to set up that process.”
In joint announcements, the Allan Labor government and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria have documented the progress of their talks. They negotiated not only on the statewide treaty, but also on the future of the First Peoples’ Assembly.
On July 4 they revealed their negotiations on Victoria’s Statewide Treaty Bill were “focusing on how to evolve the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria into an ongoing representative body to provide advice to government and make decisions over matters that affect First Peoples”. At the time, they issued a joint statement saying they were negotiating on how the First Peoples’ Assembly could “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 (First Peoples’) Assembly on laws and policies that are specifically directed to First Peoples”.
On August 15 they said “negotiations for Victoria’s first statewide treaty are well advanced, with the Allan Labor government and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria entering the final stages of drafting an agreement”.
Dr Gallagher told The Australian she was optimistic about the potential benefits of the voice-like body, partly because it could give the government information to make more effective policy.
“This mechanism is not going to take anything away from any Victorian,” she said. “If anything, it will enhance all Victorians.”
Dr Gallagher, who supported the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for voice, treaty and truth, is a longtime advocate of the benefits of community-controlled Indigenous organisations. She is CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal community Controlled Health Organisation, the statewide network of Indigenous health service providers.
“I think what the Victorian government is doing with the Victorian First Peoples’ Assembly is a voice,” Dr Gallagher said.
“They are really showing the rest of this country how to do it.
“It would be so beautiful to have it adopted nationally.”
Dr Gallagher said it was sound practice generally for governments to listen to the people who were going to be affected by their laws and policies.
“I think it is good policy to do that, and there is research out there that says why it is good policy,” she said.
In South Australia, the Malinauskas Labor government legislated an Indigenous advisory body in September, 2023. Its 46 members were elected in March, 2024. The SA government added two Aboriginal people to its preventive health council on advice from the voice.
However, the SA government disappointed some voice members this year when it declared it would not increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
Other states have Indigenous advisory bodies but members are appointed not elected. In some cases, the advice is limited to a particular agency, such as police.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout