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Posted on 11/12/2025 8:01:36 PM PST by nickcarraway
Leaders and activists say they are feeling the weight of the moment, after Australia's first treaty with Aboriginal people was signed and formalised as law today.
Victoria's treaty has become Australia's first modern treaty agreement with the country's Indigenous owners, in a move labelled "historic" by the United Nations human rights chief.
Yiman and Ghangulu man man Mick Gooda, who has spent decades advocating for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, said he was "so happy and pleased" for the people of Victoria.
Indigenous man wearing a navy shirt and glasses. Mick Gooda says the Victorian treaty should be a lesson for the rest of Australia. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)
"Finally the government's taken notice of what Aboriginal people need to move forward and they've done it," he said.
A former Social Justice Commissioner, Mr Gooda was also co-chair of Queensland's Interim Truth and Treaty Body before the treaty process was dismantled by that state's LNP government last year.
"It should be a lesson to all people in Australia, Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people, that as far as I know, the sun still kept rising in the east down there," Mr Gooda said today.
"The world hasn't changed that much, and all it means is that Aboriginal people have been recognised in Victoria, and that's a lesson for the rest of Australia."
Four people including Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan sign the treaty The historic treaty signing at Victoria's Government House. (Leroy Miller/First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria)
While treaties with Indigenous groups are commonplace in countries colonised by the British, such as New Zealand and Canada, Australia has long been the exception.
The absence of treaties in Australia has been an enduring reminder of the denial of First Peoples' rights, including to land, throughout Australia's colonial history.
The road to treaty in Victoria has taken almost a decade.
'I'm just over the moon'
Aunty Jill Gallagher AO, a proud Gunditjmara woman and former Commissioner of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission, played a pivotal role in treaty negotiations.
"This is the story of the Aboriginal people's resistance," she told the ABC's AM program.
a portrait photograph of aunty jill in her office at the Aboriginal peak health body Jill Gallagher says she didn't expect to see a treaty signed in her lifetime and is "over the moon". (ABC News: Matthew Holmes)
Dr Gallagher, now CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, said she felt very emotional as she arrived at Government House on Thursday morning.
"I feel very happy. I'm just over the moon," she said.
"I didn't think that I would ever see the signing of a treaty in this country — let alone in Victoria — in my lifetime." But Dr Gallagher said the moment was also bittersweet, as she reflected on advocates who came before her who would not be here to see treaty in action.
"My mum is still alive [but] she's getting really unwell and she won't get to see this — or feel the impacts that treaty will have. That made me feel sad," she said.
"[But] it's an exciting moment, it's an historic moment and all Victorians should rejoice in this."
Victoria's First Peoples' Assembly co-chair Ngarra Murray described the treaty as a "promise".
“Today marks a turning point in our nation's history, a moment where old wounds can begin to heal and new relationships can be built on truth, justice and mutual respect,” she said.
A couple of dozen Aboriginal Victorians pictured with arms raised in celebration Members of the First Peoples' Assembly have celebrated the treaty signing. (Supplied: Leroy Miller)
Treaty becomes law
Despite countless promises for a treaty, including at a national level, and generations of advocacy by First Peoples, no Australian government has reached this point before.
Today, the binding agreement was formally signed by the co-chairs of Victoria's elected First Peoples Assembly, the Victorian premier and minister for treaty.
The legislation that underpins the treaty, which passed parliament last month, was also signed today by Victoria's governor, meaning it has become law.
Four people including Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan sign the treaty The historic treaty signing at Victoria's Government House. (Leroy Miller/First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria)
The signing took place at an event at Victoria's Government House, which sits on Wurundjeri and Bunurong country in Melbourne.
Governor Margaret Gardner described the moment as "historic" and received a round of applause when announcing the Statewide Treaty Act was now law.
"The first statewide treaty for Victoria, the first in Australia, and the first for First Peoples in Victoria," she said.
Premier describes signing as 'new chapter' Premier Jacinta Allan said the signing marked a "new chapter" in Victoria's history.
"A chapter that brings together the oldest continuing cultures on earth with the more modern institutions of our state," she said.
"It is a chapter that is founded on truth, guided by respect and carried forward through partnership ... a partnership to build a stronger, fairer, more equal Victoria for everyone.
"That's what treaty means."
First Peoples' Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg said the signed treaty was a step towards equality for Aboriginal people in Victoria.
"We will get from this not just better outcomes for First Peoples, [and] better outcomes for Victoria and Australia," he said.
"This makes us all a better state, a better country, better people."
Aboriginal people performing a dance The signing of the treaty marks the end of a nearly decade-long process in Victoria. (Supplied: Leroy Miller)
Meanwhile Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss sent her congratulations to all involved.
"So happy to see this today — acknowledging all those across generations who have fought for this, for all those who participated in the Yoorrook Justice Commission to further support the foundations for this outcome," she posted on social media.
"To the government who have demonstrated leadership here in righting the wrongs and setting the foundation for a more just and positive future for the First Peoples of Victoria, and to Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg and the Assembly for their leadership in facilitating this historic agreement."
Victoria's first treaty follows nearly a decade of design, consultation and negotiation, and pledges to "reset" the relationship between First Peoples and the government of Victoria.
It acknowledges past wrongs and establishes a range of commitments backed by state funding intended to improve outcomes for Aboriginal Victorians.
That includes an ongoing Aboriginal authority controlled by elected Aboriginal Victorians, plus new accountability and truth-telling initiatives, which will be established next year.
The treaty text
The 34-page treaty document sets out what the state and the First Peoples' Assembly — an elected body which has represented Aboriginal Victorians — agreed to following months of negotiation.
It outlines the enduring connection of Aboriginal people to the land now known as Victoria. It says:
"This Country was never empty, never unclaimed. The fiction of 'land belonging to no one' ignored those already here."
The treaty acknowledges what happened after Europeans arrived in Victoria, underpinned by findings from Victoria's Aboriginal truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Yoorrook found evidence of acts of genocide, widespread massacres, cultural destruction, forced child removals and economic exclusion.
"Within two decades of colonisation, the [Victorian] population of First Peoples had reduced by nearly 90 per cent," the treaty reads.
The agreement details the state's responsibility to accept and carry the "weight of this history," in order to address the ongoing impacts and build a fairer future for all:
"It is a rare thing for a government to admit it was wrong — rarer still to commit, in plain words and enduring actions, to making it right. Yet that is what this moment asks. That is what this moment makes possible — a moment we claim together."
Speaking to ABC News on Thursday morning, First Peoples' Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg said the signing of the treaty into law was a huge moment, but he was also looking ahead to how it would be implemented.
"I'm thinking about what comes next," he said.
"Because what we've achieved is a really powerful re-setting of the relationship between First Peoples and the government, and we have to make sure we put that in place in the strongest way possible."
Mr Berg said the signing of the statewide treaty was a relief after years of advocacy.
"For future generations, we don't have to worry so much about having to campaign for these rights. We can actually exercise those rights," he said.
"It's really important to recognise that this isn't just symbolism.
"This is a really powerful process to enhance the rights of First Peoples, and it's about getting better outcomes for First Peoples, which everyone should see as a positive thing."
Victoria's treaty welcomed by the UN The move towards treaty was last week welcomed by United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk, who described Victoria's pending agreement as a "very significant moment for all Australians".
"It represents a major step toward justice and equality. It addresses the continued exclusion of and discrimination against the country's First Peoples — the result of colonisation," he said.
"I hope this inspires other leaders in Australia and beyond to adopt similar measures to recognise Indigenous peoples through inclusive governance and innovative mechanisms for participation and reconciliation — all of which ultimately promote a society built on mutual respect and human rights for all."
Volker Turk sits holding one hand up in front of a blue backdrop. Volker Turk says the passing of Victoria's treaty was a "historic" moment. (AP: Marwan Ali/ File)
Under Victoria's treaty-making framework, there are opportunities for further treaties to be negotiated, including with specific traditional owner groups.
There are commitments to treaty in New South Wales and South Australia, but treaty-making has stalled or been repealed in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.
In Victoria, the treaty has been supported by the Labor government while the state Liberal opposition has pledged to scrap the deal if it wins next year's state election.
But Labor's decision to sign the treaty a day after it announced a new policy for children as young as 14 to face adult jail time for certain violent crimes has also been criticised.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service CEO Nerita Waight described the proposal as "cruel" and at odds with the sentiment of the treaty.
"The treaty will ensure that what happened yesterday doesn't happen again where our experts are left unconsulted, where we are not acting on best evidence," she said.
Once in effect, the treaty will introduce additional requirements for the state to consult with Aboriginal people on legislative reforms.
Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe said longer sentences for children would disproportionately impact Aboriginal young people at a time when the state was supposed to be committing to a fairer future for First Peoples.
"What future do they have with treaty if Jacinta locks them up? Like what hope do we have here?" she said.
A public event to celebrate the signing of Victoria's first treaty will be held in December.
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Doesn’t matter, in the end it will become a Chinese colony.
Exactly. And I can not wait to see how the chinese treat them.
"...all it means is that Aboriginal people have been recognised in Victoria"
Those poor people didn't even get a Land Acknowledgment out of all that work. They wuz robbed! I hope the government of Victoria sets things right and issues Land Acknowledgments ASAP.
A can of gasoline, a pretty pot of glue, and everyone gets their own rotisserie chicken. No more having to share. Live in the Dreamtime forever!
Exactly. You can’t honor your original population without a parade of virtue-signaling AWFLs berating other people to give their land away. Of course, they’re exempted because... reasons.
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