Speaker, I acknowledge Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet and on which the Northcote Electorate is encompassed.
I pay my deep respects to their Elders past and present; to their culture and connection to the lands and waters; to their strength, resilience and enduring spirit.
In the inner north, the story of Aboriginal resistance, leadership and empowerment runs deep.
It’s in the work of giants like William Cooper, Aunty Marge Tucker, Uncle Bill Onus, Aunty Elizabeth Morgan, Uncle Doug Nicholls and Lady Gladys Nicholls.
It’s in organisations like the Aborigines Advancement League, which in 1969 became the first Aboriginal-run organisation to fully control its own affairs in Victoria – a huge milestone for Aboriginal civil rights and self-determination.
It’s in the establishment of Australia’s first Aboriginal Women’s Refuge, now known as Elizabeth Morgan House in Fairfield.
And in the statewide peak bodies that stand proud in the inner north – VAHS, VACSAL, VACCA, VACCHO, VALS, VAEAI, AHS – all steeped in the history of Aboriginal activism and the call for services that meet community needs.
The suburbs cradled by the Merri and Darebin Creeks are enmeshed with this story. They echo with the voices of Aboriginal educators, artists, athletes and advocates who have shaped generations and propelled the cause forward.
There is a kinship and allyship that continues today across our community – grounded in truth, respect and shared purpose.
It’s from that local connection that I rise in strong support of the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 – a Bill that enacts the commitments made by the State of Victoria, in Australia’s first negotiated Treaty with First Peoples.
This is a historic moment for all Victorians. One that calls on each of us to show courage and resolve. It’s significance so powerfully elucidated by Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg in this Chamber today.
Since colonisation, First Peoples have been dispossessed and excluded from the social and economic opportunities that most Victorians take for granted.
And even today, with all the goodwill that exists in our community, those inequities remain – the ripple effect of government policies and practices that now send chills up our spines.
Treaty gives us a way to change what isn’t working – and let’s be clear, what’s been tried has not been working.
It’s about giving First Peoples a real say over the policies that shape their lives - their health care, their children’s education, their family’s housing, and the practice of their culture, now and into the future.
It’s how we close the gap. How we build something lasting – grounded in the recognition that our state is stronger when it reckons honestly with its history and when we walk forward together.
Victoria has formally been on the Truth and Treaty path for nearly a decade. For so many it’s been much longer than that.
In 2022, I spoke in support of the Treaty Authority Act – establishing the framework for negotiations; one that invited the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria and the State of Victoria to come together in an act of healing.
Then last year, on a sweltering November day, we gathered in the Darebin Parklands for a ceremony that formally commenced negotiations. This site in Alphington, where you can feel the soul of the land, embraced us in arms both hopeful and heavy.
Hopeful, because for the first time in generations, there is a chance to walk together into a different future.
Heavy, because the weight of injustice does not lift with ease – but instead sediments, solidifies, and forms the bedrock that fortifies for the struggle ahead.
That struggle doesn’t dissipate today – but it shifts, carried forward with new strength and new resolve.
The Treaty Act will establish Gellung Warl as an ongoing democratic, representative and deliberative body for First Peoples in Victoria.
Its role will be to make decisions on policy and programs for First Peoples, to provide an independent accountability mechanism for closing the gap, and to build on the truth-telling of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
At its core, it’s about a future where Aboriginal children grow up knowing that their culture is respected, their rights are upheld, and their communities are safe and strong.
To those opposite who have sought to cast doubt on this process and have committed to unravelling it if they come to power – who say that Treaty will divide us, or that it is unnecessary, or that it will take something away – I say this:
Open your hearts and your minds.
Treaty does not divide us. It brings us closer together.
It empowers every single one of us to create a fairer and more just Victoria.
To the Aboriginal community in my electorate and across the state, your leadership and persistence has made this possible.
And to the next generation of young people watching today, this is your future being built in real time. A future founded on respect and equality; not denial and silence.
When history looks back on this moment, it will see a Labor Government that had the courage to do what was right.
I’m proud to stand on the side of justice – and to lend my vote in this parliament to a Treaty in Victoria.
I commend the Bill to the house.
