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ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Dja Dja Wurrung traditional owners start treaty with state government
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."
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Traditional owner group seeks to negotiate local treaty with Victorian government in state first
The Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) has become the first traditional owner group to seek to negotiate a local treaty with the Victorian government. The corporation, which represents the Dja Dja Wurrung people, has become the first traditional owner group to be formally entered into a register run by the Treaty Authority – the independent umpire that will oversee negotiations. It is the first step to prepare for a traditional owner treaty negotiation. The authority will work with the traditional owner group before the state is invited to negotiate, and the corporation will form a delegation to represent the group during treaty talks. DJAARA's move comes as Victoria continues to work towards establishing what would be Australia's first statewide treaty with First Nations people. DJAARA chief executive, Rodney Carter, said the group wanted more independence and authority to manage land on its country in central Victoria, which takes in Bendigo. 'It's really exciting,' he said of the group's progress towards a local treaty with the state. Carter, a Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta man, said traditional owner groups often faced planning regime barriers regarding land management. 'If we're self-regulated and we've got these exceptional standards and we adhere to those, that would be really empowering and about self-determination that we make decisions for ourselves. 'We can be held to account in what we do.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Carter said the traditional owner group could also bring 'constructive solutions' to other areas. He said other priorities for treaty negotiations included discussing how 'ongoing integration of western science and traditional knowledge' could be used in an education setting. Jidah Clark, a Djab Wurrung man and Treaty Authority chair, said a 'diversity of views, lessons and experiences' from communities across the state had laid strong foundations for treaty-making. 'Treaties will recast the relationship between First Peoples and the state, bringing us closer together. This is an important marker on the path towards unity,' he said. Victoria's minister for treaty and First Peoples, Natalie Hutchins, said traditional owner groups were 'experts in their communities, languages, cultures and caring for Country.' 'Treaty is about making a better and fairer state for every Victorian,' she said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The First Peoples' Assembly – Victoria's democratically elected Indigenous body – last November began nation-first treaty talks with the Allan government. A statewide treaty – the first of its kind in Australia – will tackle problems affecting First Nations Victorians. In January the assembly and government announced the assembly's role evolving to become an ongoing First Peoples' representative body, was being considered as part of statewide treaty negotiations. When the statewide treaty negotiations began last year, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said outcomes would need to be passed in the state parliament. Traditional owner treaties allow Indigenous groups to enter into separate agreements about issues and priorities for their communities and region. Rueben Berg, a Gunditjmara man and assembly co-chair, said local treaties would enable traditional owner groups to use their local expertise to deliver solutions for their community. Victoria's opposition withdrew support for the treaty process in January 2024, citing concerns about culture heritage laws, after the defeat of the federal voice to parliament.
