Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (19:02): (2100) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, and the action I seek is that the minister categorically reject many of the controversial recommendations of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. Throughout the debate on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 the Allan Labor government tried to walk a political tightrope. On one hand the Premier described the bill as historic and landmark legislation, declaring it gives Aboriginal communities the power to shape the policies and services that affect their lives. Yet when Minister Blandthorn was questioned in this place by Mrs McArthur, Mr McCracken, Ms Bath and me, seven times she used the words ‘non-binding’ and four times she said Gellung Warl has ‘no coercive powers’. Which is it?

At best treaty will be nothing more than a costly bureaucratic redirection of billions of dollars and will waste our taxpayers money. At worst it will become a political weapon for implementing the most radical elements of the Yoorrook agenda, which will benefit a few but not even reflect the wider concerns of many Aboriginal Victorians and Australians. Sadly, I suspect it will be a bit of both, failing to close the gap while expanding the reach of government and emboldening the fringe activists driving this polarising, community-dividing experiment.

In my speech on the bill I warned this Parliament that this modern treaty will usher in a slippery slope, or at least it has the potential to do so. It gives Gellung Warl the keys to unlock a suite of sweeping reforms based on the 146 recommendations of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. I took the liberty of reviewing some of these recommendations, and they should alarm every Victorian. On public land and property taxes, it says it will theorise on portions of land, water and natural resource revenue, exempt traditional owners from certain taxes like water revenue, direct a share of our public land sale proceeds to government-selected traditional owners and grant legal personhood to natural resources. On policing and the criminal justice system, it wants to transfer core criminal justice levers and oversight powers to First Peoples, and it wants to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 for Aboriginal youths with no exceptions. It also wants to prohibit the detention of Aboriginal children under 16, so it will look like they are closing the gap, but in actual fact they will just not be allowing these young people to have sentences. It wants to establish a police oversight body led by someone who has never served as a police officer and outlaw strip searches in prisons and youth facilities for Aboriginal people only.

On child protection it wants to create a parallel First Peoples-run child protection system, and on redress the restitution of traditional lands, waters and natural resource ownership rights, it also wants to do monetary compensation, tax relief and other financial and material benefits – and the list goes on and on and on.