Victorian Labor and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria introduced the Statewide Treaty bill 2025 on September 9. It has been widely welcomed by First Nations people, including for its setting out a practical mechanism for First Peoples to make decisions about their lives.
The bill states it aims to be the foundation for ongoing state-wide “Treaty-making between Gellung Warl [the new authority] and the State, including to negotiate further functions and powers of Gellung Warl over time”. It aims to advance the inherent rights and self determination of First Peoples; and “address the unacceptable disadvantage inflicted on First Peoples by the historic wrongs and ongoing injustices of colonisation”.
Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator, said while she congratulates the First Peoples’ Assembly, “getting free, prior and informed consent from all Clans and Nations” was very important.
Thorpe said that when she was Victorian Greens MP for Northcote, in 2018, when the Greens had the balance of power, they tried unsuccessfully to strengthen the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018 law to include “all 40 plus Nations”.The 2018 law established the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
“At the moment, there are only 12 reserved seats,” Thorpe said of the current bill.
“I welcome the establishment of an ongoing Truth-telling body focused on healing. Yoorrook has done important and crucial work, but in its short timeframe it was not able to reveal the full extent of First Peoples' experience through colonisation. Without truth, there can be no healing or peace.”
Thorpe said the bill’s proposed structures sound good but the proof will be how they will “address our daily realities”. “Our children [are] being taken away; our people [are] being jailed and dying in custody; so many of our people [are] dying too young or taking their lives. Unless Treaty addresses the ongoing Genocide on our people, it will have failed.”
Thorpe said the bill and the Treaty “will be measured by what it will do for our people, and whether it can correct the wrongs committed”.
“I am particularly interested in the proposed accountability mechanism so we can independently monitor the government’s performance in key areas, such as implementing Yoorook’s [146] recommendations and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and Bringing them Home.”
“Monitoring is not enough,” Thorpe said, adding that she looks forward to “learning more about the actual powers of Gellung Warl, and how they interact with the established colonial government system”.
Thorpe said a Treaty process that does not address the “continuous theft of our land and destruction of our sacred sites undermines our very survival”.
“Treaty, therefore, has to tackle the damage caused by the current Cultural Heritage Act and Traditional Owners Settlement Act head on, in an inclusive way.”
She said a new watch dog committee to oversee spending for First Peoples initiatives must ensure “spending occurs in a self-determined manner … and supports Traditional Owners’ initiatives”. She said greater transparency and accountability is “welcome” to “directly benefit grassroots Clans”.
Thorpe pointed out that Jacinta Allen’s Labor government has still “not acknowledged our ongoing and continuing Sovereignty over these lands” and “while Allan is talking Treaty on the one hand, her government continues to undermine our Sovereignty on the other”.
Since Treaty conversations began in Victoria, former premier Dan Andrews Labor sold off as much Crown land as it could, Thorpe said. “This continues under the current Allan government and is another form of land theft.”
“Meanwhile, over-incarceration of our people and the removal of our children continue … Ultimately we need Treaty at a national level.
“While there’s a lot of work to do to get there, the [Anthony] Albanese government should start the process by establishing a federal truth-telling body, which will lay the groundwork for Treaty at the national level as Yoorook did in Victoria.
“Truth and Treaty are nothing to be afraid of; they are about peace, healing, and bringing this nation together.”