DANIEL:

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners, the following episode contains voices of deceased first nations people.

Audio Excerpt - 1938 Radio Reporter:

“It may be that this country will become the most valuable acquisition Britain has ever made.”

NGARRA:

It's been a long call for treaty and truth telling, especially here in Victoria.

Audio Excerpt - 1938 Radio Reporter:

“And with the cooperation of everyone here assembled to render this settlement advantageous and honourable to our homeland, Britain.”

NGARRA:

The fight really did start with the ancestors and the Coranderrk deputation to the parliament, my grandfather was part of that. It went all the way through to the day of mourning when my grandfather and Sir Doug Nicholls was, you know, marching in the streets of Sydney.

Audio Excerpt - Sir Doug Nicholls:

“I want to suggest three things why you should bother about the Aborigines, firstly we belong to a great family of garden here made out of one blood. All nations of men.”

NGARRA:

And then the 1967 referendum.

Audio Excerpt - Sir Doug Nicholls:

“We want to become a part of our country. With the coming referendum this should give us some power if we get ‘yes’.”

NGARRA:

My grandfather, Stewart Murray, he wrote a letter to the premier in 1988 calling for treaty and compensation.

So we carry that legacy. It’s in our blood. We can't escape it, but we can make sure that treaties will be in our future and that will change our future and our kids to come.

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DANIEL:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Daniel James. This is 7am.

Change in First Nation affairs is often glacial in its pace.

And in the aftermath of the resounding defeat of last year’s referendum on the Voice to Parliament, political will for progress is scarce with some states walking away from their planned treaty processes trying to capitalise on the referendum result.

But in Victoria things are different. With truth telling already underway and treaties set to be negotiated this year, for the first time ever in the history of Australia.

The process is being led by the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, an elected body representing Victoria’s traditional owners and all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the state.

Today, co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria Ngarra Murray, on how they reached this point and how the process of truth and treaty in Victoria can be instructive for the rest of the country.

It’s Monday, August 26.

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DANIEL:

Ngarra, after decades of calling for treaties from First Peoples in Victoria, now the First Peoples Assembly is at the point where negotiations on treaties are formally commencing. So can you tell me about the Assembly and what it’s taken to get to this point.

NGARRA:

Yeah, so we are independent, we are a democratically elected body. We've got really our law and cultural authority at the core of who we are and the way we govern.

Audio Excerpt - First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Member Alistair Thorpe:

“This meeting today signifies our intention to reclaim our rightful position as protectors of country and disrupt the current dominant structures.”

NGARRA:

We're a big mob, so when we roll we kind of roll together. And we're 33 members now, we were 32, we've got an extra seat on for the Wamba Wamba people so we have 33 members. We have four assembly chambers a year. So we're out in the communities, we're heading up to Swan Hill for our next chamber, and we’ve worked to really hard to build consensus and collective support across our communities

Audio Excerpt - First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Member Alistair Thorpe:

“We will not be rushed. We have survived. We will never be assimilated. We need genocide to end, sovereignty acknowledged and treaties to be made.”

NGARRA:

And the main objective is to negotiate the statewide treaty.

So we've got two pieces of law in this state that binds us to treaty making with the state and there's been a number of steps to get to this point.

Audio Excerpt - NITV News Presenter:

“History has been made in Victoria with the state's indigenous representative body formally declaring it's ready to begin negotiations with the government on a statewide treaty.”

NGARRA:

So we will commence treaty negotiations around November.

It's an exciting time for First Peoples in Victoria. It's a big job and it's a big responsibility and something that we take seriously but we also carry that burden as well and, you know, we feel the gravity of our mob because it is something that we have never done before.

DANIEL:

And when we ask for treaty, what do we mean by that in practical terms? What are some of the practical outcomes we're looking for when it comes to treaty with the Crown through the state government?

NGARRA:

Yeah. I think firstly, you know, what we're calling for through treaty is around the recognition and respect that, as the first peoples of this land, that we're calling for our now sovereignty, our inherent rights and responsibilities that have never been ceded. So I think that is a fundamental piece to our identity and our place in this nation.

Secondly, I think that a key component of treaties, in particular with the local traditional owners, must address land rights and restoring and protecting their lands will be crucial. This includes, you know, returning of lands; ensuring we’ve got access to country; sites are protected. So I definitely think that it must involve fair management and benefit sharing of natural resources.

But also to culture and languages. That's really the lifeblood of our identity, so there's got to be investment in that. And it should also support, I think, educational programs that teach our histories. Not only just within our own communities but, you know, across the country.

So there's a number of things, as many things that people have, and obviously there'll be many treaties. There'll be a state wide treaty that will cover statewide matters, you know, in regards to health, housing, education, justice, and there'll be local treaties which will probably delve more into, you know, land and water rights, you know, self-determination and what that really means in practice. So we're still considering everybody's input across our communities and hearing from our mob about what they want to see in treaties. So, it's important that they're part of, you know, every step as we go along towards treaties.

DANIEL:

You started out this process with bipartisan support in Victoria. But at the beginning of the year John Pesutto, the leader of the opposition, and his coalition partner, Peter Walsh, Leader of the Nationals, walked away from their support for treaty.

Audio Excerpt - John Pesutto:

“I can understand why people see the appeal of treaty, but unless you can deliver better education, better justice, better child protection outcomes for Indigenous people, it doesn't matter what document you might sign.”

DANIEL:

Despite giving the First People’s assembly assurances as late as December of last year, the decision to pull their support came on the back of the referendum result. An outcome which saw a swathe of leaders on the conservative side of politics walk away on their support for truth and treaty across the country, seeking to capitalise on the public mood. How did it feel when they made that announcement?

NGARRA:

Yeah, it was disappointing. I think at the time, like, we just had to keep moving because there's so much work that's been put into it. And we'll always have our door open, we still meet with all sides of politics.

And I think, you know, at the federal level there's been discussions too around what's next and I think the federal government, after spending so much political capital on the voice referendum, it seems are not really willing to spend any more. And they're obviously, you know, reassessing their approach and their commitment to, you know, The Uluru Statement From The Heart. But what gives me confidence is that there are state and territory initiatives that are happening across the country. So you've got states like Queensland, they've now got their treaty and truth telling process in place; South Australian mob got The Voice.

So you can be really disheartened by some of these politicians, but at the end of the day we’re always gonna be here. We’ll always fight for what is right and we’ll always fight for justice for our people and long overdue recognition and respect that we really seek, you know, through treaty.

DANIEL:

Coming up, we’ve all heard of it, but what is truth telling?

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Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“Beginning with a smoking ceremony, the Yoorrook Justice Commission launched its landmark report calling for an overhaul of Victoria's criminal justice and child protection systems which it found have failed First Peoples.”

DANIEL:

Ngarra, I want to talk you about the Yoorrook Justice Commission and its importance as a truth telling body in the treaty process. It’s historically significant and it’s based in Victoria, can you tell us a bit about its connection to your own treaty negotiations?

NGARRA:

Yeah, it's so important. Like, when we talked about the truth telling in the first term of the Assembly, it was something that we felt really passionate about because we can't have treaties, you know, without the truth. And then out of our conversations and through our chamber came the idea of a truth telling commission, which isn't something new. It's something that's been called upon for a long time and it's happened, obviously, in other countries

Audio Excerpt - Canada Truth Telling News Reporter:

“"Canada has been awakened," the words of a residential school survivor today. As the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was submitted.”

Audio Excerpt - Apartheid Truth Telling News Reporter:

“It has been 28 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed. Now, the objective of the commission was to promote reconciliation and forgiveness among perpetrators and victims of apartheid who suffered gross…”

NGARRA:

So, activating the Yoorrook Justice Commission was really important to us to undertake that process.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“Established in 2021, the Yoorook Justice Commission is Victoria's unique truth telling process.”

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter 2:

“It's the nation's first truth telling forum which, along with voice and treaty, is one of the pillars of the Uluru Statement From The Heart.”

DANIEL:

Yeah, so it has the powers of a Royal Commission too.

NGARRA:

Yeah, it has those coercive powers. And obviously appointed with, you know, Aboriginal commissioners where they've been able to have that coercive power to, you know, get premiers and ministers on the witness stand.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“Premier Jacinta Allan today told the commission she believed there'd been systemic attempts to erase Victoria's Aboriginal history.”

Audio Excerpt - Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan:

“Growing up and living as I have all my life in central Victoria on Dja Dja Wurrung country, I did not know about the massacres that occurred so close to home.”

NGARRA:

And also exposing some of the atrocities and injustices of our people that we've always known, hey Daniel. We know our history, but the wider mainstream public they haven't always understood who we are and why we need, you know, a treaty and why we need truth telling and why we need to have a voice.

So they're in their last kind of hearings. They've held inquiries into whether it's, kind of, language injustice; social injustice. They've done the criminal justice system, child protection system, and now they're at the, kind of, end of their hearings where they'll go away and write the report and the recommendations.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter 3:

“The commission is calling for changes to a range of legislation, including new bail laws that go beyond the state's recent proposed reforms; A new independent police oversight body to stop the force investigating all but the most minor complaints about its own officers; an increase of the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, and no detention for children under 16.”

NGARRA:

So those recommendations will really, you know, shape some of our treaty proposals. So yeah, I think Yoorrook’s done a really deadly job and it won’t finish just there either at the report. We want to look at how our mob can continue to tell their truths. Maybe that's something that we'll ask in the statewide treaty to how we can do that.

DANIEL:

Ngarra, do you think that the process of developing and negotiating treaties is as culturally affirming and empowering as the outcome itself in some ways?

NGARRA:

Yeah. Like we've had to develop guiding principles around the cultural elements of it because we didn't want it to be this foreign process. We are trying to decolonise and deconstruct the way that we take part in formal structures. So, our treaty negotiation framework itself is a really solid document. It's embedded, like I said, with our law, our cultural authority. So there's some really important principles and values that we bring to the space. And I think the government have had a lot to learn around the way that we do our business. But I think that it's exciting times for us to be able to bring in those knowledges and that to be respected around our cultural values and principles.

Audio Excerpt - People singing referendum song:

“We are going, we are going, we are going to freedom...”

NGARRA:

So it’s exciting times, nerve wracking, but exciting times for our mob.

DANIEL:

Ngarra, thank you so much for your time.

NGARRA:

Thank you Daniel.

Audio Excerpt - People singing referendum song (continued):

“Children run, children run, the time has come for freedom. We are going to freedom.”

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DANIEL:

Also in the news today,

The Country Liberal Party has won the Northern Territory election in a landslide victory.

It’s a huge turnaround for the party after an electoral wipeout in 2016 left them with just two seats.

Incoming chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, ran on a promise to crack down on crime. In her acceptance speech she said she would be meeting with the police commissioner immediately.

Ms Finocchiaro also vowed to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10 during her first week of parliament.

And, a new report on how best to prevent violence against women and children has called for a total ban on gambling advertising.

The rapid review was commissioned by the federal government in May after advocates criticised the lack of new funding for frontline services in the budget.

The review also recommends a focus on specialist services for children and young people and more work to be done on the promotion of “healthy masculinities” to counter the growing influence of online misogyny.

We’ll have more detail on 7am tomorrow.

I am Daniel James. Thanks for listening.

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