Aboriginals in Victoria are in line to receive cash payouts following the conclusion of the Labor-supported radical leftist Yoorrook Justice Commission, a state-run “truth-telling” inquiry conducted to examine the past and present effects of European colonisation on indigenous people.
The commission’s final report concluded that tax relief and financial compensation should be paid to indigenous people and land handed back, accused British settlers of “genocide”, and called for Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly to be made permanent.
Premier Jacinta Allan declared this week that the Assembly – a body elected only by the indigenous population 16 years and older – will be legally entrenched as an advisory body to parliament via a Treaty bill proposed by the end of the year, despite Victorians voting against the similar Voice to Parliament proposal in 2023.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission, which has also called for “trans” rights, supports a variety of left-wing initiatives and has been publicly backed and assisted by Ms Allan, was established in 2021 and in 2023 released a set of recommendations which included the following:
- New laws regarding the safety of aboriginal children and young people to be developed exclusively by aboriginal people on the basis of self-determination, human and cultural rights via the First People’s Assembly.
- “Self determination in the Victorian criminal justice system as it relates to First Peoples”
- Immediate action by the Victorian Government to recognise self-determination of aboriginal peoples and to create “an independent and authoritative oversight and accountability commission for the monitoring and evaluation of First Peoples related policies and programs”
- Give greater support for “aboriginal cultural rights” in the child protection system, the corrections system, prisons, the youth and adult justice systems and the bail systems applied to both, the Victorian Police and the forensic mental health system
- Strengthening the ability for individuals to bring legal action against public authorities via tribunal under Victoria’s human rights charter if these authorities have been “making decisions incompatibly with human rights including aboriginal cultural rights”
- Regular and mandatory cultural awareness training for child protection staff and Department executives within the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. This training includes: the history of colonisation and in particular the impact of “protection” and assimilation policies, the continuing systemic racism and paternalism inherent in child protection work today that must be identified, acknowledged and resisted, the value of aboriginal family and child rearing practice, upholding human rights including aboriginal cultural rights, and the strength of first peoples families and culture and culturally appropriate practices
- “Introduce legislation to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Victoria to 14 years without exceptions and to prohibit the detention of children under 16 years”
- “Immediately take all necessary steps to ensure prisoners (whether on remand or under sentence and whether in adult or youth imprisonment or detention) including aboriginal prisoners can make telephone calls for free or at no greater cost than the general community.”
While the Victorian Government at the time only accepted four out of the 46 recommendations, the latest report outlines a revised total of 100, which include granting land ownership water and natural resource rights claims, tax relief and tax exemptions, and monetary compensation as directed by the First Peoples’ Assembly, and Ms Allan this week refused to rule any of the recommendations out.
The report also calls for the changing of local names to aboriginal names and amending Victoria’s history curriculum, and the recommendations are part of the First Peoples’ Assembly’s negotiations on Treaty and the proposed bill to make the Assembly a permanent institution.
The Assembly’s proposed powers will also include the ability to question Ministers and Departments if they make laws regarding aboriginal people in Victoria.
The Liberal-National Coalition under Brad Battin withdrew from Treaty negotiations last year and has criticised the move to entrench the Assembly, having previously granted a conscience vote within the Liberal Party on the Voice referendum while the National Party supported the No vote.
“Trying to introduce legislation to have a voice to parliament here in Victoria, after Victorians have already said no, flies in the face of democracy,” Mr Battin said this week.
The Assembly’s last election in 2023 election had 4,200 votes cast from 7,000 enrolled voters out of the 45,000 indigenous people aged 16 years or older in Victoria.
Header image: Left, Ms Allan addresses the First Peoples Assembly. Right, an anti-Australian protest in Melbourne (First Peoples’ Assembly -Facebook).
