Latest news with #FirstPeoples'Assembly
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
New powers, greater role for peak Aboriginal body in Victoria
In this series, we examine the work of Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission, a public inquiry into the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Victorians. See all 53 stories. Victoria's peak Aboriginal body, the First Peoples' Assembly, would be given a direct line to ministers and the power to make appointments to government boards under legislation being developed through the state's treaty negotiations. The assembly would also be given oversight over programs and policies designed to close the gap in life expectancy and living standards between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Ministers and government departments would be required to consult with the assembly on any laws or policies 'specifically directed' to Indigenous Victorians, and the assembly would have the authority to question ministers and provide advice to them. The proposed reform, which would make the assembly a statutory corporation and bring it under the power of Victoria's public sector anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC, would satisfy one of the key recommendations within the Yoorrook Justice Commission's final reports tabled this week in parliament. The commission recommended the state government negotiate with First Peoples to establish a permanent, First Peoples' representative body 'with powers at all levels of political and policy decision making'. Loading The commission found that exclusion from processes of government was one of the historic and ongoing injustices inflicted upon Victoria's Indigenous people since colonisation. 'As shown in the evidence to Yoorrook, any inclusion of First Peoples in the State political life is limited, circumscribed and reliant on the continuation of political goodwill,' the commission noted. 'Numerous witnesses to Yoorrook submitted that the State continues to make government policy and laws for First Peoples, rather than with or by First Peoples. Government policy decision making continues to largely disregard the voices of First Peoples Elders, organisations and communities.'
The Age
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
New powers, greater role for peak Aboriginal body in Victoria
In this series, we examine the work of Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission, a public inquiry into the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Victorians. See all 53 stories. Victoria's peak Aboriginal body, the First Peoples' Assembly, would be given a direct line to ministers and the power to make appointments to government boards under legislation being developed through the state's treaty negotiations. The assembly would also be given oversight over programs and policies designed to close the gap in life expectancy and living standards between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Ministers and government departments would be required to consult with the assembly on any laws or policies 'specifically directed' to Indigenous Victorians, and the assembly would have the authority to question ministers and provide advice to them. The proposed reform, which would make the assembly a statutory corporation and bring it under the power of Victoria's public sector anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC, would satisfy one of the key recommendations within the Yoorrook Justice Commission's final reports tabled this week in parliament. The commission recommended the state government negotiate with First Peoples to establish a permanent, First Peoples' representative body 'with powers at all levels of political and policy decision making'. Loading The commission found that exclusion from processes of government was one of the historic and ongoing injustices inflicted upon Victoria's Indigenous people since colonisation. 'As shown in the evidence to Yoorrook, any inclusion of First Peoples in the State political life is limited, circumscribed and reliant on the continuation of political goodwill,' the commission noted. 'Numerous witnesses to Yoorrook submitted that the State continues to make government policy and laws for First Peoples, rather than with or by First Peoples. Government policy decision making continues to largely disregard the voices of First Peoples Elders, organisations and communities.'
India Gazette
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
British committed genocide against Aboriginal Australians inquiry
The indigenous population of the state of Victoria suffered near-complete physical destruction at the hands of colonists, a report has said British colonisers committed "genocide" against the Aboriginal people in the Australian state of Victoria after arriving in the area in the early 1830s, a commission investigating injustices against the indigenous population has said. The colonization of Victoria, Australia's second smallest state, located in the southeast of the country, took place between 1834 and 1851. During that period, its indigenous population suffered "near-complete physical destruction," falling from around 60,000 to 15,000, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Yoorrook Justice Commission. The crimes by the British in Victoria included "mass killings, disease, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide [the death of languages], cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation," it said. "This was genocide," the commission ruled after holding more than two months of public hearings and listening to accounts by over 1,300 Aboriginals. The report suggested some 100 recommendations in order to "redress" harm caused to the Aboriginals by "invasion and occupation," including paying reparations and granting Victoria's First Peoples' Assembly decision-making powers. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said in a statement that she welcomed the report and that her government would consider its findings. "Victoria's truth-telling process is a historic opportunity to hear the stories of our past that have been buried - these are stories that all Victorians need to hear," Allan stated. The head of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organization (VACCHO), Jill Gallagher, told ABC that "we do not blame anyone alive today for these atrocities," but stressed "it is the responsibility of those of us alive today to accept that truth." The Yoorrook Justice Commission was established in 2021, becoming the first of its kind in Australia. Similar formal "truth-telling" inquiries are currently taking place in other states. The Australian Museum said previously there were at least 270 massacres carried out by colonists against Aboriginal Australians between the late 18th and early 20th century "as part of a state-sanctioned and organized attempts to eradicate First Nations people." READ MORE: Brits fail to fix stranded F-35 stealth fighter in India media Due to those actions, the indigenous population in Australia declined from an estimated 1-1.5 million to less than 100,000 by the early 1900s, according to the museum. (
The Age
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
The final Yoorrook report delivers unapologetic truths
Victoria has been delivered a blunt message by its First Peoples: It's time to ante up. The final recommendations of the Yoorrook Justice Commission call for fundamental change across nearly every major area of public policy in this state. From how the water and land is managed, to the administration and governance of critical services in health, education, criminal justice and family violence and down to the number of houses built through existing government programs, the Yoorrook recommendations offer a radical blueprint for Aboriginal self-determination. They also make clear this can only be done at a significant cost to the state, with unquantified money needed to redress past and ongoing injustices and fund Aboriginal control over their own affairs into the future. The projected cost of redress includes economic loss and non-economic, cultural loss, plus interest owed on both. Given it is 174 years since Victoria was declared a colony, that will amount to quite a tidy sum. Loading To finance greater self-determination, including an expanded role for the First Peoples' Assembly currently negotiating a series of treaties with the Allan government, the commissioners recommend the establishment of a new fund, taken as a share of land, water and natural resource related revenues. How much might such a fund hold? Amid the bleak familiarity of statistics showing that Aboriginal people are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancer, three times as likely to die by suicide, 10 times more likely to access homeless services and far less likely to finish high school, another figure stands out.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The final Yoorrook report delivers unapologetic truths
Victoria has been delivered a blunt message by its First Peoples: It's time to ante up. The final recommendations of the Yoorrook Justice Commission call for fundamental change across nearly every major area of public policy in this state. From how the water and land is managed, to the administration and governance of critical services in health, education, criminal justice and family violence and down to the number of houses built through existing government programs, the Yoorrook recommendations offer a radical blueprint for Aboriginal self-determination. They also make clear this can only be done at a significant cost to the state, with unquantified money needed to redress past and ongoing injustices and fund Aboriginal control over their own affairs into the future. The projected cost of redress includes economic loss and non-economic, cultural loss, plus interest owed on both. Given it is 174 years since Victoria was declared a colony, that will amount to quite a tidy sum. Loading To finance greater self-determination, including an expanded role for the First Peoples' Assembly currently negotiating a series of treaties with the Allan government, the commissioners recommend the establishment of a new fund, taken as a share of land, water and natural resource related revenues. How much might such a fund hold? Amid the bleak familiarity of statistics showing that Aboriginal people are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancer, three times as likely to die by suicide, 10 times more likely to access homeless services and far less likely to finish high school, another figure stands out.
