The Australian state of Victoria has taken a historic step towards reconciliation, passing the nation’s first formal treaty with Indigenous traditional owners.
After two days of debate, the upper house of Victoria’s parliament passed the statewide treaty bill without amendment by 21 votes to 16, just before 9pm on Thursday.
As the vote was confirmed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were unfurled from the public gallery, where the First Peoples’ Assembly co-chairs, Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg, sat alongside fellow members and Aboriginal elders. The Labor, Greens, Legalise Cannabis and Animal Justice party MPs who backed the bill turned to applaud the gallery.
“This is a historic moment for our people,” Ngarra said after the vote. “We will tell our children about today, and they will tell their children, passing down to future generations the story of how decades of Aboriginal resilience and activism led to Australia’s first treaty.
“Treaty marks the beginning of a new era, one where First Peoples’ 60,000 years of knowledge and culture is respected and celebrated. It’s an opportunity for all Victorians to acknowledge our shared history, heal and move forward together.”
Berg said treaty recognises that Aboriginal people are the experts on their own lives.
“Through treaty, we will have the ability to use our expertise to come up with and deliver practical solutions for our local communities, in areas like health, education, housing and justice,” he said. “This will mean better outcomes for our people as we know what does and doesn’t work for us.”
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said it was the culmination of almost 10 years of work by the state Labor government, which began in 2016, and decades of advocacy from First Nations people.
“Treaty gives Aboriginal communities the power to shape the policies and services that affect their lives,” Allan said. “This is how we build a fairer, stronger Victoria for everyone.”
The legislation establishes the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent representative body to advise the government, under a new statutory corporation called Gellung Warl.
In its expanded role, the assembly will be able to make representations, provide advice to the government and question ministers. Ministers and government departments, in turn, will be required to consult the assembly on laws and policies related to First Peoples. However, the assembly will not have veto powers.
Gellung Warl will also include a truth-telling body, to be known as Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, and an accountability body, known as Nginma Ngainga Wara. The latter will ensure the government upholds its commitments under the national agreement on closing the gap.
Other responsibilities include confirming Aboriginal identity, managing community infrastructure and cultural programs and establishing an education institute for Indigenous leadership and skills training.
With the bill now passed, the government and assembly will formally sign the 34-page treaty agreement, which also includes a commitment to reshape the school curriculum to include truth-telling, a formal apology to First Peoples in parliament and greater use of traditional placenames across Victoria. A public celebration will then be held in Melbourne.
The move makes Victoria the first Australian state to adopt Voice, Treaty and Truth – the three pillars of reform set out in the 2017 Uluru statement from the heart, a landmark document created by Indigenous leaders calling for constitutional recognition.
The treaty process originally enjoyed bipartisan backing but the Liberal-National Coalition, the state’s centre-right opposition, withdrew its support after the failure of the 2023 national referendum that sought to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution, in which about 60% of Australians voted “no.”
The Coalition has since vowed to repeal the treaty within 100 days of government if it wins the upcoming state election in November 2026.
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