Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Ministers statements: treaty

Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Jobs and Industry, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Women) (14:31): I update the house on the progress of treaty with First Nations people. Treaty is about uniting Victorians by resetting the relationship between Victoria’s First People and all in our state. To come together to heal we must first understand the truth of Victoria’s 250-year history since colonisation, one where First Peoples were deliberately excluded from social and economic life and forbidden to speak their language and celebrate their culture. This is the important work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. This exclusion has consequences that Aboriginal families still feel today. This is represented by the gaps in life experiences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Victorians, in everything from birth weight through to life expectancy.

In Victoria we are advancing treaty truth, and this is being led by Aboriginal people, because as the Productivity Commission found just two weeks ago, treaty is essential for closing the gap. Treaty is essential to ensuring true self-determination for a better future for First Peoples and their families. Every single Victorian should be proud of the rich First Peoples culture that we have and the connection that they have to land in this state. Treaty will bring us together. It will unite all Victorians and make a new beginning to our relationship. Victoria’s journey towards reconciliation and treaty had bipartisan support, including the critical 2022 treaty authority bill, but now those opposite have betrayed Victoria’s First People and all Victorians by withdrawing their support for the treaty process.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, under standing order 118 personal reflections are unparliamentary.

The SPEAKER: The minister will come back to making her statement. There is no point or order.

Natalie HUTCHINS: Truth, self-determination and social cohesion are supported by this side. They have turned their backs. Aboriginal communities have been left to pick up the pieces. Our government will continue to back a better future for Victorians.