The Victorian Government has made a historic apology to Aboriginal Victorians in one of the first public acts to follow the signing of the state’s treaty agreement. Source: ABC News.
The official apology – which took place during a special sitting in Parliament yesterday – was negotiated as part of Victoria’s nation-leading treaty agreement, which was signed and became law last month.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the Parliament expressed its “formal and sincere apology” to First Peoples of Victoria for the harms inflicted upon them from the “actions and inactions of the state” and “the colony that came before it”.
“Decisions made in this Parliament over its long history have long denied the First Peoples of its lands, their rights and their self-determination,” she told Parliament.
“Today, this Parliament becomes a place of reckoning, and that reckoning has meaning for all of us who call Victoria home.”
Ms Allan said many did not know about the full extent of harm until the truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission, which heard the laws and policies of the colonial and state governments resulted in “profound and undeniable harms” to Aboriginal people.
“Colonisation of what is now called Victoria was not peaceful. It was rapid and violent,” Ms Allan told Parliament.
“Lands and waters were taken without consent. Communities were displaced, languages silenced, children removed, lives lost.”
Ms Allan said sorry to every First Peoples community across the state for “the violence”, for the laws that “criminalised culture”, for the forced removal of families, and for the “harm that was done, and for the harm that continues”.
The apology will mark the beginning of a renewed relationship between Victorian Aboriginal people and the state, which has been committed to through the now-legislated treaty agreement.
Opposition leader Jess Wilson also said sorry to Aboriginal Victorians in her reply speech.
“I see the injustice in our history. I see the disadvantage that still exists today,” she told Parliament.
But she said there was a “difference in approach” between the Coalition and the Government in how to achieve better outcomes for First Peoples, suggesting her party would do more for “assisting Aboriginal communities to become economically sustainable”.
FULL STORY
Victorian government makes historic apology to Aboriginal people following signing of treaty (By Kate Ashton, Richard Willingham, Tim Callanan and Madi Chwasta, ABC News)
