Key events
Australia’s first Indigenous treaty passes
Benita Kolovos
Australia’s first treaty with traditional owners has passed the Victorian parliament to cheers and tears in the public gallery.
After two days of debate in parliament’s upper house this week, the statewide treaty bill passed 21 votes to 16 just before 9pm. After the bill passed without amendment, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were unfurled from the public gallery, and the Labor, Greens, Legalise Cannabis, and Animal Justice party MPs who supported the bill turned around to applaud.
It establishes the First Peoples’ Assembly as a permanent representative body to provide advice to government, under a new statutory corporation called Gellung Warl.
Gellung Warl will also include a truth-telling body, to be known as Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, and an accountability body, known as Nginma Ngainga Wara. The latter will ensure the government upholds its commitments under the national agreement on closing the gap.
It makes Victoria the first state in the country to adopt voice, treaty and truth – the three pillars of reform requested in the 2017 Uluru statement from the heart.
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