Latest news with #FirstPeoples'
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Victorian government announces plan to establish Treaty with Indigenous Australians and expand powers of state Voice
The Victorian government has released a joint statement with the states First Nations assembly revealing its plan to draw up a Treaty with Indigenous Australians and to further make the state's Voice to Parliament a permanent institution. The Victorian government's Yoorrook Justice truth telling inquiry handed down its final report on Tuesday after four years of proceedings and claimed the state had been illegally occupied. The commission also made 100 wide-ranging recommendations to the Victorian government including providing Indigenous Australians with tax relief, financial reparations and called on the state to finalise a Treaty agreement. Yoorrook Justice Commission chairperson Professor Eleanor Bourke said the inquiries third and final report 'sets out some recommendations to be advanced through the treaty process and others through urgent actions and reforms that should begin now.' The Treaty, which was previously in negotiation stages will now progress to parliament, with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and the state's First People's Assembly confirming on Friday that legislation to pass the agreement would be tabled after the winter break. The statement declared that a draft Treaty had been settled behind closed doors after a lengthy consultation phase. It also revealed that the state's First Peoples' Assembly would be made permanent. The announcement comes after the state government announced earlier in the week that it would enshrine the Assembly in law as a statutory corporation, a move that was blasted by the Opposition. The statement said the reinforced body would give 'decision-making powers to make sure First Peoples' communities can design and deliver practical solutions for their communities'. 'The proposed body will sit within our existing parliamentary and democratic structures. It will not have veto power on policy or legislation — a power that does not exist under Victoria's parliamentary system. However, the state government has not disclosed how much it would cost to pass the Treaty, nor make the changes to the state Voice. The document also made mention of numerous issues being debated behind the scenes which will be lumped within the Treaty legislation including granting First Peoples' seats on government commissions and boards and commissioning a new Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program. The bill will further stipulate for truth-telling, healing and reconciliation events to be held across Victoria and for members of the Assembly to now have the capacity to ask ministers questions as they see fit. Under the policy the Assembly will be able to ask ministers and departments to consult and involve the body before making laws pertaining to Indigenous peoples. The statement said a considerable number of the Yoorrook Commission's recommendations would feature in the legislation. These encompassed land grants in addition to providing Indigenous groups with cash generated from state resources. Indigenous leader Warren Mundine, who was a driving force behind the No to the Voice to Parliament campaign, said the Yoorrook commissions findings were a 'slippery slope' and that Victoria's First Nation's Assembly did not represent the views of all Indigenous Australians. 'Aboriginal people are not supportive of this idea and so this idea that there's some sort of consensus out there is just rubbish,' Mr Mundine told 'We saw that in the vote for the first people's assembly that only 7 per cent of eligible aboriginals actually voted for it, so 93 per cent didn't see it as a true representative of themselves and didn't give a toss about it.' Mr Mundine also said the developments in Victoria went against the views of the Australian people, with over 60 per cent of the country resoundingly voting down the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023. 'The Australian people have already spoken, you know over 60 per cent of Australians rejected the idea of the Voice to Parliament.' Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to rule out paying compensation to First Nations people.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Aqua nullius was a myth too': Yoorrook puts claim on share of water billions
The management of water resources would be reshaped to enshrine Victorian traditional owners as rights holders, entitled to income and powers over use, under a proposal from the state's truth-telling inquiry. The Yoorrook Justice Commission published its final reports on Tuesday, proposing a rethink of the state's multibillion-dollar water system and arguing First Peoples are too far removed from a resource that is fundamental to their culture. While Indigenous land rights have loomed in the public consciousness since the 1992 Mabo decision, water is described by Yoorrook as the lifeblood of Country. 'That sovereignty was never ceded means that 'all water is Aboriginal water' and the Crown should not have 'sole authority' in managing water,' the commission wrote. 'Yoorrook calls for First Peoples' fundamental and inherent rights to water to be recognised.' The commission found that minimal water ownership had been returned to First Peoples, and where the state had promised to do so, the volumes transferred had been negligible and not provided fast enough. Loading It was found Victoria had not shared with traditional owners any of the $83 billion in water-related revenue that the state reaped between 2010 and 2023, across its corporations and entities. 'Although the state has set up ad hoc arrangements to fund First Peoples water programs, the state does not share the substantial wealth that it has obtained from the market-based water system,' the commission found. 'Traditional owners continue to be locked out of the economic benefits of Victoria's water allocation framework.'
The Star
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Australian inquiry finds Indigenous people faced genocide
SYDNEY: European settlers committed genocide against Australia's Indigenous people, a truth-telling inquiry in the state of Victoria has found, calling for government redress including financial compensation. In a final report, Victoria's four-year royal commission said Indigenous people suffered massacres, the forced removal of children from their families, and the suppression of their culture. The findings - presented to parliament on Tuesday (July 1) - said mass killings, disease, sexual violence, child removal and assimilation had led to the "near-complete destruction" of Indigenous people in the state. "This was genocide," it said. Among 100 recommendations, the Yoorrook Justice Commission sought redress for damage and loss, citing "genocide, crimes against humanity and denial of freedoms". It urged monetary compensation and the restitution of traditional lands, waters and natural resources. The arrival of 11 British ships to set up a penal colony in Sydney Cove in 1788 heralded the long oppression of Indigenous peoples, whose ancestors have lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years. Making up less than four per cent of the current population, Indigenous peoples still have lives about eight years shorter than other Australians, poorer education and are far more likely to be imprisoned or die in police custody. "Current economic disparities and barriers to First Peoples' prosperity are direct legacies of colonial practices and state-sanctioned exclusion," the inquiry said. Victoria's state premier, Jacinta Allan, thanked the commission and said her government would "carefully consider" its recommendations. The findings "shine a light on hard truths and lay the foundations for a better future for all Victorians", she said in a statement. Australians soundly rejected an October 2023 referendum to give greater constitutional recognition to Indigenous Australians. - AFP
The Age
4 days ago
- Business
- The Age
‘Aqua nullius was a myth too': Yoorrook puts claim on share of water billions
The management of water resources would be reshaped to enshrine Victorian traditional owners as rights holders, entitled to income and powers over use, under a proposal from the state's truth-telling inquiry. The Yoorrook Justice Commission published its final reports on Tuesday, proposing a rethink of the state's multibillion-dollar water system and arguing First Peoples are too far removed from a resource that is fundamental to their culture. While Indigenous land rights have loomed in the public consciousness since the 1992 Mabo decision, water is described by Yoorrook as the lifeblood of Country. 'That sovereignty was never ceded means that 'all water is Aboriginal water' and the Crown should not have 'sole authority' in managing water,' the commission wrote. 'Yoorrook calls for First Peoples' fundamental and inherent rights to water to be recognised.' The commission found that minimal water ownership had been returned to First Peoples, and where the state had promised to do so, the volumes transferred had been negligible and not provided fast enough. Loading It was found Victoria had not shared with traditional owners any of the $83 billion in water-related revenue that the state reaped between 2010 and 2023, across its corporations and entities. 'Although the state has set up ad hoc arrangements to fund First Peoples water programs, the state does not share the substantial wealth that it has obtained from the market-based water system,' the commission found. 'Traditional owners continue to be locked out of the economic benefits of Victoria's water allocation framework.'
The Sun
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Victoria inquiry finds genocide against Australia's Indigenous peoples
SYDNEY: European settlers committed genocide against Australia's Indigenous people, a truth-telling inquiry in the state of Victoria has found, calling for government redress including financial compensation. In a final report, Victoria's four-year royal commission said Indigenous people suffered massacres, the forced removal of children from their families, and the suppression of their culture. The findings -- presented to parliament on Tuesday -- said mass killings, disease, sexual violence, child removal, and assimilation had led to the 'near-complete destruction' of Indigenous people in the state. 'This was genocide,' it said. Among 100 recommendations, the Yoorrook Justice Commission sought redress for damage and loss, citing 'genocide, crimes against humanity and denial of freedoms'. It urged monetary compensation and the restitution of traditional lands, waters and natural resources. The arrival of 11 British ships to set up a penal colony in Sydney Cove in 1788 heralded the long oppression of Indigenous peoples, whose ancestors have lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years. Making up less than four percent of the current population, Indigenous peoples still have lives about eight years shorter than other Australians, poorer education and are far more likely to be imprisoned or die in police custody. 'Current economic disparities and barriers to First Peoples' prosperity are direct legacies of colonial practices and state-sanctioned exclusion,' the inquiry said. Victoria's state premier, Jacinta Allan, thanked the commission and said her government would 'carefully consider' its recommendations. The findings 'shine a light on hard truths and lay the foundations for a better future for all Victorians', she said in a statement. Australians soundly rejected an October 2023 referendum to give greater constitutional recognition to Indigenous Australians.
