Victoria’s upper house has passed a treaty with aboriginal people that will give a separate indigenous body power over government decisions and see the school curriculum rewritten to teach a far-left anti-Australian version of history.
Labor’s Statewide Treaty Bill will also result in landmarks being renamed, public sector employees being given “cultural retraining”, and critics warn it will expose Victorians to reparations payments, land seizures and tax relief for aboriginals.
The treaty passed despite 54% of Victorians voting against the similar Voice to Parliament during the 2023 referendum, and the only major poll on the issue finding that just 37% of voters supported the controversial agreement.
The Institute of Public Affairs, the conservative think tank that commissioned the poll, earlier this month described the treaty as “undemocratic” and warned it would “permanently divide Victorians based on race, and establish a two-tiered system of government”.
The Victorian Liberal Party has vowed to repeal the treaty within 100 days if elected next year, but plans to establish its own statutory agency called “First Nations Victoria”.
Liberal MP and Opposition upper house leader David Davis said the cheering and waving of the aboriginal flag in the public gallery after the vote showed the treaty was “a clear sign that this is set to become a major problem for Victoria”, the Herald Sun reported.
“The shocking, arrogant behaviour observed in the Chamber just now was outrageous,” he said.
“It will cost Victorians a bomb and block government as well as projects around the state.
“We all are aware of the huge Victorian state debt and Labor’s massive taxes, now this new indigenous superstructure will bring the state to a standstill.”
Margaret Chambers, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, warned before the vote that the treaty would destroy the sovereignty of parliament and pave the way for endless legal action.
“Gellung Warl will have powers to make ‘substantive rules’ which will lead to laws being applied differently to Victorians depending on their race. This is inconsistent with the foundational value of our democracy, which is that all are treated equally under the law regardless of their race,” she said.
“The bill … exposes Victorians to endless legal risk and paves the way for reparations, which could take the place of the restitution of traditional lands, compensation, and tax relief, as called for by the Yoorrook Justice Commission.”
The new indigenous parliamentary body, called Gellung Warl, will replace the current First Peoples Assembly and advise the Victorian government on policy and programs that affect aboriginals.
Under the treaty, which has cost $380 million so far, Victorian children as young as four will be taught that their ancestors “stole” land and left a “legacy of injustice”.
The Statewide Treaty Bill states that the Yoorrook Justice Commission Official Public Record will be used “as a resource to support the implementation of truth-telling in the Victorian Curriculum” for students from age four to Year 10.
The Truth be Told report from the Yoorrook Justice Commission, a radical leftist state-run inquiry that is demanding cash compensation for aboriginals, paints the European settlement of Australia as evil, and is written using ahistorical language such as “First Nations” and “Naarm”.
“We walk on stolen land: a truth etched into the soil, in the rivers that have carried stories of a people for millennia, and in the skies that have witnessed it all,” the introduction to a section on “truth-telling” reads.
“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 (sic) in Victoria today.”
The preamble to the treaty itself contains similar statements, and declares: “The colony of Victoria was established without the consent, negotiation or recognition of the Traditional Owners (sic) of these lands and waters.
“What followed was violence, destruction and dispossession – a rush to take land, lives, and resources, leaving lasting scars on families, communities and Country (sic) itself.
“The harm of colonisation has not ended. Its legacy – dislocation, grief and trauma – still ripples through families and communities today.
“Treaty is one of the most important steps Victoria has ever taken – a renewed and enduring relationship between First Peoples (sic) and the state, grounded in the inherent right of First Peoples (sic) to self-determination.”
The First Peoples Assembly was given state funding of $82 million in 2023-24 and this year came under fire for encouraging the public to participate in anti-Australia Day protests and advocating for a change to the date of the national holiday.
Header image: Left, activists wave flags after the treaty passed (The Australian). Right, Ms Allan with First Peoples Assembly representatives outside parliament on October 14 (Facebook).
