The country’s first treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples provides a historic opportunity to help close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, First Nations leaders say. Source: ABC News.
Legislation passed in Victoria’s Parliament on Tuesday establishes the treaty and sets up the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent authority, now named Gellung Warl.
For Thomas Mayo, Indigenous author and former Yes campaigner, the legislation marks an emotional and deeply important moment for Australia and First Nations peoples.
“I’ve got deep feelings of respect for everyone involved,” Mr Mayo told the ABC’s Indigenous Affairs Team.
“It’s the result of a lot of hard work that sets up the foundation for treaty and measures that will ultimately close the gap.”
Indigenous Australians, on average, die much younger than other Australians, take their lives at a much higher rate, have poorer health and are grossly over-represented in prisons.
Mr Mayo said the advice to government provided by Victoria’s Gellung Warl would help address the dire statistics.
The treaty will also advance truth-telling, he said, by including more First Nations history integrated into the high school curriculum, drawing on source material from the landmark Yoorrook Justice Commission.
The expanded assembly will also form an independent accountability mechanism, as required by the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Mr Mayo called the legislation “a giant leap forward” but said it was a “great shame” the state opposition was not supporting it, having withdrawn bipartisan support last year.
Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin told ABC News Breakfast he preferred to see funding going straight to services rather than treaty.
Nerita Waight from the First Peoples Assembly said Gellung Warl’s accountability arm would help ensure government programs delivered practical outcomes.
Australia remains the only major Commonwealth country without a treaty with its First Peoples, despite former prime minister Bob Hawke’s commitment to establishing a national agreement as early as 1988.
The road to treaty took 10 years of work in Victoria, which former minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said was a reasonable timeline.
Ms Burney called Victoria’s treaty a “turning point” in Indigenous affairs, and said her view was that treaties were best negotiated at the state and local level.
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Hopes Australia’s first treaty with Aboriginal people will help close the gap (ABC News)
