Thursday, 3 August 2023

First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (10:04): It was a profound honour to be in this place last week for the inaugural sitting of the second term of the First Peoples’ Assembly. To come to this place, smelling of eucalyptus and in fact remodelled to represent the identity, the culture and the importance of presence of the oldest continuous culture on earth, was deeply moving. To hear from newly elected chairs Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg and to sit opposite the newly elected members of the assembly as they work in their next four-year term towards treaty was a moment which brought together the shared importance of objectives that are geared towards self-determination. To hear and to listen, and then to hear the Premier respond in recognising that where progress has been made there is still so much to do, gave so many Victorians and indeed Australians a sense of the importance of the issues being raised and a sense of the momentum that has begun and will continue. I congratulate all members of the First Peoples’ Assembly, and we look forward to continuing to listen and to act.