Dja Dja Wurrung traditional owners start treaty with state government

Australia Broadcast Center

5 days ago

In a state first, a central Victorian Aboriginal company has begun its "first step" towards a local treaty.
Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) has notified the Treaty Authority, the independent Victorian body overseeing negotiations, that it will start the process of negotiating its own treaty with the Victorian government.
Key focuses for negotiations include having an increased say in legislation, becoming an authority in land management and creating more economic opportunities from existing DJAARA enterprises.
Detail of those plans is not yet clear as DJAARA said it would first need to consult its people.
DJAARA chief executive Rodney Carter said a local treaty would improve the lives of First Nations' people in the region by shifting the "power and authority" of decision making.
"What treaty does is, I think, it becomes that first step in trying to redress this form of exclusion of a people," he said.
DJAARA's ancestral land covers Greater Bendigo, Castlemaine and Daylesford.
Much of the region forms part of Premier Jacinta Allan's electorate of Bendigo East.
Ms Allan has supported the treaty process.
Mr Carter said the organisation owned a large commercial yabby farm near Echuca, offered guided cultural and language tours for schools and community groups and managed native and invasive animals through land management.
Mr Carter hoped a treaty would put DJAARA in a "more authoritative and influential position" to continue its work.
Under state government legislation, Aboriginal Victorians can negotiate statewide or local treaties.
A treaty process is underway at a statewide level.
Last November, the Victorian government began formal negotiations with the First Peoples' Assembly to better protect Aboriginal culture and language, and give Indigenous communities a bigger say in policies that impacted them.
Key demands identified by the First Peoples' Assembly for a statewide treaty were more Aboriginal culture and language in Victorian life and more self-determination around how government funding was spent on First Nations' affairs.
They included the idea of a public holiday to celebrate First Nations' heritage.
In January 2024, the Victorian Opposition withdrew its support for a state-based treaty, saying traditional owner groups had a monopoly over state government decision-making.
Mr Carter said a local treaty would give their organisation an "almost sovereign" right to their local ancestral land.
"A group, within its capability, can define what it feels needs to be done in redress."
The Victorian Treaty Authority said the Dja Dja Wurrung group was the first to formally progress treaty plans onto a treaty negotiation database.
Treaty Authority member and Gunditjmara woman, Thelma Austin, said it was an important step for self-determination in Victoria.
"Today we acknowledge the culmination of those efforts for Dja Dja Wurrung," she said.
Victorian Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Natalie Hutchins, welcomed the "historic" decision from the Dja Dja Wurrung people to begin local treaty negotiations.
"I welcome the addition of the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation into the Treaty Negotiations database," she said.
"Treaty is about making a better and fairer state for every Victorian.
"If you listen to the people directly affected by policies, you get better outcomes — that's commonsense — and traditional owner groups are experts in their communities, languages, cultures and caring for country."