Tuesday, 14 October 2025

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:58): I am pleased to rise to speak on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 and acknowledge that this is a very special day for those in the Indigenous communities. I hope that this debate can be undertaken with respect and respect for differences of views. Whatever your view on treaty, and I will go to our position shortly, I do acknowledge that this is a historic day, and I acknowledge the co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray, and their contributions just before question time here in the chamber. I accept that the bill will, obviously, pass this chamber and will likely pass the other and become law and acknowledge those who have been working towards that end for many years.

I do want to be clear, though, from the start that the Nationals and Liberals will not be supporting this legislation, and this is no surprise to anyone in this chamber or indeed in the state. Our position has been that for some time. To say that we are very concerned about this legislation would be to understate our position.

We do not support treaty. We certainly do not support this bill. I must say from my own personal point of view, even if I supported the concept of treaty I could not support this legislation, and there are a number of reasons why that is the case. I do want to be very clear that the Liberals and Nationals will not be supporting this and if elected next year in November we will be seeking to repeal this legislation.

I will reiterate my point that I think we can agree on outcomes that we are seeking even if we disagree on how we get there. We have for a long time and certainly during my time in this place, particularly with the member for Murray Plains as the then shadow minister, been very focused on closing the gap and addressing that issue. I said to the First Peoples’ Assembly only a month or two ago we disagree on the journey but we agree on the destination. We will always be working towards addressing those very fundamental issues where Aboriginal people are at a disadvantage. That is going to be the focus of our engagement, not on treaty, which we do not think is the right way to go.

We support equal treatment, equality of opportunity and justice for all Victorians, irrespective of their race, ethnic background, how long they have been here in Australia or any other characteristic. We support ensuring that everyone has the equality of opportunity to live a full, healthy, productive and happy life. That is something that we believe we can achieve for Aboriginal people, because we know and we understand the fact that on so many of the markers we are failing on closing the gap. And when I say ‘we’, this is a government that has been in power in Victoria for 20 of the last 24 years or more, and we have gone backwards. I acknowledge that the treaty is an attempt to change that, but we have been working on this now for eight years or nine years, and the government has failed. In child protection, for example, in 2023–24 Aboriginal children were placed in out-of-home care at a rate 20 times that of non-Aboriginal children; the suicide rate among Aboriginal people was 30 per 100,000 in 2023, making them over three times more likely to die by suicide than non-Aboriginal Victorians; an eight-year gap persists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal life expectancy; Aboriginal employment sits much higher than for non-Aboriginal Victorians, and all of these are signs of failure to close the gap.

I hear those opposite say that is why we need treaty. I have not seen yet any evidence that this will actually change it, and this will be a difference of opinion – a difference of opinion in how things are done. And I would like to say to those opposite and to anyone listening today, we can have a difference of opinion on how things are done.

Members interjecting.

Danny O’BRIEN: Words have been thrown to me here across the table and frankly by the minister a couple of weeks ago in the chamber to say that we are peddling a policy that is shameful and wilful ignorance – that is what the minister said – and that we are choosing fear and division over respect and progress. There is no respect in abusing people because they have got a difference of opinion. You can have a policy and an objective in mind and be trying to achieve that objective and have a different way of getting there. As I said to Rueben Berg a few months ago, our objective is the same: closing the gap. We do not agree with the way the government is going. We are planning to go a different way, and I have talked about that before. I would ask everyone –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Meng Heang Tak): Order!

Danny O’BRIEN: Our First Peoples’ Assembly chairs talked about respect. The Premier in her second-reading speech talked about respect. I would hope that we can actually do that through this debate.

I want to acknowledge from the start the clear and obvious harm caused by colonisation in Victoria to First Nations people. I can only really speak from my own experience in Gippsland and what I have heard there. A few years ago there was a debate over Cairns celebrating, if you like, the journey of Angus McMillan as the so-called discoverer of Gippsland – the first European through Gippsland I think is how it is better put. We do not know enough about Indigenous history, or we do not have enough taught to us. I have been really pleased in the last few years that that is changing. One of the things that I have learned and that my children now learn is the creation story of the Gunaikurnai with Borun and Tuk and how that how they came to be in Gippsland and how that is one of their creation stories.

I acknowledge the horrendous impact that occurred, particularly the amount of massacres. Gippsland was no different to anywhere else in the country where there were massacres. I have followed this debate quite a bit, as I mentioned, particularly in relation to the history of Angus McMillan. People will be aware of the book from a couple of decades ago by Peter Gardner called Our Founding Murdering Father, which was about Angus McMillan and posited his involvement in various massacres in Gippsland. I have just finished reading a book, though, that replies to that. It is a book called A Convenient Scapegoat by Rob Christie, which again does not for a second deny that those horrendous massacres took place but goes into some of the history and the evidence as to whether Angus McMillan himself was involved. I have visited Libby Balderstone at Warrigal Creek station; Libby’s house is only a few hundred metres from the site of the Warrigal Creek massacre. These are devastating things to come across, but they are also from a period where written history was extremely rare, probably deliberately so in some part on the case of the settlers – things were covered up – and I acknowledge that absolutely some horrendous things happened.

I would also like to point out that from that there were good acts, including one that touched me and my family particularly. I only discovered this issue a couple of years ago. In my family I am descended on my mum’s side from the O’Rourkes, who came across from New South Wales, the Monaro, about the same time as John Batman was settling Melbourne, into Suggan Buggan, Gelantipy and Wulgulmerang, that area. Two of the O’Rourke boys were out one day and came across – there are different aspects of the story – the aftermath of a massacre or at least an Aboriginal woman who had been shot on the banks of the Snowy River. These men came across the woman. She was dead, and next to her was a baby. They took up that baby and took it home, and the baby became Jambi, later known as Ned O’Rourke, and was raised by the O’Rourke family as one of their own. I have not got the family tree here in front of me, but I think they had 10 or 13 kids, depending on who you believe, of their own, and added Jambi to that family. Ned O’Rourke, as I said, was raised by the O’Rourkes. I think it is a fascinating story.

What added to the fascination is how I found out about it. Ken Hodge, who was a cousin of my mum’s, had done some research himself on this issue, again as a descendant of the O’Rourkes, and was keen to find descendants of Neddy, of Jambi. By sheer coincidence he was at Southern Cross Station. He lives in Mortlake, and he was on his way back to East Gippsland and came across some Aboriginal people, and he said, ‘Are you from Lake Tyers?’ and they said yes. He had played footy against Lake Tyers and knew people from there. They got talking, and lo and behold he met Elaine Terrick, who was a descendant of Ned O’Rourke. Within a few minutes they worked out that they had both been searching for descendants of the respective families. There is a video online on YouTube about this story, and in it Ken Hodge says, ‘I thank your people for allowing my people to settle in this area,’ which might be an interesting way to put it. He said they were outnumbered. They were a small family and they were very, very isolated. They could have been wiped out I think were the words Ken used. And Elaine says to him, ‘We’re a pretty good mob.’ And then she says, ‘And you were a pretty good mob too.’ I think that is the way we all should be trying to work together. I tell that story because I guess everyone has similar stories or has some history, particularly those of us whose families have been around for a long time, and yet there are many recent immigrants who do not have that connection and that history for whom all of this discussion is very new.

I now want to talk a bit about the legislation itself and highlight why we are not supportive of it. For me personally, and I think for all of us on this side, the norms of the Westminster system are very important – that you have elected representatives, ministers who are members of the Parliament, who are part of the executive but accountable to the Parliament and by being accountable to the Parliament are accountable to the people. That is something that I think is extremely important and has served us very well. What I am concerned about with the establishment of Gellung Warl are the governance arrangements around it that are outside the norms of that Westminster system, and effectively Gellung Warl is granted a level of unprecedented autonomy, operating independently of ministerial direction – it cannot be directed by the minister – and given substantial and ongoing taxpayer funding. I know that is deliberate, and this is where we disagree. This is not something that the government is trying to hide, nor the First Peoples’ Assembly, but I do not support that as a principle that should be introduced in this legislation. The bill states that:

Gellung Warl is not subject to the direction or control of the Minister in respect of the performance of its functions and the exercise of its powers.

That is something that concerns me in terms of accountability. I will talk a little bit more about accountability later.

A second aspect of that is that the bill requires that every member introducing a bill must prepare a statement of treaty compatibility, detailing whether the First Peoples’ Assembly was consulted, the nature and timing of any advice and an assessment of the bill’s alignment with treaty principles. That basically says every piece of legislation has to be at the very least consulted on, if not indeed ticked off by, Gellung Warl. What concerns us is, in parallel with that, clause 1 of the bill uses the phrase ‘matters that affect First Peoples’, but nowhere in the legislation is there a definition of ‘matters that affect First Peoples’; almost by definition any matter could or will affect First Peoples. I think the absence of a clear definition of that phrase creates legal and procedural ambiguity, enabling the First Peoples’ Assembly to assert relevance over virtually any area of public policy. Again, I appreciate that may well be the intention of the government, that First Peoples have a say over literally everything that we deal with; that is not something I think is fair. Going back to my initial statement, I think the Liberals and Nationals support equal treatment and equality of opportunity and justice for all Victorians, and I do not think that one group of Victorians should have that additional privilege without being elected to Parliament. That is the nature of our arrangements.

In addition to that, the First Peoples’ Assembly has power to make representations to inform Parliament on legislation, advise government departments and service providers and question ministers and secretaries during engagement hearings. Noting that this legislation will get through, I wish them well in that because as members of Parliament we get to question ministers, and we rarely actually get any answers, so I hope they do better than us. Similarly, the First Peoples’ Assembly is mandated under the act in clauses 86 and 87 to meet with departmental secretaries and the Chief Commissioner of Police, and those agencies – the departments and VicPol – must develop consultation guidelines which must be considered by government authorities and state-funded service providers. They are, again, matters that no other organisation or group has access to under law in Victoria, and that is a concern that we have.

I appreciate the electoral process that both was set up previously in 2019 and 2023 for the election of the First Peoples’ Assembly and now is codified under this bill and appreciate the acknowledgement that we have heard from co-chairs past and present that the actual turnout, if you like, for those elections was small, particularly in 2019. It increased in 2023, but still only 2000 voted in 2019 and about 4200 voted in 2023 out of 7000 on the roll and out of an estimated 50,000 Aboriginal people who could have voted. I raise that because it then goes to the issue of the community answerability framework, which is covered in some detail in the bill. The stated aim is for Gellung Warl to be democratically and publicly accountable and answerable to community. The rhetoric stresses answerability to community. I asked in the bill briefing who we are referring to when we say ‘community’, and the answer was ‘the Aboriginal community’. I do not see the same level of answerability to the broader Victorian public, and that is also a concern. Yes, the First Peoples’ Assembly, the other part of Gellung Warl, are answerable to their community. But this Parliament needs to be answerable to all Victorians, and that is an area of this legislation that I do not support.

Another area where again there is a separate and different rule which I do not think is fair is the exemptions from things like freedom of information. There are significant exemptions from freedom of information for Gellung Warl. There are some broad automatic exemptions for entire categories of documents, and that goes to culturally sensitive or culturally secret information. I understand some of that. There are reasons for that. But it effectively places cultural secrecy on the same level as cabinet confidentiality but with much broader scope and far less oversight. The First Peoples’ Assembly, literally under the act, has more FOI and secrecy protections than ministers or other statutory bodies. Again I do not think that is something that we should have in a strong democratic Westminster system.

Finally on the legislation, the issue of ongoing funding for Gellung Warl through a standing appropriation bypasses the usual budgeting processes. I understand we have the Parliament, the electoral commission and maybe one or two others that do receive standing appropriations, but they are based on discussions with Treasury and on need, whereas the legislation literally puts this money, $207 million, if I am not mistaken, in the first four years. But when you read the operational and capital expenditure funding ongoing over the next 10 years, it actually equates to around about $2.7 billion, depending on the discount rate that you used. That is a significant investment. I would welcome the minister or further speakers giving some clarity on this, but certainly that initial funding in the next four years is largely for the set-up of Gellung Warl. It is not for health services or for housing or for child protection or for any of those matters – employment and economic opportunity for Aboriginal people. It is actually the cost of setting up Gellung Warl.

Finally on that issue also, the government’s decision to hand over what is currently the Aboriginal community infrastructure program, which will become the First Peoples’ Infrastructure Fund, directly to Gellung Warl to control, again, is giving taxpayers money to an unelected body to make decisions. The Parliament at this point has the opportunity to have a say on that, and that is why we are having our say and saying we do not agree with that. We think that the principles of democratic responsibility and accountability should ensure that whenever taxpayers money is being spent, there is a minister ultimately responsible, and this is not the case under this proposed legislation.

There are a number of other parts of the legislation that are probably a little bit vague and we need clarity on, particularly with relation to the framework on water entitlements. The bill empowers the assembly to issue guidelines and standards on the sharing of water entitlements, but what that actually means we do not yet know.

A member interjected.

Danny O’BRIEN: No, Minister, I have actually been to the briefings. I remember asking questions of the then Minister for Water about some entitlements that were allocated in last year’s budget, or maybe the year before’s, and the minister could not tell me what the status of those entitlements were. These are some of the questions that I think need answering.

What will we do? My colleague in the other place Melina Bath has been on a journey since becoming the shadow minister at the start of this year, literally and figuratively. She has gone from Orbost to Mildura to Portland and everywhere in between, meeting with Aboriginal communities, with Aboriginal community controlled health organisations (ACCHOs) and with traditional owners. She has given me a couple of points from the feedback that she got on those trips regarding what the community is calling for: practical, place-based solutions; flexible and long-term funding; greater autonomy and representation; early and respectful engagement in planning; and policies that reflect lived experience and community priorities. That is why we have announced today our alternative to treaty, and that is to establish First Nations Victoria (FNV) – a standalone department dedicated to improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians, taking them out of the Department of Premier and Cabinet and giving them their own organisation, one that can work with Aboriginal people. There will be a ministerial advisory council to ensure that we are working with them. Melina Bath’s intention for that is particularly to devolve the decision-making to those areas that are on the ground trying to address those closing the gap issues.

Why we have done this – again, I will give credit to the member for Murray Plains, who took this policy, or a very similar version, to the last election – is to put in some accountability. I hear some commentary from people who are on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee and who have sat next to me when I have been asking questions of the minister for Aboriginal affairs in the past about education completion rates, about child protection matters, about housing and all of those things, and so often the response was ‘That is a question you need to ask the minister for housing’ or ‘That is a question you need to ask the Minister for Education.’ It was a very, very good way for ministers to avoid accountability for this. That is why we will establish First Nations Victoria, responsible to a minister who, with a ministerial advisory council, is working with Aboriginal people to address those issues.

I want to go to a little bit about where that aligns. There are four nationally agreed Closing the Gap priority reforms. Bear with me on this. Priority reform one is formal partnerships and shared decision-making. First Nations Victoria will establish, as I said, a ministerial advisory body made up of Aboriginal leaders across regions and sectors. We will embed co-location with ACCHOs to co-design services and align programs with local priorities. We do not want to have people sitting in the Department of Premier and Cabinet telling those, particularly ACCHOs and the like, on the ground what they will do. We are going to send them out to work with them directly. Priority reform two is building the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled sector. Our First Nations Victoria alignment consolidates funding and reinvests savings into ACCHO capacity building, implements performance-linked funding agreements with ACCHOs and recognises ACCHOs as essential partners in service delivery and policy implementation.

Priority reform three is transforming government organisations. First Nations Victoria will create a standalone department to coordinate Aboriginal affairs across government, lead an Aboriginal Workforce strategy to build capability both within the public service and in the Aboriginal workforce more generally and introduce binding policy instructions to drive accountability across agencies. Priority reform four is shared access to data and information at the regional level. FNV will commit to quarterly dashboards with regional data and case studies on our approach to dealing with the closing the gap issues, ensure annual reporting to Parliament and public transparency and use this data to guide corrective action and inform policy decisions.

That is the alignment that we are seeking. One of the things that Ms Bath in the other place heard about so often was the lack of flexibility. I have got the member for Eildon sitting beside me, and she mentioned visiting Oonah at Healesville, others in Mildura, in Horsham and in Portland, where they have funding for housing, for example, but what they really need is dental services. They said that the bureaucracy and the red tape of being able to transfer funding from one priority to another just does not work. I think what we are seeking to do is to devolve power to those organisations to ensure that what the Victorian government is doing is actually delivering on need as best it can where it is needed, particularly to address the closing the gap priorities.

I just want to touch on one or two other matters that are relevant to this legislation. I know the government talked about and indeed the Premier in her second-reading speech talked about the use of First Nations language as a practical way we can show respect. I would agree with that. The fact that the Kurnai people, whose term Gellung Warl has been used, are upset with that highlights that the government has not necessarily got this right. I acknowledge that I am sure there is a difference of opinion within the Kurnai and the Gunaikurnai. I think the Gunaikurnai did give permission, but it is a matter that highlights that there is not unanimous agreement on this matter among the Indigenous communities in Victoria.

The other thing I would like to mention from the Premier’s second-reading speech is that she thanks the Victorian community for coming along with us on this journey. I would posit to the Premier and to the minister that most Victorians did not even know this journey was occurring. I acknowledge that it has been in train since, as I said, 2016 or 2017, but very few people, until this was actually announced some months ago as coming, were even aware of it. What is now the case, though, is that Victorians will be able to have their say. I know that there have been calls by some that there should be a referendum or a vote on this. That is not something I support, but the reality is that now Victorians will have the opportunity, because the Liberals and Nationals do not support this legislation and if elected in November next year, within 100 days we will introduce legislation to repeal the treaty arrangements, and the Victorian people will have their say. We do not support treaty. We want to continue to work with Aboriginal people to close the gap.

 Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Government Services, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women) (15:28): I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land of the Parliament and my electorate, the Wurundjeri people, and I pay my respects to Wurundjeri elders past and present. Also, I would like to quote Uncle Andrew Gardiner, Wurundjeri elder, who reminded us this morning that this Parliament stands on traditional ceremonial ground of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung:

[QUOTE AWAITING VERIFICATION]

It is where we conducted ceremony. Our council of elders held important discussions and they made significant political and customary law decisions with immediate neighbours of the Kulin nations. Our ancestors did this for thousands of years before European occupation. Parliament House is the home for many discussions and important decisions that impact the people of Victoria, and to date important and critical decisions have been made about our people, without our people and with no success …

something that those opposite fail to recognise.

Treaty is about allowing our people to make important decisions with the state. Treaty is essential for all Victorians, including First Nations people of Victoria.

I thank Uncle Andrew for that quote.

I extend my respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people joining us here in the gallery today and acknowledge the long fight for treaty, for justice. I know that many elders are not with us here today physically but are in spirit. They have advocated tirelessly for treaty too, and it is because of them that we are here. I am deeply grateful for the leadership of the 32 elected members of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, to the leadership of Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray, and to the inaugural chairs Aunty Geraldine Atkinson and Marcus Stewart. You have all been an integral part of the success that brings us here today to discuss this bill. History will remember your strength and your courage to make this state a better and fairer one. History will remember this moment as one in Victoria which celebrates the courage and generosity of our First Peoples. This is a moment that reflects a collective decision to embark on a new beginning, one rooted in respect, healing and justice.

Aunty Jill Gallagher was the treaty advancement commissioner. She said:

I have long dreamt of being part of a society where all Victorians, both Aboriginal and non-Indigenous, can celebrate and enjoy the many benefits that come with being part of one of the world’s oldest living cultures.

Together we can build a state that honours the truth, respects our culture and stands strong with the First Peoples …

This bill is a direct result of the first Statewide Treaty negotiations. It gives effect to the many commitments of the negotiated treaty. And treaty is an affirmation; it is a commitment. It affirms our shared history, and it is an affirmation of First Peoples’ sovereignty and their rightful place in this place as the oldest living culture. It commits us to putting this recognition into action, a commitment to walk alongside First Peoples in true partnership, because for too long our journey to reconciliation has been marked by the heavy echoes of our past. We struggle with the legacy of dispossession, of violence and broken promises that have cast a long shadow. And this shadow did not just appear; it was created by actions – actions of people who governed Victoria. These actions created the stolen generations. They stole wages from Aboriginal workers. They removed Aboriginal people from their lands and children from their families. The Yoorrook Justice Commission documented this, and I want to quote Aunty Eleanor Bourke as the chair of Yoorrook.

[QUOTE AWAITING VERIFICATION]

It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be part of Yoorrook. I am so grateful for the rich contributions and depth of experience and evidence provided to the commission. The product of our work is a short vision of an ancient culture, and I hope all Victorians, indeed other Australians, have a better understanding of that shared history and the connections between our past and our present. This is an important step to acknowledge Aboriginal self-determination, which is becoming a reality now. Treaty ensures the historic truth telling work of Yoorrook will live on. Your achievements here will resonate into the future.

Due to the legacy of colonisation, First Peoples have faced loss of land, culture and language. This has led to poorer life outcomes and systemic disadvantage, and today this is known as the gap. All governments are working towards Closing the Gap in recognition that the structures need to be reformed, reversed, and really, to stop the disadvantage, we have to change the systems. First Peoples have said that truth telling and treaty are the best way forward to closing that gap for good. For generations First People have been denied the right to determine their own future, to have their own voices heard, and to shape the policies that impact their communities. This bill is a critical step towards righting those wrongs, ensuring we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

History will remember those opposite for their continued desire to ignore the truth of our history and the voices of First Peoples. Their ignorance and disrespect for First People is evident in the slapped-together policies that have been announced today, and those opposite continue to be stuck in the Dark Ages, dividing Victoria, cutting services and thinking they know what is best. It is very paternalistic. The opposition leader did not attend even one government briefing on this matter. I am not sure if that is pure ignorance or arrogance. Throughout my time as minister I have seen that working together in true partnership with the Aboriginal community can improve Aboriginal lives. I have always understood that change comes when we listen, learn and act together. Treaty changes how systems work so we do not rely on individuals, but as a collective we can all accelerate the change we need to close gaps.

This bill acknowledges the diversity of First Peoples and their right to self-determination through the establishment of Gellung Warl, a strong and enduring statutory corporation evolving from the success of the First Peoples’ Assembly. Gellung Warl will exist with our democratic structures and will be subject to oversight bodies. It is a formal and robust structure to give voice to First Peoples so that communities who have been historically marginalised are at the forefront of decision-making. The bill enacts ongoing truth telling through the establishment of Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna. It will ensure ongoing dialogue with local communities to build social cohesion, respect and reconciliation. The bill will also deliver on our commitment to the national closing the gap strategy by establishing Nginma Ngainga Wara, an independent accountability mechanism. Accountability will ensure governments can close the gap across all systems by improving policies and services. It will ensure that commitments to First Peoples are met and remain unbroken.

The bill sets up the structure for the transfer of resources, and it ensures Aboriginal communities have the resources and decision making to thrive into the future. The practical outcomes from this treaty include delivering the First Peoples’ Infrastructure Fund; delivering Aboriginal events to be managed by Gellung Warl; participating in place naming; delivering curriculum resources for the teaching of Yoorrook’s official public record, Truth be Told; and delivering a First Peoples’ Institute to develop the next generation of leaders. These are all tangible outcomes that are embedded with self-determination. Treaty will support Aboriginal-controlled organisations to be stronger in their infrastructure and workforce expertise, and treaty will strengthen traditional owner organisations and give respect for language and the celebration of culture.

Uncle Paul Briggs, a Yorta Yorta elder and good friend, has said that the introduction of Australia’s first treaty in the Victorian Parliament is beyond historic, it will assist to shape how the nation relates to and engages with the First Peoples of this continent. With respect it will reframe our sense of nationhood and shape our identity. It is a credit to the invincible spirit of the First Nations people and non-Aboriginal people that have worked tirelessly over so many generations to make today happen. It brings hope and healing to the present and to the future of all Victorians. Through treaty we are creating a new beginning where every Victorian can be proud of our diverse state, where the pain of the past is acknowledged and where the hope of a better tomorrow shines brightly for all.

 Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (15:38): I am happy to rise today to speak on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. From the outset it has been stated that we oppose this bill. Bills like this are always contentious. You will split communities on their opinion around these bills and what they deliver. People will have varying opinions, and you will probably never get 100 per cent agreement from anyone. In my seat of Narracan I have the Kurnai elders of Aunty Cheryl Drayton, Aunty Pauline Mullet and Aunty Linda Mullet.

When something like this comes up I consult heavily with my local Indigenous elders, because I can take the opinions of the many but I tend to take the opinion of the few that it actually truly, truly affects, and in my area that is the Kurnai. The Kurnai, especially Aunty Pauline, Aunty Cheryl and Aunty Linda, were extremely disappointed with the government using the term Gellung Warl. They were never consulted, and they have asked me to read this letter out that they wrote to the Premier. Out of respect for my elders, I will read this letter out if you indulge me, Acting Speaker. This is from Aunty Pauline Mullet:

[QUOTE AWAITING VERIFICATION]

I write to express deep concern regarding the use of the term Gellung Warl in the Treaty Bill recently introduced to the Victorian Parliament. Gellung Warl is a word from the Kurnai language, a language that belongs to our people, our ancestors and our country. It has come to light that this term was selected without informed consent of Kurnai elders. This is not a minor oversight. It is a serious breach of cultural protocol and disregard for the sovereignty of our language and traditions. To use our language to name a political body that the Kurnai people do not support is not only inappropriate, it is harmful. It misrepresents our stance and risks turning our sacred words into symbols of a process we have not endorsed. Language is not a decorative gesture. It is a living expression of identity, authority and custodianship. This act risks undermining the very principles of truth telling, respect and justice that the treaty claims to uphold. If the government and the Assembly are serious about healing and reconciliation, they must begin by listening and by removing Gellung Warl from the legislation until proper consultation and consent are achieved.

I respectfully but firmly request that:

the term Gellung Warl be immediately removed from the Treaty Bill;

the Victorian government and the First Peoples’ Assembly engage in direct consultation with the Kurnai elders before using any aspect of our language or culture;

a public statement be issued acknowledging this misstep and committing to culturally safe practices moving forward.

If this treaty is to be built on truth, respect and justice, then it might begin by honouring the voices of traditional owners, not speaking over them. I trust you will treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves.

Yours in land, culture and integrity,

Pauline Mullet,

Kurnai Elder, Native Title Holder.

Thank you, Acting Speaker, for allowing me to read that out for the Kurnai in my area. They are extremely disappointed. Even when the minister was asked about this, she referred it off. Part of what I see with treaty is that treaty has been established through government failure, and I think that can be well documented. Since this government –

A member interjected.

Wayne FARNHAM: I hope that this debate today is respectful and that people do not interject. We are all here representing our communities. As a local member of Parliament, when people come into my office I do not see colour, I do not see race, I do not see religion; I see a person that needs help. I treat everyone equally. I meet with my Kurnai elders monthly. I talk to Aunty Cheryl a lot. I talk to her a lot because I want to understand the cultural complications that they experience. I have heard stories from Aunty Cheryl about the way they were treated up on Jindivick track and the experiences they suffered. Aunty Cheryl has explained to me in depth what they went through, so I have a very good understanding.

When we talk about Closing the Gap – and I see this in my area – I see our Indigenous youth addicted to drugs, addicted to alcohol, and it is something that we need to fix. Since this government came into power in 2015, we have seen incarceration go up. Incarceration rates have increased, and that is a failure of government.

This is where I see the government using treaty as a deflection tool, not as taking accountability for the failures the government have put forward, and that to me is problematic. We have heard from the member for Gippsland South in the first half hour. He touched on quite a few points. I mean, when we are talking about taxpayers money funding Gellung Warl, we have to remember it is taxpayers money, and it does require oversight, and it should require scrutiny. That is something that does not sit well with me, that we have an assembly that really is answerable to nobody. Even in this chamber we have the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. We have PAEC, where ministers get scrutinised about their spending through the budgets. Now, to have no scrutiny I think is a mistake.

When we talk about – and the minister touched on it earlier. The minister talked about ignorance and disrespect. Then I put to the minister maybe she was ignorant and disrespected the Kurnai people by not even reaching out to them to talk about the use of their language in this treaty. As I said, when people come into my office, I do not care who they are. I work hard for the person that is in front of me to get a result and hopefully an outcome from the government.

As the member for Gippsland South pointed out earlier, the ministers will be answerable to this assembly. Well, I completely echo the sentiments of the member for Gippsland South. I hope the ministers do answer questions, because we cannot get answers to questions, and this is a problem.

Natalie Hutchins: You’re not even going to let them ask the questions.

Wayne FARNHAM: If the minister wants to keep interrupting or debating me on this – I am happy to debate you on this. If the minister actually –

The ACTING SPEAKER (Meng Heang Tak): Through the Chair.

Wayne FARNHAM: I will take the minister up on her interjection. She is very happy to sit in this chamber under the protection of parliamentary privilege and mouth off, but not once has the minister bothered to talk to the Kurnai people.

A member: Rubbish.

Wayne FARNHAM: Not once has the minister bothered to talk to the Kurnai people.

A member: That is rubbish.

Wayne FARNHAM: Now, if the minister wants to sit there –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Meng Heang Tak): Through the Chair, without assistance.

Wayne FARNHAM: If you are saying that Aunty Cheryl Drayton is a liar, then I would like you to say that in public. Say it in public. If you think Aunty Cheryl is a liar, I dare you to say that in public.

Natalie Hutchins: I have certainly responded to the correspondence that I have got.

Wayne FARNHAM: Yes, you did respond, and you deflected it. I have seen the correspondence.

I am going to leave my contribution there. We are being very clear why we oppose this bill, and I would ask the minister, in closing, to actually reach out to Aunty Cheryl and talk to her directly and get her point of view before sitting there and mouthing off without the facts.

 Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (15:48): It is a great honour to rise to contribute to the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. I do want to begin by acknowledging the original owners of the lands on which we gather today, the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin nation, and pay my respects to their ancestors, to their elders, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today and thank them for their care of our lands for 65,000 years. I also want to acknowledge Uncle Andrew and the smoking ceremony and welcome to country today and how incredible that was.

But I also took note of what he said, ‘We come with purpose’. All of us on this side of the chamber have come here today with great purpose, to introduce treaty for the First Peoples of this state. I do want to thank the First Peoples’ Assembly co-chairs for those beautiful speeches. Ngarra and Rueben, thank you so much. They meant so much to all of us here today. We have witnessed today you telling this place of the great significance of treaty and what that means to First Peoples. There have been many memorable days in this place. However, this is probably the most memorable for me, for all on this side of the house and for everybody sitting here today and watching online. I know it is a day I will never forget.

I want to acknowledge the significance today of the work of the First Peoples’ Assembly, the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the Treaty Authority in the long journey to get where we are today. All of this started with many conversations and in 2017 the appointment of the treaty advancement commissioner Aunty Jill Gallagher, who I know is here today. Critical to the treaty journey is the Yoorrook Justice Commission final report Yoorrook: Truth Be Told, which tells the history of Victoria through the voices of First Peoples who testified before the commission. I want to put on record that I acknowledge the stories told, those still to come and those that were never told, and I know how much that means to people here today. I want to thank the Yoorrook commissioners for their historical work and their courage and resilience, and I know how hard that was. This bill includes truth-telling in education, using the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s official public record as a resource to support the implementation of truth-telling in our schools. All students in Victoria will learn the truth and the history of our state. This is a chance for all Victorians to acknowledge our past, heal and move forward together.

To the First Peoples’ Assembly, congratulations. We are here. We have seen how successful the assembly has been since it was established. It is a powerful body representative of all Victorian Aboriginal people. This is what self-determination is all about. I acknowledge the inaugural co-chairs Aunty Geraldine Atkinson and Marcus Stewart and the First Peoples’ Assembly members and thank them for their significant contribution to this treaty journey. To the sitting co-chairs Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg and all members of the First Peoples’ Assembly, thank you for your continued journey and getting us where we are today. The Treaty Authority, the very first in this country, are the umpires and will ensure that the treaty process is fair for all parties involved.

It has been easy for governments of all persuasions to ignore the truth, to make commitments and break them and to steal away the trust of First Peoples, so I know that this has been a difficult journey for many. But for me, when I did my inaugural speech in this place and I talked about why I was here – I will not go into the family side of it, because I will get too emotional – it was all about good policy, what good policy does in this place and how it impacts on people. Those in this place today know – well, on this side – what good policy means and that this is good policy. This is what we need to do.

Thank you to all First Peoples who have been involved in this journey for their courage and resilience, because treaty addresses many of the issues that we have talked about. While we are here today debating the first ever treaty in this country, this is a government that has kept its promise not only to First Peoples but to every other Victorian. To our Premier, the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples and former premiers and ministers, I am so proud, as I know everyone on this side is, that this Labor government has stayed committed to this journey and will deliver treaty with the First Peoples of Victoria.

It is the right thing to do. We have consulted and had community support, and there have been so many letters that I have received, and I know many others have and have been reported in the media, from so many groups across Victoria – different groups, different agencies, different organisations and general public support. We keep hearing from those opposite about how bad treaty is for Victoria. That is not what I am hearing. As part of this process, for many months I travelled with the minister and with the Department of Premier and Cabinet, going around the state, talking to people about what treaty is and what it means, and we were met with positive responses, people asking questions – what does this mean for us? – and engaging in those conversations. I know the First Peoples’ Assembly have done all that work as well, but I think to say that Victorians do not want treaty is completely wrong.

Treaty did start with bipartisan support, but it did not take those opposite long to rescind that support. I do ask those opposite: what are you so afraid of? What scares you so much about treaty and First Peoples? Is it the truth? Is it the history of colonisation that you are so afraid of – the massacres, the stolen generations, stolen lands, generational trauma or the systemic racism on which our system was built?

We are not closing the gap. I listen to those opposite. I do not want to go into it too much – it is really distressing hearing some of the comments that have been made from the other side – but when they talk about closing the gap what they are saying is they are going to maintain the status quo, they are not going to change anything, they are not about self-determination for First Nations people. What they listed off in their new policy or whatever they call it, what did it mean? It is basically what is already in place that we know is not working; we know it is not working.

We have so much to learn from First Peoples; the beautiful culture, the connection to country, the cultural knowledge that cares for country, waterways and life – these are really beautiful parts of First Peoples’ culture that we do not often hear talked about because of all the deficit. We need to be promoting these things. We need to be supporting treaty so that we are addressing the wrongs of the past, but we are also acknowledging a beautiful culture that First Peoples have been willing to share with us for over 200 years. But we have rejected that, and we have rejected that through colonisation and systemic racism.

I am going to run out of time now, and I have not even got to the content of the bill, but I am so proud of what this government is doing, because we can all stand here knowing that we were here today supporting self-determination of First Peoples, that we are going to listen to the voices of First Peoples, whether it be in meetings or whether it be on the floor of Parliament, and I think that is an incredible thing to be able to do. We do not do it well now, I agree, but the systems that would be put in place through treaty are what will make a huge difference. We are standing together on this as a government, as the First Peoples’ Assembly; we are standing together to make it work. For those opposite, I just feel you are not genuine in what you are saying when you stand on your feet in this place. We are all concerned about what this means, but I would hope that you would consider supporting this bill. I commend the bill to the house.

 Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (15:59): I rise today to speak on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. Our role in opposition is not to rubberstamp feel-good ideas; it is to scrutinise, to ask the hard questions and to make sure what we pass works for the people it affects and the people we represent. Many say just vote for treaty because it feels right, but when I question their rationale I worry that they have not read the bill. They do not seem to understand what it does nor see the harm that will be caused.

I have seen firsthand the incredible work done in Aboriginal communities. I spent 15 years working in an Aboriginal community controlled health organisation dating back to 1997, so I saw the power of self-determination, local people training their own health workers, elders leading programs and communities taking charge of their own futures. I saw it work. I saw it make a difference, and this all happened without treaty. Some argue that past governments have failed to address Indigenous issues such as violence, discrimination and neglect only because their efforts were not informed by, led by or owned by Aboriginal peoples. They go further to claim that only a treaty can empower First Peoples to make decisions about matters that affect them. This is untrue. This narrative overlooks the wins that we have already achieved. There are successful programs today that are indeed informed by, led by, owned by Aboriginal communities – and achieved without treaty. My friend Michael Bell, who sits in the back of the chamber today, known to many as Mookeye, serves on the treaty commission. He and I recently caught up and reflected on the progress we made during our time working in Aboriginal health services. We were guided by Aboriginal boards. We worked in a way that was shaped by the wisdom of the local elders and the cultural protocols that we abide by. Not every health initiative was embraced. For example, the proposal for a needle exchange program was declined by elders, and although I personally supported it and explained its health benefits, the decision ultimately rested with the community. It reflected their values, their culture and their right to choose, and I respected that. And the way they did it worked.

There are many other successes. Locally our otitis media, or ear infection, rates were down; our immunisation rates were exceptional; and our asthma and diabetes management was effective – and so much more. Elders are living longer and healthier lives in the area where I worked in in Framlingham and other areas in South-West Coast that I can point to. We are dealing with aged care issues like dementia now, issues that come from longer life spans, and that is a real, obvious sign of success. You cannot deny that. At places like Heywood, Framlingham, Warrnambool and Portland I have seen the results of community-led health models, and I have seen the trust built between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. That is the kind of progress we should be proud of and duplicate to close the gap.

But ironically, this legislation puts that progress at risk. It will divide us. It is already creating resentment. I am seeing this, I am hearing this and I am disgusted by it, but it is what is happening. If we start giving one group of Australians different voting rights to another, we are not building unity, we are sowing division. How do we explain to the people of Victoria that some people can vote at 16 while others cannot and that voting in Indigenous elections may be optional while all Victorians are required to show up on election day for state, federal and local elections? These are not minor details. They go to the heart of our democracy, fairness and equality under the law. Our democracy is not perfect, but it is one of the best democracies on earth.

When I was at school I was not taught the truth about our history, and that was wrong. I have been told stories that are heartbreaking and stories of real suffering. I remember my Indigenous friend the late Lionel Harradine, whose name I have permission from his family to mention here in Parliament, told me about his mother, who worked at a local doctor’s in New South Wales. When authorities came to take the children, the doctor would quietly warn the family. It is a horrible story. The children would hide under the willow trees by the river. But one day the authorities came too close. The children tried to swim across the river. Lionel’s sister suffered an asthma attack, and she was caught. She was taken. The family was shattered, and the brothers and sisters and Lionel became part of the Stolen Generation. I know the stories of Condah: poisons mixed into the flour to deliberately kill the children. Children died in agony. These are not stories to be dismissed. They are truths, and they must be told. But how we tell the stories matter. We must teach the truth without laying guilt on people today, who had no part in those wrongs. We must build understanding, not bitterness. We do not need a law to teach history. The government already controls the curriculum. We do not legislate multiplication tables or grammar, so why legislate history? If there is a will – and I really believe there is – it can be done without embedding division into the law.

My electorate of South-West Coast is the land of the Gunditjmara and Eastern Maar people.

The Gunditjmara and Eastern Maar people are famous for their extensive landscape engineering prowess, shown in the construction of kilometres of eel aquaculture channels, holding ponds and fish traps in and around Budj Bim – an amazing place to visit, by the way.

There was a powerful article in the paper on the weekend that captured the growing dissent within the Aboriginal community, who gave dire warnings. We have successes like I have described and we do not need another layer of bureaucracy – the money, the energy, the passion and the compassion should go there. If we really want to close the gap, we should be looking at the successful models, not creating another layer of bureaucracy and potential for corruption. That sentiment resonates deeply with what I have heard in my consultations with local community members, especially those who lived through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, ATSIC, era of the 1990s. Many of the local Aboriginal community have spoken candidly about their disillusionment with past consultation bodies, recalling how some got a voice but most did not, with this ultimately becoming a source of division and pain. People tell me again and again that this moment feels like a reiteration of that time: the government attempts to establish parliamentary representation, but without general community trust, it falters. We must learn from these histories, not repeat them, the Aboriginal local people tell me. That is why I am concerned to see legislation used to stir emotion, score political points and create division.

If anyone tries to suggest that my opposition to this legislation is somehow against the Indigenous community, I can assure you nothing could be further from the truth. I have spent years working alongside Aboriginal communities. My history of support is longstanding and deeply rooted. In fact I may be the longest serving non-Indigenous person at Framlingham without marriage or family connections. I say that not for recognition but to underscore the depth of my commitment; those who claim otherwise are simply wrong. The reason I stand opposed today is because of my support for the Aboriginal community, because I have seen firsthand the decades of hard work, resilience and leadership that Aboriginal people have invested in closing the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

This legislation, despite its intentions, threatens to undo that progress. This legislation, rather than healing, will divide us. It is not the Aboriginal community that is causing this division; it is the Labor Party, through their legislation and drawing lines between us. It creates different rules for different members of our community – that is not unity, that is not equality, that is not what we strive for as Australians. We must be vigilant and we must be honest. We cannot undermine them with policies that fracture and confuse. I oppose this legislation because I believe in a better way forward, one that honours the past, listens to the present and builds a future of true equality. That is at the heart of our approach, as articulated earlier in the debate by the Leader of the Nationals. Our job in this Parliament is not to legislate based on emotion, it is to legislate based on outcomes. This is not about ‘the vibe’. It is not about recognition. We all support that, and let us be honest, if there is someone in this place who does not want a better outcome for Indigenous communities, I would like to know who they are. I would like to hold them to account.

Let me finish by saying this: I have a deep respect for Aboriginal communities. I have worked alongside them and I have seen the good that has been done. But I cannot support legislation that risks undoing that work, that divides rather than unites, that replaces reconciliation with resentment and that will not close the gap.

 Gabrielle WILLIAMS (Dandenong – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for Public and Active Transport) (16:08): I want to begin, like others have, by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are currently gathered, the Wurundjeri people, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present, and also to acknowledge the traditional owners of my community in Dandenong, the Bunurong people, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present and the many, many First Nations people we have here with us today. I will have a bit more to say about that shortly.

Treaty has been a long journey, but however long we in this chamber feel that it has taken, for our First Nations communities it has been hundreds of years in the making. Our patience is not a patch on theirs, and I want to start by talking about patience. Unlike many politicians, Aboriginal communities think in generations, not moments. This might explain their patience in getting to this point, but even more so I think it explains why First Nations communities wanted treaty in the first place – it is about resetting a relationship for generations to come. It is about allowing each generation to grow beyond the last.

In non-Aboriginal Australia we are quite familiar with that concept. Most of us have enjoyed high levels of formal education, longer life expectancy and more financial stability than our parents. But that has not been the story of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the main, with key indicators of health and wellbeing remaining stubbornly unchanged for decades. And that has been a decision. Not their decision – it has been the decision of governments and parliaments for hundreds of years, and it has not always been malicious, but it has often been born out of ignorance. Government policies have been too focused on doing ‘to’ Aboriginal communities, not walking ‘with’ them – policies that assume we have all the answers and never stop to not only ask what they think but sit and listen deeply. We have the opportunity to change that.

Over the course of our journey towards treaty we have heard many allegations about what it might or might not be, and no doubt throughout the course of this debate – we have already heard a little bit of it – we will hear similar claims. Some of them will be downright nefarious, spoken by people who know that what they are saying is simply not true, spoken with the deliberate intention to mislead – and that is for them to grapple with in their quiet moments when they are alone with their own conscience. On this side we know with great clarity that we want a future where all Victorians enjoy strong health and wellbeing outcomes, where no Victorian is economically excluded or discriminated against – a Victoria that experiences the collective social and economic benefits of thriving communities that are doing well. We all stand to gain from that. When it comes to closing the gap, an objective shared by many governments across many decades, there really is only one way forward, and that is treaty. We have tried all the others.

While there have been some modest gains, there have also been many failures, with progress either stalling or going backwards on two-thirds of closing the gap targets at any given time. The Productivity Commission confirmed for us what we need to do – it confirmed for us that we need to do things differently if we do not want to still be admiring the problem in another 30 years. They told us that to meet our closing the gap targets we need to put decision-making about Aboriginal affairs into Aboriginal hands. That is what treaty is all about – shifting the dial and finally, finally, getting better outcomes. Again, we all stand to gain from achieving those better outcomes: we gain economically from greater collective prosperity and we gain collectively from having greater social cohesion and from having healthier communities and fewer state resources needing to be invested in expensive, pointy-end systems. It means more and more money can be invested elsewhere to meet other shared priorities. For those who believe themselves to be the arbiters of good financial management, this is a no-brainer.

It is no surprise to me that treaty attracts very deep support from multicultural Victorians from postcolonial nations, as reported in the Australian over the weekend. Anybody who has intersected with colonial systems, observed or perhaps even lived their impacts, can speak to the depth of those impacts. Many can also speak to the healing properties of treaty – the ability for it to reset relationships and set a nation on a different path with strengthened identity, strengthened prosperity and greater connection. I am of Irish heritage, and I have been fortunate in my adult life to spend a lot of time there, particularly in the north, which is still under British rule. I have seen over the past 20-odd years a revival of Irish culture, of music and of language, driven by young people who want a more positive frame. In my opinion this revival has felt like a nation growing up and growing even more proud – stepping outside of a colonial shadow, acknowledging it but being who they are without shame any longer. It has been an inspiring national journey to have witnessed.

I want to wind up by saying a few things about my time as the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples – without doubt the greatest privilege of my political career. It is a confronting role. I very quickly realised how little I knew about our nation’s colonial past and about the culture that attached to this country for well over 65,000 years. It was embarrassing how insulated I had been from First Nations culture, its history and most importantly its people. Of course the fact that so many of us can go through life without ever really even knowing an Aboriginal person is one of the greatest tragedies of some of the most brutal and murderous chapters of the British colonial project in this country. Being Minister for Treaty and First Peoples changed me fundamentally and forever, and I am so glad for it. I wish every Victorian could be blessed with the patience, the rawness, the generosity and ultimately the friendship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I wish every Victorian could feel the warm embrace of a strong but hurting people, often after conversations filled with tears of both sadness and laughter – I have never cried so much in politics as I did in that portfolio.

Most importantly, I wish every Victorian could feel the invitation First Nations communities give to us when they ask us to walk with them. I say feel, not hear, because when you feel it you will know it. It sits in your chest. It is indescribable. It is so wholeheartedly positive and hope filled. It is why I have been and felt so utterly disappointed to hear so many on opposition benches talk about treaty as something divisive. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that it is the Liberal-National coalition that is divisive, not treaty. Paternalism gets us nowhere, and yet we have been hearing it in spades in this debate so far from the other side of the chamber.

I want to wind up on a more positive note and say some thankyous. There are a lot of them, and I wish I could name everyone individually. Of course thank you to Aunty Jill Gallagher for being the treaty advancement commissioner and getting this ball rolling – and she is up there. She is a powerhouse, and anyone who knows her knows that. Thank you to our inaugural co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Marcus Stewart and Aunty Gerry Atkinson. There were some hard years in there of getting that ball rolling and trying to work out which way was up. We had to do it together, and I could not think of better people to have worked all that through with, and there were some difficult discussions along the way.

Thank you to Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray, who took the baton, and that next generation of First Peoples’ Assembly leadership. The electoral roll was grown and the voter turnout was grown by that second election, and we have seen the leadership just flourish and step into its own. It has been such a joy to watch. Thank you for your grace.

Thank you to our Yoorrook Justice commissioners, who led the truth-telling process. In particular I am going to single out Aunty Eleanor Bourke and also my good friend Trav Lovett, who has had to walk, like many have, in two worlds in working for both the department and the government through part of that treaty process. I have also been on the other side of things and I know how hard that is, and I want to say something shortly about that too.

To our First Peoples’ Assembly elected representatives, thank you, thank you, thank you. I know it has been hard work, and I know the conversations internally have not always been easy too.

To our traditional owner groups for being part of the journey and those who may be still watching on to see if they maybe want to be one day, thank you for your leadership and thank you for your honesty over the journey.

To return to a previous point – to the Aboriginal workforce within government departments who have been part of this work as well, often from our side of things the unsung heroes. It is so hard to do that work, to be a part of a community but having to be representing government as well. But can I tell you, having been the recipient of that knowledge and that expertise, without it I do not know that we would have got here. Government needed that voice in its ranks too, so thank you. I know how hard that was.

Thank you to our leadership in the government – and I am running out of time – of course to Nat Hutchins, the minister, and to previous minister Gavin Jennings. This was a big heart project of his for a very long time, and he brought such authority and grace and knowledge to this space. I know he has long and everlasting relationships with our First Nations communities, so thank you, Gavin. Thank you to the Premier for her leadership in shepherding this through and in sticking with it in difficult times; to Chris Couzens, who we heard from earlier, and wow, that is all I can say; and of course to the beautiful Sheena Watt, who is in the gallery here today. I know how deeply felt this is for you too, Sheena.

For everyone I encountered in my time as minister, many of whom I still call friends, thank you for helping me to grow and for inviting me to be proud alongside you. Thank you for your patience, kindness and your infectious hope. Thank you for your bravery in putting yourselves out there in some of the most hostile environments imaginable, and I am so sorry that you had to, but we are here, and thank you for allowing us to walk with you on this journey.

 Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (16:19): I too begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and where also my electorate here in Naarm sits, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung of the Kulin nation, and paying my respects to elders past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. I also want to acknowledge and pay respects to the elders of the lands where I was born and where I grew up, the Arrernte people of Mparntwe, Alice Springs, where I was born, and the Latji Latji, Ngintait, Nyeri Nyeri people of the Millewa Mallee, where I grew up. I also pay respects to all First Nations people who are in this room today, including my friend Yorta Yorta woman Sheena Watt from the upper house.

Ngoon godgin. Danka elomar. Thank you for all that you have taught me about history, about culture, about country and about belonging.

Today this Parliament considers a bill of extraordinary consequence, the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025, a bill that seeks to reshape the relationship between this Parliament, the government and the First Peoples of Victoria, a bill that holds the potential to deliver truth, justice and self-determination after more than two centuries of dispossession, discrimination, colonisation and genocide. I feel like it is such a huge honour and a huge privilege to even stand in this Parliament as the bill is introduced and to add some meagre words to a topic that words simply cannot do justice to. When I was writing this speech, I did not know how I would do justice to this historic moment. I want to thank Travis Lovett, Yoorrook justice commissioner and a proud Kerrupmara and Gunditjmara man, who yesterday gave me some sage advice. He said, ‘Speak your own truth and carry the spirit of the ancestors with you’, so that is what I will try and do today.

I want to be clear that the Victorian Greens support this bill wholeheartedly. We will vote for it, and we will do so without amendment because treaty is not ours to change or dilute or act like we know what is best to improve it. This treaty bill is the product of years of work led by Aboriginal communities, led by the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and grounded in deep listening and self-determined decision-making processes involving mob across all of so-called Victoria. Our job now is to listen and to respond.

Nearly 10 years ago I sat in this Parliament as the journey to statewide treaty began with the first legislation, but we all know that the real journey started long before this with the activists, the elders, the trailblazers and the mob who over many, many decades have had to fight for what is rightfully theirs and always was rightfully theirs – the right to live in safety, dignity and prosperity on their own country. Because the sad and distressing truth is that their land was stolen from them, their children were stolen from them, their ancestors were massacred, their language and culture was stolen too, and they were robbed of a prosperous future on their own land. It is a truth that needs telling but also a truth that needs rectifying.

It is a difficult truth to face for those of us whose ancestors are the ones who did the dispossessing, but nothing changes the facts, no matter how uncomfortable we find them. The truth can be hard to hear, but that does not make it any less true. Nothing will erase the pain and suffering, but by learning about the true history of the place that we live in and then acting on that truth with treaty, we may hope to heal and then hope to fashion a future that we can truly be proud of, a future where Aboriginal people are rightfully able to determine for themselves what their future will look like, a future where we do not just walk together, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike, but where we genuinely come to celebrate and to appreciate that we live in a place with the oldest continuous culture on earth. How lucky are we? More than 65,000 years of unbroken history and culture right here. And what a generous and gracious gift it is from the First Peoples of this land to invite us to create a future on this land together. In all honesty, given our history, it feels like maybe we have no right to receive such a generous gift, such a generous invitation. But as Travis Lovett reminds us, it is not just a gift but a responsibility, and it comes with obligations – obligations to listen, to learn from the past and then also to act.

In speaking my own truth, I am aware that for my own children, two of whom are in the gallery today – hi, kids – their good fortune, my good fortune, did not come from thin air. Their prosperity today was not built on guts and guile alone.

I am aware that their ancestors, mostly Irish Catholics escaping famine, the law and the oppression of the British Empire, in turn in many ways became the oppressors of a new land, that their ancestors on the other side of the family, from England, Scotland, Wales and elsewhere, who came here seeking a better life, worked and bought land that was not actually theirs to buy and own. It was Gunaikurnai land. It was Gunditjmara land. It was Aboriginal land, and it still is. And I am aware that when we looked further into their paternal grandparents’ family history and found references a few generations back to women keeping the blacks at bay with muskets on the farm in western Victoria, that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the horrors that happened, the atrocities that were committed on this land that we now call Victoria, but so much of that history was kept hidden.

I feel very fortunate, having grown up in the Northern Territory and north-west Victoria, and with parents who worked in community in the Tiwi Islands and Mparntwe, that I received more of an education about our true history than many people of my generation, and I am grateful for the knowledge about culture, history and country that was shared with me. But what a huge national shame it is that most people of my generation and older received almost no education at all in our schools or in our communities about the true history of this country, and treaty is our chance to change that.

It is important to talk about our own family’s history and tell the truth about it, but of course my family’s story is not the story that really should be centred when it comes to talking about treaty, because treaty is the story of survival of countless generations of First Nations families who have resisted, who have dreamed of and fought for better against all odds. I want to make sure that some of their stories are captured on the record today. Treaty is the story of those that we may have heard of – William Barak, William Cooper, Sir Doug Nicholls, legendary activists whose stories are now becoming more well known; they are stories of resistance, of land rights, of activism – but it is also the story of those who are less well known. It is the story of all those who fought for treaty when it seemed hopeless and unachievable, when it was promised by Bob Hawke at Barunga in 1988 and never delivered, but who continued anyway, even though many of those elders are not here because they did not live to see the day.

It is also the story of those who are sitting in the chamber today, who carried on the fight from the elders and did see this day, like the co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray – thank you for your incredibly powerful words today – and all those in the First Peoples’ Assembly who represented your community so faithfully, including the treaty negotiating team led by Nerita Waight, Indi Clarke and Troy McDonald, Dr Jill Gallagher up there in the chamber and previous co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly Aunty Geraldine Atkinson and Marcus Stewart, whose worked paved the ground for the outcome that we have here today, the members of the Treaty Authority. It is a story of the Yoorrook Justice commissioners, including chair Aunty Eleanor Bourke and all the other commissioners whose difficult work of truth-telling made treaty possible. Because the truth-telling is the why, but the treaty is the what – the what we are going to do now that we know the truth.

Treaty is also the story of trailblazing First Nations women, women like Lidia Thorpe, the first First Nations woman to sit in this Parliament, who faced ridicule and resistance but who stood here to tell her mob’s story anyway, and Sheena Watt, my dear friend – we go a long way back – who sits in this Parliament today. These women had the courage to step into a role in this colonial Parliament, despite the hostility they knew would come. But they did it anyway, hoping that their fight would make real change and pave the way for others, and my word it has. Treaty is also the work of so many mob, young and old, whose names will not appear in Hansard or the history books but who deserve to know that their contributions led to this point, especially all those who enrolled to vote in the First Peoples’ Assembly, one by one, to have their voices heard, and we have heard them loud and clear.

It is the work of all the mob who kept the fire of hope burning even in the shadow of the pain of the referendum. Treaty is also the story of the people whose pain and suffering at the hands of the colonial government is immeasurable, like the stolen generations, and those who despite that extended their hands in partnership anyway. We owe them all such a great debt.

I want to talk about a friend of mine, Ian Hamm, who I spoke to today about treaty, and I told him I would mention him in my speech. Ian was stolen from his family at just three weeks old. He was raised in a different family. His name was changed. This was just a few towns over from the Yorta Yorta family that he was born into, but he never knew. Ian told me that he never, ever thought that he would live to see the day that treaty would pass this Parliament. and his is just one single example of an experience that happened to countless thousands of others. The thing is that racist policies and ideologies do not just diminish those who are the direct targets, they diminish us all. In the same way, treaty does not just lift up our First Nations communities, it lifts up us all. Ian gave me some beautiful words today to say about treaty. He said that he remembers exactly where he was at five years old when he first saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. He said today feels like that. He said for his community this is their walking on the moon moment, and people will always remember where they were when treaty was signed in Victoria.

Treaty, let us remember, is not just the result of the work of the last few years but the work of decades and decades of people who dreamed of this day, who worked for this day and who might not be here to witness it but whose actions and footprints are all over it. And ultimately treaty is about belonging. When I think about the incredibly complex question of belonging, I often think about young Ian. My own children will grow up never having to experience the pain and confusion that he and others from the stolen generation did. They will never experience being ripped out of my arms as babies. They will never experience the pain of the physical punishment that was meted out just for speaking their own language or the spiritual pain of having their own culture dismissed, disparaged and denied. They will never have their own family history hidden from them, like my best friend at high school, who did not find out that she was Aboriginal until her teenage years because the shame inflicted by racism meant that her family told people that her grandmother was Italian rather than admitting that she was Aboriginal. My children will never know these pains.

My children have grown up wanting for very little, but they are lacking something if they live in a country that has not healed and has not dealt with its past. Treaty is a pathway to this healing, a pathway to all of us truly belonging together in this country with each other, a pathway to making our country whole. I am reminded of the powerful words in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which said:

When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

Their culture is indeed a gift to all Australian children. With the advent of treaty, my children and all children will get to not just live here but have real pride in the future that we are creating, and for that I will be forever grateful.

There are those, including some in the chamber today, who oppose this treaty legislation. They say we can get better outcomes for First Nations people without treaty, but this argument is surely rooted in the same paternalistic mindset that has seen us fail to improve outcomes over generations. Treaty is about moving away from governments thinking that they know what is best for First Nations communities to handing back some of the power to community, recognising that they know and have always known what their own communities need to prosper.

There are others who will see treaty as an opportunity to use for their own political gain. To these people I say history will not look kindly on those who put their own personal and political gain ahead of doing what is right to address some of the wrongs of history, and I do not think that it is right to seek to score political points off the backs of those who have shown such generosity towards us all in finding a pathway forward.

There will also be those who say statewide treaty does not go far enough, that it is not enough, and question the legitimacy of the state to make these agreements at all, given the history of this country. These are important questions, but as the preamble to the legislation says, this Statewide Treaty marks a new beginning – it is just that, a beginning – to enshrine the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent body in law, a body mind you that has already been in operation for six years and doing a great job, to ensure that there are structures in place to allow First Peoples to determine how they want to manage their own affairs and to hold government accountable for the promises they make through Gellung Warl. Surely for those of us who are not mob, when the democratic body of First Nations people chosen by a self-determined process after 10 years of yarning and working tell us that this treaty is what they want and need, surely it is incumbent upon us to sit down and listen.

Treaty does not end today, but with the Greens’ votes in the upper house ensuring passage of the legislation in a few weeks time we take the first steps in making history. My fervent hope is that other states and other jurisdictions, from Queensland to WA as well as our federal government, who have rolled back their own support for treaty or similar processes, will look to Victoria and see the benefits of treaty and change their minds and that they will realise that in doing the right thing for our long-term future far surpasses the political opportunism they seek to exploit in the short term.

I want to end my speech with the words of a Gunditjmara storyteller, Richard Frankland, who in 2017, around the time when this treaty process in Victoria was just kicking off, summed up treaty better than I could ever hope to. He said:

… a treaty is ultimately about hope. A treaty is a light that shines in the distance, and that light that may help us as a nation to acknowledge the atrocities of the past and plant seeds here in the present for future generations to grow trees, a forest, perhaps even change the cultural tapestry of our nation.

Treaty is here. Treaty is now. Let us get this done.

 Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (16:38): It is an honour to rise and acknowledge the historic opportunity that the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 provides. The member for Melbourne made some very important contributions. I want to first begin by acknowledging the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which this Parliament meets, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past and present and all traditional owners and First Peoples across Victoria and their elders and the First Peoples people who are here with us today in this Victorian Parliament.

It does not get more important than what we are doing today and what we are discussing. For us in the Labor movement, we should be so proud of what this means – the party of Mabo; the party of native title; the reconciliation act under the great Gough Whitlam, which was the equivalent of the 1960s Civil Rights Act; the apology; the Redfern speech – and here now in Victoria what we are doing with treaty is a landmark day and a landmark occasion. Paul Keating said ‘the only reward in a public life is public progress’, and that was what Noel Pearson quoted in his very first sentence in the eulogy he gave for Gough Whitlam. In tens of thousands of years to come people will look back at this Parliament and look back at this moment and say public progress was made for our First Nations people that have occupied this land for more than 65,000 years, and we as a Parliament and indeed as a government and as a state should be so, so proud.

More than being the Deputy Premier, I am the Minister for Education and I acknowledge who our first educators and teachers and students were on this land: our First Nations people. As Rueben I think said in his contribution today, there have been 65,000 continuous years of wisdom. For us as a government to write the curriculum and to recognise in the statute book who our first educators were will be a momentous occasion for this state, and I cannot wait to get on with the job of doing that.

The treaty does ensure First Peoples communities are at the heart of decision making that affects their lives. It will not only create a real, practical difference for the communities across our state, but it will also give ongoing young First Nations people more opportunities for success. As the Premier noted in her remarks, this has been a journey and there are many people that have played a part. The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria since 2019 have partnered with us on this journey towards treaty, and yes, we are the better for it. First Peoples have told us for years about the impact colonisation has had on their families, their communities and their lives. What I can say is that we are all united in standing together to support this treaty and make sure that all Victorians – but especially our First Peoples – have the same outcomes and the same lives. The establishment of Gellung Warl as an ongoing representative of the First Peoples will ensure the work of the assembly continues and that it well and truly continues into the future.

I know there have been a number of statements – and arguably I would say misinterpretations – on what Gellung Warl is about, what it signifies and what its definition is. If I may read the Gunaikurnai statement on the name and read this into Hansard, because I think this is very, very important:

[QUOTE AWAITING VERIFICATION]

The Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation confirms that it considered and approved a request to use Gunaikurnai language in naming the Gellung Warl. This decision was made through our recognised cultural and governance processes, informed by advice from the Elders Council and endorsed through the organisation’s formal decision-making structures. All decisions are undertaken with care, respect and oversight to ensure that cultural integrity is upheld. We acknowledge that individuals may hold different perspectives – as the recognised Aboriginal party for Gunaikurnai people, this applies to us – but we are certain we have established cultural protocols to manage matters of language and heritage with integrity and respect.

That is the nub of the issue: it is about integrity and respect, and that is what we bring here today, making sure that we all walk together for a better future.

For the incredible advice and counsel that I have received as the education minister – and many of you are in the audience today, and I know I am going to leave some people out – I do want to acknowledge Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, the president of the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc, and also Uncle Lionel Bamblett the general manager of VAEAI. We only met a fortnight ago, and we meet regularly for their insights and ideas. I am so thankful for their counsel.

Education can change lives, and we know this is fundamental to the importance of education. This was not the case for so many people growing up in Victoria. I want to also acknowledge that the NAPLAN results we have got in Victoria show incredible progress. What many people will not know is that it has been very much a part of Noel Pearson’s work. If you look at what Noel Pearson did at Cape York – and I draw inspiration from what he did – the direct instruction, the explicit instruction, making sure that the knowledgeable teacher passes on that knowledge to the yet-to-be-knowledgeable student: this is First Nations wisdom directly having an impact on our results in the Education State, and for that I am so very, very appreciative.

Can I acknowledge everyone that has been on this journey? I do want to pay tribute to Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg for their outstanding speeches on the floor of the Parliament today. They are in Hansard now and will be for thousands of years to come, and they will be reference points for students, for academia and for everybody on this historical occasion. You should be so proud of how you represented the body that you represent and what your words mean. On that note too I should say that the spear I got from Travis Lovett after speaking at the commission now has a whole new meaning after what Rueben said today.

I can also see you have got Terry Garwood up there next to you as well, Travis. I want to thank Terry, the head of Indigenous affairs in the Department of Premier and Cabinet. With Minister Hutchins, Terry has been with us every step of the way, as has Sheena Watt, as has Chris Couzens and so many other people on this journey – Marcus Stewart and everyone. They have been with us together, making sure we go forward and do what we need to do to make sure this is nation leading and to embed First Nations history and cultures in the curriculum.

To be the first state in the Commonwealth of Australia says everything, I think, about the progressiveness of our government and why we want a future where everyone is equal – equality of opportunity before the law. But not only that, as has been so eloquently put today, ‘No decision made for us without us.’ That is what it is all about going forward. We should be so, so proud. I know including the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s official record as a resource to support the implementation of truth-telling in the curriculum will be so important for our students coming through the education system here in Victoria, and I am so keen to be doing what we can there as well.

I do want to put on record: I mentioned NAPLAN before, and we may have seen very important results, but we have also got to do more work among our First Nations students. But we should also celebrate what we are doing. When you look at year 5 numeracy from 2023 to 2025, we have seen the highest scores ever among First Nations students, exceeding the standards. The same story goes in year 7 numeracy, as well as years 5 and 7 grammar. First Nations peoples were our first educators, and we are so proud of everything they have achieved for our wonderful state of Victoria.

Can I congratulate the Premier, the minister, Minister Williams and indeed former minister Gavin Jennings as well for their work that has led us on this path. It is such an important moment. Finally, I just want to speak and put on record my thanks and appreciation to Professor Mark Rose as well. I got inducted into the hall of fame at St Bernard’s College, and Mark Rose is also a member of that hall of fame. To be at the State Library with him said it all about how proud I was to join him on that journey. If you want to look at the power of education, you only have to look at someone like Mark Rose, the son of a member of the stolen generation. Education was his passport to a bright future. Like so many of you here today, you are all giving back to future generations. We know our most important resource is our young people, and our Indigenous young people will ensure that we walk together on a path to treaty – but more than that, that we uplift everyone and do not make decisions for people without people. I commend this contribution.

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (16:48): It is really important that I rise today to speak on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. Some in this place know my deep connection to the local Aboriginal community, both through friends, organisations obviously and family. But out of respect for those family members, I am not going to speak on their behalf today, because we do not speak on behalf of them – that is the way that I was raised.

[NAME/S AWAITING VERIFICATION]

The member for Melbourne was talking about growing up in the north-west of Victoria and being really grateful for that. We were brought up with the stories of the Dreamtime and going out with Uncle Bobby Egan, looking for bardi grubs. We knew what land we were walking on, and we grew up with those stories as part of our everyday lives. This was from kindergarten. My kids also did this, through the Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative – they went through day care and pre-school there. I think until I grew into adulthood, I probably took it for granted a little bit. I did not realise that there were some Victorians who may never have met an Aboriginal person before. That just came as a complete shock to me. I did not realise that there were people who did not know what land they were walking on. That also came as a complete shock to me, because we grew up side by side – I went to school with a member of the Assembly. We played sport – I have got very, very close friends and family, as I say.

Let me say at the outset, as I always do, that I speak with deep respect for the traditional owners of the lands that I represent, the Ladji Ladji, the Tati Tati, the Barkindji peoples throughout the Mallee, and the thousands of First Nations Victorians who call our region home. Reconciliation is not a word that I take lightly. It is not a box to tick. It is about walking together, and in the Mallee we do that every day, like I just said. These are friends and family members right from school, through sporting clubs, our councils, our health services and community groups. And it is built on respect, not regulation or legislation. It is built on genuine relationships, not bureaucracy. This bill, we are told, is about taking the next step in that journey. As the Leader of the Nationals stated, we do not disagree with the destination and closing the gap and reconciliation, but it is the journey that we take, so there has to be two sides.

Someone said to me yesterday, or it might have even been this morning, that the best thing I can do when making a contribution to this debate is talk about how it affects my local electorate. In our local electorate there has been a growing divide, and I know that that word affects some people differently. I shut it down every single time it comes up, but the volume over the last 18 months in particular has become almost unmanageable, the point to which I am continually shutting down some of the misinformation that has got out there, whether it is about the land settlement agreements, the native title acts – things that some might just see a headline in the paper about and draw an opinion from that, and then that misinformation starts to spread. We need both sides to come together to close that gap, and this bill, as it is written, just does not do that. It is a process that risks widening that divide even more rather than healing it, particularly when we have some issues within local organisations at the moment that are caught up in the judicial system.

When I speak to people throughout my electorate, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, we do not want to be divided. We want positive outcomes. We want fairness. We want jobs, health care, decent housing, safe community and opportunities for everyone. I do not think there will ever be a time when everyone is of the same opinion, but we need to be able to debate this in a respectful way. I just do not think we can legislate reconciliation. We have to live it every day, and until this society gets to a point where all sides of the debate come together to close that gap, I do not think we will be living it.

In Mildura we see extraordinary examples of partnerships that are being done right each and every day. A couple of weeks ago I was at Chaffey College for their NAIDOC Week, after they had come back from school holidays. NAIDOC Week to them is not something that is celebrated over the week, it is a fabric of the school. Kehan does such a fantastic job, and the young leaders there are amazing as well. I have a fair bit to do with the Clontarf Foundation in Robinvale. Leon Johnson headed that up, and Leon is now the chair of the Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative. The outcomes of that organisation – zero per cent youth crime rate in Robinvale, the outcomes of year 12 and employment for these boys – were just amazing. These are things that we have seen can work.

We have seen an evolution in recent history of the way that in Robinvale – and I know Jacinta Chaplin did a huge amount of work within Swan Hill Rural City Council – Australia Day is celebrated in a really cohesive way and how citizenship ceremonies involve local mob. It is beautiful to see. But then when perhaps – and I have had conversations again with our local Indigenous leaders, who feel that information is perhaps not getting out the way in the way that it should – there is misinformation on both sides, and I do not want to see that move backwards. They are the sorts of things that change lives, not paperwork in Spring Street. We have heard from some of the contributions today that the government has not been completely transparent on the new structure and how it will improve lives, particularly the lives of those kids on the ground in electorates like Mildura. How will it intersect with the Commonwealth responsibilities as well? These are not small responsibilities, and all Victorians deserve straight answers.

I do want to acknowledge the intergenerational trauma – the history and the atrocities that have happened. As the member for Melbourne mentioned earlier, those stories that we heard of massacres on homesteads along the Murray River are abhorrent. But again, we learned about those in primary school. We were educated on that so that history does not repeat, so it was embedded that we are all one. Starting to tell these stories – well, not starting, because again, like I said, I grew up with these stories, but walking together is what will close the gap, not slogans on a press release.

In the Mallee we are practical, pragmatic people. We are not afraid of these hard conversations, but we do want them to lead somewhere. We want to see respect in action. So while I acknowledge that history – the pain, the need for healing – I, along with the Liberals and the Nationals, cannot support this bill in its current form, because real reconciliation does not come from Parliament, it comes from people, it comes from communities like Mildura, Robinvale, Sea Lake, Birchip, Donald, Charlton, where locals roll up their sleeves and work side by side. We care more about what unites us than divides us. That is the Australia that I believe in, and that is the Victoria that I want to build for my kids, for your kids, for future generations.

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (16:58): I am proud to speak in support of treaty for Victoria. I just want to rebut a comment made by the member for Mildura. To the contrary, treaty is not about division; treaty is an invitation to walk together. But before I speak further on the bill, can I take the opportunity to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this Parliament sits, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past and present and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are joining us here today. My electorate of Macedon encompasses the lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung, the Taungurung and the Wurundjeri peoples. There cannot be treaty without a Voice, and I also want to acknowledge and pay my respects to the members and co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly. To Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray, thank you so much for your extraordinary contributions on the floor of the house today and for all of your work leading the First Peoples’ Assembly. There cannot be treaty without truth. I acknowledge the work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, and I note that Commissioner Lovett is with us today as well.

I grew up on the lands of the Dhudhuroa people in the north-east of our state in the beautiful Mitta Valley. We did not know the language of the area’s rivers, the creeks, the ridges and the plains, nor did we know of the culture, history and technology of the Dhudhuroa people.

It is not a criticism, it is just a fact. Unlike the member for Mildura, I learned nothing of the First Peoples’ history of the community which I called home, despite the fact that I lived in a community with towns and district names like Tangambalanga, Kiewa, Tallangatta and Mount Murramurrangbong. Despite all of this, the stories of the First Peoples who had called this area home for thousands of years were never told. It was the stories of the settlers that held precedence in our local published histories and in our classrooms. In essence, the First Peoples of the community I grew up in were erased from the history books and from the knowledge that was held in that community.

It is testimony to the strength and resilience of Victoria’s First Peoples that we are here today. First Peoples have never given up in their fight for recognition, for truth and for justice and to ensure that Victoria, like countless other colonial states all around the world, enacts a treaty with its First Peoples. As Rueben Berg reminded us today, treaty is a gift. It is not something that seeks to take anything away from anyone, and people that seek to perpetuate this lie are doing a great disservice and are not acting as leaders. It is, as I have said, an invitation to walk together with equality and respect for a new and different future. Treaty will build a stronger and more united Victoria for everyone, where the heritage, the history and the culture of all of our peoples is acknowledged and celebrated.

The health gap that exists between First Peoples and every other Victorian is a shameful part of this state’s history. It did not appear overnight, nor is it the fault of First Peoples. The First Peoples’ Assembly told Yoorrook that before colonisation First Peoples were generally strong and healthy and enjoyed a lifestyle on their traditional lands that promoted good health. But it was the arrival of the settler colonialists with their diseases and viruses that ended this. That is a fact. And as we know and as has now been formally recorded, the gap is a result of policies, discrimination, racism and, frankly, indifference towards the fate and health and wellbeing of Aboriginal Victorians. But Victoria’s vibrant, unique network of Aboriginal community controlled health organisations came about because of this neglect, and now, more than 50 years strong, our ACCHOs have shown a new way for the delivery of health care and wellbeing to all Aboriginal Victorians. ACCHOs are supported by the VACCHO, which is led by proud Gunditjmara woman Jill Gallagher AO. It is my great privilege to be able to work very closely with Aunty Jill Gallagher, who also served as Victoria’s treaty advancement commissioner, and we thank you, Aunty Jill, for that extraordinary work.

As I have said in this place many times, we all know that when Aboriginal health is in Aboriginal hands we get better outcomes for Aboriginal people. ACCHOs are testament to this. And this is what treaty is about – it is simple. It is a simple proposition. Agreement-making in this space is not new and it is not radical. I already co-chair the Victorian Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Partnership Forum with Mick Graham of VACCHO and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service. The partnership forum is already delivering on the priorities that have been set by the Aboriginal community, including improving cultural safety in hospitals, addressing a long-term lack of investment in ACCHO infrastructure and transforming how we budget for Aboriginal health, ensuring that we put self-determination at the centre of budget decision-making. The establishment of Gellung Warl will further strengthen community representation. Independent oversight and accountability is to be welcomed, not to be feared. It will also ensure that the truth that we heard through Yoorrook is not lost.

Change starts from the top, and the Statewide Treaty document recognises the importance of the composition of boards and the fundamental skills needed to identify and eliminate institutional racism and discrimination. With more than 70 independent health services, each with their own board and management teams in Victoria, it is really important that we get this right.

The number of First Peoples on health boards has increased six-fold since 2022, and I am proud to have recommended the appointment of 10 more First Peoples to our health service boards this year alone. This demonstrates the change that we get when First Peoples set the priorities for their health and wellbeing and they tell us and work with us to deliver the change that needs to happen to ensure that First Peoples are determining their own future.

I want to just talk briefly about my electorate; as I have said, Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri country. Since I was elected to this place in 2014 I have had the opportunity to learn so much from many respected elders in my community, including Aunty Di Kerr, Mandy Nicholson, Bill Nicholson, Rodney Carter and Shane Monk, amongst others. I have also said in this place that as a member of Parliament it has been a real privilege to work closely with and get to know so many Aboriginal people, a privilege that I wish could be shared by so many more in our community.

To those who say no to treaty, know this: you are saying no to the explicit requests of First Nations people in this state. You are saying no to a mechanism that has demonstrated outcomes in other jurisdictions and you are disrespecting an invitation that has been given to you to walk forward to a better future for all. We need to be clear that the experiences of First Nations people and the discrimination that they experience is fundamentally different to that that is experienced by other groups in our community, and we know this through the experience of Indigenous peoples all around the world who have experienced the impacts of colonisation. But treaty with First Peoples works. We only have to look again around the world to see examples of this – in New Zealand, in Canada and in states in the United States. Please stop spreading misinformation. Now is the time for leadership. It is the time to stand strong. It is the time to act with principle. It is time to imagine a future where the First Peoples of this state can determine their future. That is all that treaty asks of us. It takes nothing from us. I feel a great honour and privilege to be able to stand in this house on this day and know that I am making history and that I am standing with extraordinary leaders. I thank you for your leadership. I commend the bill to the house.

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (17:07): I rise today to speak to the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. May I state from the outset that this is a sensitive and emotive bill. I thank all of the speakers from today and those who will speak to this bill tonight and tomorrow. I appreciate that here in our democracy we can have a measured and sensible debate about this in this place. I say this as the first Asian woman elected to this place, as someone that recognises that Victoria is a multicultural, multifaith society and as someone who was the first of my family born here in Australia.

I acknowledge that there is an enduring culture and people in Australia, and here on this side of the house no-one is debating that there are disparate health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in our state. No-one is debating that we should not close the gap; in fact we are debating that we should. No-one is debating that we should not strive to improve health and life outcomes for Indigenous Victorians. That is what we are here to do as legislators, and that is what we here on this side of the house stand for. I know that that is the truth for all parliamentarians.

We know that Aboriginal Victorians continue to face unacceptable outcomes in health, education, justice and child safety and that the government is failing on key nationally agreed Closing the Gap targets. This is why it matters. In Victoria the incarceration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people is 9.4 times the rate of other Australian young people. In 2023–24 it was 33.9 per 10,000 young people. Aboriginal adults were incarcerated at 14 times the rate of non-Indigenous adults, at 2304 per 100,000 in 2024. Aboriginal Victorians are over three times more likely to die by suicide than non-Aboriginal Victorians, with a suicide rate of 30 per 100,000 in 2023. The Coroners Court of Victoria confirms that the worsening trend is there.

There is an eight-year gap that persists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal life expectancy, and Aboriginal employment sits at 55 per cent, well below the 78 per cent rate for non-Aboriginal Victorians. Only 34.3 per cent of Aboriginal children starting school were developmentally on track in 2021. Just 58 per cent of Aboriginal youth aged 15 to 24 were fully engaged in employment, education or training, and only 68 per cent of Aboriginal students complete year 12, compared to 85 per cent of non-Aboriginal students. The data is clear. The statistics are compelling. The issues pertaining to those health outcomes and those life outcomes are very real and very present. That is why it is important that we speak to those matters here today in the house. But unfortunately this Statewide Treaty Bill does not address closing the gap in Victoria. If we really want to close the gap, if we are serious about looking at that, we need to be looking at the successful models that have succeeded in closing the gap, not just creating another layer of bureaucracy.

A report from the Australia’s peak body for Indigenous children, the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, has found that the very groups getting the best results in cultural support, reunification with kin and connection to culture are receiving the least funding. I will say that again. A report from Australia’s peak body for Indigenous children, the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, found that the very groups getting the best results in cultural support, reunification with kin and connection to culture are the ones receiving the least funding. In 2024 the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care’s Family Matters Report found that despite the overwhelming evidence that Aboriginal community controlled organisations deliver the most effective outcomes for children, they receive only 6 per cent of government child protection funding. That means that the organisations that are keeping Aboriginal children connected to kin, to culture and to community are simply not getting the resources that they need – at 6 per cent.

Meanwhile the number of Aboriginal children being removed from their families, unfortunately the statistics show, continues to rise. The report is clear that only 15 per cent of government child protection funding goes towards early intervention and family support. The rest is consumed by bureaucracy and crisis response. This is a system designed to react, not to prevent, and to separate, not to strengthen, and this is the system that we should be fixing. This is where reform, funding and urgency should be directed.

This is particularly meaningful for me as the new Shadow Minister for Children, where we have seen that this failure is tragic in our child protection system. Right now the level of Aboriginal children being removed from their families is appalling, and the treaty bill does not address this. It does not keep children safe. It does not help keep families together.

According to the Productivity Commission, Victoria is removing more First Nations children from their families than any other state in Australia – almost twice the national rate. Nationally 57.2 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children per thousand are in out-of-home care. Here in Victoria that number is 102.9 per thousand. That is more than 1 in 10 children in out-of-home care. Three-quarters of Aboriginal young people in youth justice have already been through child protection, and some never make it out alive, like a 17-year old Wemba Wemba girl who took her own life after being separated from her eight siblings and denied connection to her culture. These are the injustices crying out for action, not bureaucracy.

And so to my earlier point, we see that according to this report from the leading – the peak – body for Indigenous children that the groups that are getting the best results in cultural support and reunification with kin are the ones receiving the least funding. This is where the funding should be going. They should not be receiving 6 per cent of government funding. These are the proven and effective, community-controlled, Aboriginal-led organisations that have these outcomes for children yet they are receiving the least funding. This is where it is urgent. This Statewide Treaty Bill will cost $207 million over the next four years. That is the figure only at the beginning. That money is going towards a body rather than towards these culturally led groups that are seeing meaningful change take place. That is why on this side of the house we oppose this bill and this legislation because we believe there is a better way forward, that there is a better way and that there is a more strategic way to close the gap and to use funding to go directly towards these outcomes-focused Closing the Gap measures.

To the bill itself, the bill is troubling in that it does give this unelected body unprecedented power and autonomy in operating outside of ministerial control. There are many issues with this bill, and if I can borrow the words of the member for South-West Coast, who I think made a really important contribution in this place to this debate, if we give one group of Australians different voting rights to another, we are not building unity, we are sowing division. How do we explain to the people of Victoria that some people can vote at 16 while others cannot, that voting in Indigenous elections might be optional while all Victorians are required to show up on election day. Democracy at its heart is fairness and equality under the law, yet this treaty bill seeks to create different rules for different people, which then therefore divides rather than unites.

On this side of the house that is why we oppose this bill, because it simply does not address the outcomes. It simply does not put the money in the right places where we will see the closure of the gap. It simply does not do these things. There are issues in this bill that are of concern on this side of the house that many have spoken to, but most of all it divides rather than unites Australians and Victorians. That is why on this side of the house we oppose the bill.

 Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (17:17): I rise in proud support of the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. It is easy to come up with all of the problems that we have that confront governments, whatever the policy area. It is another thing to come up with solutions. Everything that we have heard from those opposite thus far has been about describing what they think the problems are, but no solutions. The solutions are staring us in the face in this bill, because we have gone through this and we have heard loud and clear what the solutions are. If you really want to make a difference, if you really believe in fixing the problems that have been with us for too long, support this bill, because this is the solution. It is the way forward.

I do want to spend some time acknowledging all of the wonderful elders of the past and the present and all those traditional owners and First Peoples who are with us here today. I acknowledge them, I give my respect to them and all those who are watching this debate. I do want to also in particular acknowledge Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray, who are the current co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria. I thank them for their great leadership and their fortitude. This has been a long time coming, and a lot has been invested in being able to see the culmination of this bill coming forward to this Parliament. To Sheena Watt and Christine Couzens, each comes with their own dignity and story. I thank them because politics is lonely, but when you are Indigenous in politics, imagine how lonely that can be. I say today, you are not lonely today. Look at everyone here. Look at all of us here. We are with you, and we always will be with each one of you.

To Geraldine Atkinson and Marcus Stewart, former co-chairs; to Professor Eleanor Bourke, the chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission; and to others who have joined with her, Sue-Anne Hunter, Travis Lovett, Maggie Walter and Dr Wayne Atkinson, I say thank you very much. Why do I say thank you? Because you have had courage, generosity and trust. Why are those things important? It takes courage to do this, always, in the sense that perhaps it can go wrong and we just do not get there. It takes courage to say we are going to work this through. The generosity of inviting us to walk alongside of you – because we know this is the beginning, it is not the end. It cannot be the end, but this is a way forward to build on. And of course there was the trust that we were going to get to here and get it through the other place and have it endorsed by the Governor and in law in this state. Thank you for your courage, your generosity and your trust. I say to you that we will keep our word and see this through.

I do want to acknowledge the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples Natalie Hutchins and her predecessors Gabrielle Williams and Gavin Jennings. I know that for the minister who is at the table this is her second time round in the portfolio, and this is business that was started quite some time ago. The stewardship and the grace and the commitment that have been shown to walk alongside of all traditional owners to reach this point – it has taken all of that goodwill to get here. I say to those people who have made some comments in this chamber that I am convinced one day they will come to regret when their children, who do not have to be convinced about this, and when their grandchildren, say, ‘What did you do during that period? Where did you stand?’ that Hansard will tell the story and more. You were elected to be leaders, not dog whistlers. You asked for a better way. This is it. And if you do not take this opportunity now, that says so much about you and not where we are here today.

This bill represents one of the most significant steps our state has ever taken towards justice, truth and reconciliation. For generations of their 60,000 years First Peoples across Victoria have called for treaty, certainly since colonisation, a treaty that recognises their connections to land and water and sky, their culture, their languages and their right to self-determination. This bill answers that call. It establishes Gellung Warl, an enduring representative body for First Peoples in Victoria. It lays the foundation for a future where decisions that affect Aboriginal communities are made by them, not for them. We know families are better off when they have responsibility over their lives. Aboriginal families are no different, yet we have not done that. Treaty is about fairness. It is about partnership. It is about improving the lives of Aboriginal people in our communities, not taking away from anyone else. And you know what, generosity cannot be measured, because it is never-ending. We have got that ability now to be generous, because it is required of us and it is morally correct.

This Parliament first recognised the call for treaty in 2016. Our government passed the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act in 2018 and the Treaty Authority and Other Treaty Elements Act in 2022. Each of those steps helped build the path to this moment. This bill enshrines several key structures that give effect to this new relationship. The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria will continue as the elected decision-making chamber within Gellung Warl. It is a forum for First Peoples to advise the Parliament and engage with government, developing policy on matters directly affecting their communities. This bill creates Nginma Ngainga Wara, an accountability mechanism to hold the state to its commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

The bill also establishes Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, an ongoing truth-telling and healing office that continues the vital work begun by the Yoorrook Justice Commission. Treaty is not about guilt, it is about responsibility and it is about doing things better. It is about facing our shared history with honesty and moving forward together with respect, because if we can be grateful for those who came before us, we can also take responsibility for what has happened before us. It builds on years of consultation, negotiation and dialogue led by the First Peoples’ Assembly, grounded in community and guided by cultural authority.

This is a moment of pride for Victoria. We will become the first state in the nation to legislate a treaty with First Peoples. It will make a significant difference to my community, deepening the community connection with the truth of our history. It is the history that I and many others in this chamber were not taught about at school. It was, as a previous speaker, my good friend the member for Macedon, said, erased from history that we learned. At the same time that I was born I was born with the right to vote, and many were not, and I reflect on that every time I speak in this chamber.

Truth-telling in schools is really critical to this, because we know younger people are hungry for the truth, because when we have the truth, we can take the right decisions for our future. We can shape the future in a way that reflects the truth in all of the good and, sadly, with the bad that the truth shows us. That is the only way that we can truly enable the gap to be closed.

There is much more that I wish I could say, I really do, but what I do want to say in finishing my comments is that today is a day of pride. It is a start. It is a proud start. It is a start that has been developed and built up with a lot of goodwill and a lot of sincerity and trust. We cannot forsake that, because I know that all of us as a community can only ever truly reach our best and be our best when we do close this gap. This is what treaty is about, so let us start with an open heart, an open mind and the goodwill that this deserves.

 Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (17:27): I rise to make my contribution on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 as well, and I suppose it is about reflecting on how we got to this. A number of the previous speakers have talked about how when the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018 and the Treaty Authority and Other Treaty Elements Act 2022 were before this chamber, they were passed unanimously. I was the shadow minister at that particular time, so whether that was a good decision or a bad decision, I will own that decision. I thank Aunty Geraldine and Marcus Stewart for the discussions we had through that particular process and in more recent times Rueben and Ngarra for the discussions we have had.

One of the things that particularly Marcus and Aunty Geraldine convinced me of was to be part of the process, to come on the journey and work with them through this particular issue, because I think you will find that, even though we are disagreeing with this bill, there is absolutely heated agreement in this chamber that there is history that needs to be told. There is extreme disadvantage that is generational because of white man’s settlement. As I have said in one of the other debates in this place, our family came here in pre-goldrush days. I hope that my family was not part of that, but I honestly do not know. It is not history that I know. I suppose we, the coalition, supported both those pieces of legislation to go on the journey over that time, and I have had those discussions with Marcus and Aunty Geraldine and then with Rueben and Ngarra about how we had some concerns about how some of the other pieces of legislation were not working well enough, particularly some issues with the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 and the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and how there could be improvement and how those processes could work.

We talked about it numerous times. I constantly raised these issues, and I was continually told, ‘Let’s sort all this out as part of the treaty process.’ It got to the point where through frustration I as the shadow minister and we as a coalition felt that those issues were not being taken seriously enough from our side. There was a drifting apart, I suppose, of support for going forward together. It would be fantastic if we could have got to today with everyone in the chamber in agreement. I think if you are going to have the change that people are aspiring to have, you need to build your house on very sound foundations, and those sound foundations, from a political point of view, are where there is not disagreement in how you are going to go forward. I think there was a willingness to go forward together that for whatever reasons drifted apart. It has become partisan in some ways. If I listen to the contributions from the other side of the house, they want to be partisan about criticising our side of the house for having a different way to solve the same issue really in some ways. Whether our way is right or whether the treaty way is right we will not know for 10, 20 or 30 years, because that is how long it is going to take.

I am sure the First Peoples’ Assembly do not underestimate the challenge they have to solve disadvantage for the Aboriginal community. It is well documented. The history is there. Most people have spoken about the numbers in this house. I am not going to go through the numbers, they are very well known, but in my personal view it starts with education and housing. If people have a good education, they have a better opportunity to have a job and they have a better opportunity to have a better job that pays more. That gives them a better opportunity to own a house. If you have got a house, you get that generational change. You hear people that come into this house and talk about the fact that they were the first of their family that actually went to university; they were the first of their family that went further in education than any previous generation. I think the first thing that I would aspire to is to make sure that education becomes a core of whatever changes are going to be made, because unless you have got that education attainment you do not have the opportunity to have employment and you do not have the opportunity necessarily to own your own home. And there is very good research that says education and good employment actually increase people’s quality of life and increase their life spans, because again, they are leading a better life because of the education attainment, the housing and then better health into the future.

We are all in heated agreement about achieving those things for the Indigenous community. I and most of the Nats have got significant First Peoples populations in our electorates. One of the biggest issues I get in my office in Echuca is the issue of housing for Indigenous people, particularly for young mums, single mums, who quite often tragically are leaving an abusive relationship and actually want to get a house. I know that is a challenge for Housing Victoria. It is a challenge for Njernda. It is a challenge for everyone to make sure there are enough houses there. I am sure the First Peoples’ Assembly, as they through this process now they have got treaty, do not underestimate the challenge there will be to make sure there is enough housing for the people that need housing.

As has been said – I think the member for Melbourne said it – this this will go through the upper house unamended because the Greens are supporting it. It is going to happen. I wish all those involved well in actually achieving what you want to achieve for your people, but I would put a caution on that: do not disregard our side of politics just because we are not supporting this bill. It does not mean that we are anti First Peoples. It does not mean that – as some on the other side would try to paint us – we are racist. I do not believe there is a single racist amongst my colleagues on this side. We do have different views on how we achieve closing the gap and how we will change things, but I think we all come to this place to make life better for Victorians and for people that live in our electorates. In some ways we are always slightly parochial to our own electorates, but we do have the bigger picture in our mind, because if you do not have a prosperous Victoria, if you do not have a prosperous Australia, people do not achieve the aspirations they have for the future.

Yes, we were part of that journey. We have had a divergence of our ways. For whoever forms government after the next election, in the life of parliaments, in the life of Victorian history, the next election is only a blink away, and who knows what may happen with that particular election. I would urge those in the First Peoples’ Assembly and in this whole process to make sure they continue to engage – in this case with Mel Bath at the moment as the shadow and more generally with the local members of Parliament for the various parts of the whole state. It is a collective view that happens – it is not just a shadow minister – so I look forward to you doing that.

I remember Uncle Wally from Wangaratta when he was alive. He had a great welcome to country where he said, ‘Come, take my hand and let’s walk across this country together.’ I would hope that after today, tomorrow or whenever this debate is going to be finished – in a couple of weeks’ time after the bill has been debated in the upper house and, as has been said, will be passed – everyone can again come together, hold hands and walk across the land together to make it better for your people, because I know that is what you aspire to. Do not underestimate the challenge of what it is going to be to do that. But it is just disappointing from my personal point of view that there was a divergence in the discussions and we could not actually work together more on achieving it. I do not think we had a difference in what we wanted to achieve. We had a difference in the way were going to get there. As I have said, unfortunately, eventually politics becomes partisan and that is what has happened. But the government of the day is not always the government of the day, so there is always another day when you need to be sure that you have got your bets covered. I wish the First Peoples’ Assembly well in actually achieving what they want to achieve for the people on the ground. We are all here. It is not actually about us. It is not actually about the First Peoples that are here today. It is about the people in our towns and our communities and what you are going to do to make sure their life is better but, more importantly, their kids’ life is even better again into the future.

 Sonya KILKENNY (Carrum – Attorney-General, Minister for Planning) (17:37): I begin by acknowledging that we here meet on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders, past and present, and I extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Respect is recognising that we share this land with Australia’s First Peoples. Respect is recognising that we stand on country that holds the stories, songlines, lore, law and spirit of the world’s oldest continuing culture. The world’s oldest continuing culture: how absolutely extraordinary is that? Respect is recognising First Peoples’ deep spiritual, social, cultural and economic relationships with their traditional lands and waters. Respect is recognising First Peoples’ unique and irreplaceable contribution to the identity and wellbeing of Victoria. Respect too is recognising that historic wrongs and the ongoing injustice of colonisation have resulted in discrimination, disadvantage and intergenerational trauma for First Peoples in Victoria, and respect demands that every single one of us in this place should support this treaty bill. So I rise today in support of the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025, a historic and deeply significant moment for Victoria and for all Australians. This is more than legislation; it is a step towards justice, recognition and reconciliation.

To all the members of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, in particular its co-chairs Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg, and to all Aboriginal Victorians who have fought tirelessly for recognition, justice and treaty, many of whom are no longer with us, I say thank you. We do all stand on your shoulders, and it is because of your bravery, your courage and your resolve that we are able to take this step today. Your advocacy and determination have paved the way for this historic moment.

May I also acknowledge the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples the Honourable Natalie Hutchins and the Premier of Victoria the Honourable Jacinta Allan. Their leadership and compassion have been instrumental in advancing this historic initiative.

The bill, as we know, creates a new governance body for First Peoples in Victoria, Gellung Warl. It includes a representative assembly, a permanent truth-telling body and an accountability commission. The terms of the treaty require government to consult this new body on legislation directed at Aboriginal people and to provide direct oversight of the government’s performance on closing the gap, including the right to question ministers and conduct inquiries. It also empowers First Peoples representatives to make decisions on matters such as guidelines for sharing water rights, confirming Aboriginal identity, sanctioning the use of traditional names and Aboriginal appointments to government-funded boards. This is real power, real accountability and real recognition, not just words.

I have had the privilege of working with the Kimberley Land Council in Broome, and I carry with me the lessons I learned there – lessons about resilience, culture and the deep connection between people and country. I witnessed firsthand the importance of having a voice in decisions that affect communities and families and how empowering that voice can transform lives, strengthen culture and deliver justice. Those experiences have shaped my belief that legislation like that before the house today is not symbolic, it is transformative, and it is so absolutely necessary.

Treaties are not new. In Canada modern treaties with First Nations communities have provided certainty, recognition and practical benefits while maintaining fairness for all citizens. In New Zealand the Treaty of Waitangi has laid a foundation for reconciliation, cultural recognition and shared governance. These examples show that recognising First Peoples’ rights does not harm or disadvantage others – it strengthens social cohesion, builds stronger economies and creates fairer societies for everyone. Victoria now has the chance to lead the nation. This bill sets a precedent for meaningful engagement, showing that governments can move beyond words and take concrete action where First Peoples can design and deliver what is needed and what works for them and their communities. This is the treaty era – the beginning of a new relationship between First Peoples and the state.

This is also a moment of hope for future generations. Our kids will grow up in a state that acknowledges its history, respects its First Peoples and works toward shared prosperity. That vision of a fairer, more inclusive Victoria – that is what this bill and that is what this treaty will help deliver. Supporting this treaty bill is about more than legal recognition; it is about affirming our values as a Parliament, as a state and as a society. It is about committing to a future where First Peoples are not only acknowledged but genuinely empowered, where their voices shape the decisions that affect their families and their futures.

A treaty does not divide us, it strengthens us. By creating clear, negotiated frameworks treaty brings greater legal certainty and legitimacy to the way our institutions engage with First Peoples, and treaty is an embodiment of the rule of law that enduring disputes should be resolved not through conflict or denial but through dialogue and agreement.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Mercurio): I am sorry, Minister. Member for Murray Plains and member for Sandringham, I am finding you quite distracting. Thank you.

Sonya KILKENNY: In this sense, treaty is not only about the past; it is about the future governance of our state built on respect, partnership and mutual recognition. I urge all members in this place to vote in support of treaty. Together, let us make history for every Victorian. Let us build a state grounded in respect, fairness and shared purpose – a Victoria that belongs to all of us. I commend the treaty bill to this Parliament.

 Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (17:44): The first political speech I can recall being captivated by was delivered by Paul Keating in Redfern in 1992. I was 14 years old. For a speech that is 33 years old it still holds contemporary truth, a truth that is as uncomfortable as it is profound. In that speech Keating spoke of the importance of recognition. He said:

Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing.

We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.

We brought the diseases. The alcohol.

We committed the murders.

We took the children from their mothers.

We practised discrimination and exclusion.

It was our ignorance and our prejudice.

And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.

With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds.

We failed to ask – how would I feel if this were done to me?

As a consequence, we failed to see that what we were doing degraded all of us.

Today the assembly co-chair Rueben Berg said:

We do this not to divide Victoria, but to complete it; not to take anything from anyone, but to make this place more whole for everyone.

What extraordinarily generous words, given the horrors that Keating so memorably captured. The 33-year journey between those two speeches has been perhaps met more with disappointment and failure than it has with joy and success. But whether it was the national apology, establishing the inquiry that resulted in the Bringing Them Home report or the introduction of the Closing the Gap standards, it has been Labor who has done the heavy lifting on our fraught national journey to reconciliation. It was Labor too that had the courage to put the Voice to a referendum and Labor that now makes history by bringing the Victorian treaty to life. For all of this Labor will always have my admiration as agents of change when addressing the profound wrongs contained within Victoria and Australia’s history with First Nations people. I was proud to support this process when I was part of the Labor government, and I am just as proud to stand in support of it today. To the Labor government, despite our many disagreements, I want to say thank you for having the courage to see this through. To all the amazing people sitting in this gallery who have looked beyond significant personal trauma, dispossession and prejudice to gift Victorians this treaty, I say thank you. You are heroes.

For decades governments of all persuasions have committed to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, yet despite billions of dollars spent and countless programs trialled we have failed to achieve the outcomes that Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, expect and deserve. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people still die around eight years earlier than other Australians. The unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians remains more than double the national average. In Victoria Aboriginal children are 12 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Aboriginal children – 12 times – and across the country Indigenous people make up only 3.8 per cent of the population yet account for over 30 per cent of the prison population. These are not just numbers. They represent lives cut short, communities in distress and opportunities lost. They are also a reflection of how our current systems and service delivery models have consistently failed.

That is why treaty matters not just as a symbolic gesture but as a practical reform to improve outcomes. Treaty is about making services more effective, more accountable and better tailored to the local communities they serve. It is about shifting from a top-down one-size-fits-all model that has demonstrably not worked to one where Aboriginal communities have a real say in how services are designed and in how they are delivered. This is not about ideology, it is about empowerment, accountability and results. For decades taxpayers have funded programs that have not delivered, and treaty offers us the chance to build partnerships that ensure money spent actually translates into improved health, education and employment outcomes. It is also about responsibility. Treaty recognises that Aboriginal Victorians should have a seat at the table when decisions are made that affect them. That is a much, much better governance model than anything else we have got going on right now, and that is how we ensure accountability, how we improve trust in the system and how we drive better value for money.

I have heard some pretty extraordinary things said about this process by members to my right and others in the community today. If you are prepared to set the mental health impacts to one side, I encourage people to perhaps look at some of the comments in august in publications like the Australian to see just how nasty some of the rhetoric can be around some of these issues.

But what I would say to those in opposition is if you do not like this approach, you had better have a better idea. The state election is just 13 months away. If you do not want this plan, then show us yours in detail, because these problems are way too important to simply be deferred as, ‘If we’re in government, we’ll kind of get around to it, maybe.’ The injustice has been going way too long. The trauma, the lived experience of First Nations people in our state, has been excruciating for so many of those communities, and you simply cannot stand by any longer, not when there is a real option on the table – this treaty – a real option built by the very people who represent those communities that in so many cases are doing it so tough.

We talk about human-centred policy design in so much of the work that this government does and Parliament does and parliaments across the nation do – human-centred policy design in mental health, where we landed an entire royal commission, and much of the emphasis was on lived experience and having people with lived experience working in mental health. We have done it in family violence. We have done it in health services. I think we now accept that the best person to design a new emergency department is not the CEO or the chief finance officer of a health service, it is the triage nurse and the patient and the orderly. They are the people who understand what is going on at the front door. Why on earth would you not have a crack at that sort of model when it comes to some of the most disadvantaged communities in Victoria, communities that have experienced incredible hardships and prejudices and, sadly, even hatred?

Ultimately history is going to look very, very, very unkindly on those who were not even prepared to try, were not even prepared to listen, were not even prepared to have a go at doing something differently even if it was just this once. Just have a go – have some bravery and some courage and have a go at doing it a bit differently, because we know if we continue to do the same thing, we are just going to get the same results. This is too important an area, too important a cohort. The injustices and the prejudice have been so profound that we ought be doing every single thing we can as a community, as a Parliament, and I thank the government for the work that they are doing in this. We should be doing every single thing we can to put it right with First Nations communities in our state, because it is just so important.

I have to say, I am not sure that Bob Menzies would recognise what is going on with this lot at the minute. I mean, this was the guy who put Indigenous Australians into the census. This was the guy who gave First Nations people recognition, gave them the right to vote. I am just not sure he would recognise this right-wing bunch of reactionaries over here. To stand in the way of this sensible and meaningful and just progress is to ultimately look in the face of these communities and say, ‘We know better’, and that takes unbelievable arrogance. It takes, frankly, a degree of moral culpability to say, ‘Everything that’s gone on with all these guys, everything that has happened in these communities, we can fix. We’ve got the answers. You don’t know, we know. We’ve got it all sorted.’ What a load of absolute trash. What a golden opportunity. Thank you to the generosity of these communities for saying, ‘Despite everything that has been inflicted upon us, we are going to give the gift of treaty to Victorians. We are going to be generous and magnanimous and forward looking in the way in which we engage with this issue.’ Good on them, and shame on the coalition.

This bill is not the end of the journey; it is the start of a more constructive, practical and outcomes-focused approach to closing the gap. For too long we have measured effort, not outcomes. Treaty is about delivering real change where it matters – healthier children, safer communities and stronger local economies – and that is why I proudly support this bill and why I support government having the courage to try a new approach. Because ultimately it is not about the politics of left or right, it is simply about respect and doing what works.

 Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Minister for Health Infrastructure) (17:54): I too, like many of my colleagues, would like to start by acknowledging the land on which we are gathered and pay my wholehearted respects to elders past, present and emerging, and particularly elders that are with us today. May we walk together in respect, reconciliation and understanding. I really want to be able to pay my respects to people from the First Peoples’ Assembly, the members and co-chairs and all the past members and co-chairs and their elders who have done so much work to get us to where we are today. I would also like to acknowledge my friend who was just at the table, the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, the former ministers for treaty Gab Williams and Gavin Jennings, the Parliamentary Secretary for First Peoples Christine Couzens, of course the wonderful Sheena Watt and the Premier, who has led us on this journey.

I thought today I would talk a little bit differently, about more than the bill, to be able to tell some stories about why the people in Williamstown want to be on that journey, because there have been many hurtful words from those on the other side. I want to be able to say to people of the First Peoples’ Assembly and First Nations people: you have people in the electorate of Williamstown that walk beside you and walk in friendship and hope that this treaty bill will bring lasting change.

Whilst we have heard those contributions, I want to give you some practical examples and tell you some stories about the voyage of truth-telling that we have been going on for quite a while. Williamstown is Boonwurrung country. It is where the First Peoples of the Yalukit Willam clan of the Boonwurrung people lived, governed and looked after the land. Koort Boork Boork was once the name of Williamstown, and on the foreshores of Hobsons Bay, near what we now call Nelson Place, was a she-oak tree or a mighty casuarina, and that was known as the message tree. It was a meeting place, a place of ceremony and counsel for the Yalukit Willam. It held strong social and ceremonial connection and continues to hold that sentiment after thousands of years. Early colonialists used the tree as a community meeting place and information exchange, particularly prior to Williamstown’s first local newspaper. The British and the Boonwurrung both gathered under the message tree during the first 15 years of colonial Williamstown. The message tree issue was the first ever heritage campaign in Williamstown council’s history, and 50 residents fought against council’s decision to remove the tree. In 1856 the ‘save the tree’ campaigners who valued the message tree as the ancient meeting place for the Boonwurrung people fought because they recognised it was a significant historical record. In 1857, unfortunately though, the message tree was removed, but its memory was never removed. Over the last decade we have gone down that voyage of trying to resurrect those stories and to actually document them. As a result of the important work that was done through a grant by Hobsons Bay City Council, I would like to read a couple of the stories that were found and that were actually recorded and get them documented in Hansard. Firstly:

You are standing at a significant site for the Yalukit Willam Clan of the Boonwurrung language group, the First Peoples of Hobson’s Bay.

An old She-oak Tree stood here long before British colonisation and was removed in 1857. Around this tree early colonists saw the Yalukit Willam, led by N’Arweet Boollutt (also called “King Benbow”), as they conducted ceremonies and counsels here. This makes this a special place for Boonwurrung people still today.

She-oak are sacred trees to the Boonwurrung. They are associated with the power of Boonwurrung men and it is remembered that when early colonists cut down She-oak Trees Boonwurrung men would feel unhealthy.

The ancient name for this area is Koort Boork Boork, meaning ‘clumps of many she-oaks’. A name indicating the importance of She-oak Trees to Boonwurrung here.

In 1837 this place was re-named William’s Town by British colonist to honour their King. British invasion of the Boonwurrung Estate was a catastrophic event that caused the rapid decline of Boonwurrung people. West of the Maribyrnong River Boonwurrung women farmed a small sweet potato called Murnong on the grassy basalt plains, a very important staple food. Colonists landed thousands of sheep only metres from here and herded them west onto the Boonwurrung’s Murnong fields. The sheep soon ate the Murnong crop and quickly sent the Boonwurrung toward starvation, malnutrition and disease.

Stealthily spearing British sheep or taking rice, flour or oats from colonists to replace disappearing Murnong wild game, inevitably led to violent conflicts and the death of Boonwurrung people across their Estates.

Clashes with other First Peoples, facing similar pressures from colonisation, also led to Boonwurrung deaths. Nearly all our First Peoples died under British rule. Here only one resilient family survived to represent the Boonwurrung language group, share the history and continue cultural practices today.

So I wanted to document that in Hansard.

The second thing I wanted to document too, is recently a Championing Change Through Allyship event was held. Welcomed by Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir, more than 125 people gathered to support treaty. I want to recognise Professor Peter Radoll’s contribution. His reflection was:

I want you to imagine standing here in Williamstown – not today, but 200 years ago. No cars. No bitumen roads. No sound of espresso machines in the background. Just open sky… the smell of saltwater drifting in from the bay… and the wind moving gently through the long needles of a single she-oak tree.

That tree, known as the Message Tree, stood on the corner of Thompson Street and Nelson Place. To some, it was just part of the landscape. But to others, it was the centre of their world.

…

Then came the ships.

And with them, the settlers. They didn’t know the old stories of this land, but they too came to see the tree as a gathering place.

…

In its branches and shade, two very different worlds overlapped.

[NAMES AWAITING VERIFICATION]

These are the stories that have been found and have been documented, this is truth-telling so intrinsically part of the treaty process, and this legislation gives me hope that these very worlds can coexist, and we can walk together and close the gap because this site signifies so much to our community, and there are many people who should be recognised, and please forgive me for not mentioning them all. We had Senior Sergeant Chris Allen and his team at Victoria Police Williamstown; there was Jenny Mitchell; there was Rosa McKenna; there was Yalukit Marnang director and Yalukit Weelam clanswoman Caroline Martin; project facilitator Greg Thorpe; local historian Brian Haynes; Pam Kadow from Williamstown Library; Peter Dewar, freelance journalist; former mayor and councillor Jonathon Marsden; Mark Brophy, the CEO of the Williamstown Community and Education Centre; and Anthony Hockey, principal of St Mary’s primary school. And today in the gallery, as we spoke about the treaty bill, we had three allies from my local ALP branch in Williamstown: Dave McKenna and Ian and Therese Wren.

What I would like to say briefly is what we have seen from the other side is nothing but the most appalling form of paternalism. For those on the other side who came and stood in the smoking and the welcome ceremony this morning to then get up and speak those hateful words is nothing short of a disgrace. A proud Gamilaroi man that I know, and I grew up on Gamilaroi country, speaks of the welcome to country as a template. He does this great skit where he takes your phone – he has taken my phone twice – just to be able to demonstrate that, basically, if you just say the words and you do not have the meaning, well, it means nothing, and that is what we saw today; we saw tokenism and we saw nothing but shallow words.

It is important that we do this today. One thing I would like to put on the record too, is my dad was the federal member for Parliament in Paterson when Paul Keating introduced the Mabo bill, and I stand here proudly today to be able to introduce this treaty bill and to be able to be part of a government that will see a new chapter and a new opportunity for First Nations people, for us to close the gap, so thank you.

 Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (18:04): I also rise to address the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025. At the very outset I wish to convey the framework through which I intend to address this bill. I want to address this bill today in this place, the Victorian Parliament, the people’s house, with a tone and with an air and with a purpose of respect. Our First Nations people deserve nothing less. Our First Nations people in Victoria and around this country deserve nothing less. I do not believe that every contributor to this debate has engaged in such a way. I have been sitting here at the table now for over an hour, and I have been concerned by some of the categorisations of and the aspersions cast upon me and my colleagues by members of the government. I think some of those assertions are unfair. I think every member of this place puts their hand up to be a representative of their community because fundamentally they want to make their community a better place. I think fundamentally that is at the heart and the shared value, if you like, of every member of Parliament. That is who we are and that is what we do at our very best. I admit that members of Parliament do not always perform at their very best, but I also think that the vocation of public service calls us to reflect deeply upon our obligation to make our communities and our state a better place.

I think there is broad agreement in this Parliament that the circumstance of First Nations people in Victoria and perhaps more broadly around our country is frankly disgraceful. I think there is broad agreement that the status quo, the business-as-usual approach, is unacceptable. And I deeply believe that whatever has happened in the past has not worked and something needs to change. The Minister for Energy and Resources, in her contribution, invited members of the opposition to reflect on the position that we have come to, insinuating perhaps that some of us at some point in the future may feel some form of shame for the position we have taken. She invited members of the opposition to reflect upon the impression that our children may have of us when they read the Hansard transcripts of this debate in years to come. Well, I look at my beautiful children, I look at my five-year-old and I look at my eight-year-old, and I hope they get to see a father who has contributed to this debate with some respect and regard, with some depth, and I hope they get to see a dad who, as part of their work as a local member of Parliament, contacts our local kinders and says to them during particular weeks of the year, ‘Would you like me to visit? Would you like me to give you not just an Australian flag, not just a Victorian flag, but an Aboriginal and a Torres Strait Islander flag?’ I sit on the floor of these kindergartens and I, with some hesitation but with some pride, talk to the children about the colours and the symbols and what they mean and do my part as a community representative to pass on from one generation to the next the truth of our history and the truth of our story as a country, some of which we should be very proud of and other parts which cause us great shame and we should be deeply concerned about and learn from. But again, I think fundamentally every person in this place wants to do good, and I think that is at the heart of the vocation of public service.

Some of those closing the gap targets, which have been referenced earlier in debate, are frankly disgraceful. In 2023–24 Aboriginal children were placed in out-of-home care at a rate 20 times that of non-Aboriginal children. The suicide rate amongst Aboriginal people was 30 per 100,000 in 2023. An eight-year gap persists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal life expectancy. The Aboriginal employment rate sits at 55 per cent, well below the 78 per cent rate for non-Aboriginal Victorians. Just 58 per cent of Aboriginal youth aged 15 to 24 were considered fully engaged in employment, education or training. Only 68 per cent of Aboriginal students completed year 12, compared to 85 per cent of non-Aboriginal students. There is over-representation in the justice system: the adult incarceration rate for Aboriginal people was 2304 per 100,000 in 2024. Aboriginal adults are incarcerated at 14 times the rate of non-Indigenous adults. It is a disgrace. The business-as-usual approach is completely and utterly unacceptable, and something must change.

Members interjecting.

Brad ROWSWELL: I have been sitting here for an hour, and I have not uttered a word of interjection against any government member who has contributed.

I will say this: we do need a new approach. I take from the member for Murray Plains’s contribution and I echo his sentiments at this point: we agree that there is a problem, but because we disagree on what the solution looks like to the problem that we all agree on does not make this side of politics any less interested or any less concerned than any other member of this place. It is okay in Victoria and in this country to identify a problem, articulate what that is and have a differing point of view on what the vehicle for the solution should be. What we are proposing is something different to what the government is proposing. The member for Murray Plains, a former shadow minister for Indigenous affairs and Leader of the Nationals, spoke about and deeply understands perhaps more than a lot of members in this place the work that needs to be done.

Earlier today the Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition Mr Battin announced that under a government that we lead we will establish First Nations Victoria, a standalone department, to add transparency and accountability and deliver measurable progress as we work to achieve closing the gap targets. This dedicated department will work alongside Indigenous Victorians to implement a community-led, coordinated and transparent approach to policy funding and service delivery. One minister – not multiple but one – will be ultimately responsible for First Nations Victorians, providing true accountability to ensure funding and services reach the people who need them.

I reflect in the time that I have remaining on the lived experience of some of my colleagues. The member for Mildura, a good friend and colleague, has raised with me the circumstances of the Mallee District Aboriginal Services, who for some time have been requesting a dedicated dental service. I ask myself: does the bill before the house deliver that community this dental service? It does not. The member for Eildon has been asking for a dedicated paediatrician to treat First Nations children in her community. Does this legislation before us deliver that? It does not. Again, we agree with the problems, we just have a different vehicle and pathway for the solutions, and that should also be respected.

[The Legislative Assembly report is being published progressively.]