Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven Am.
Speaker 1: The call for treaty in this country stems as far
Speaker 1: back as European settlement. Now in Victoria, for the first time,
Speaker 1: First Nations people are sitting down with the government on
Speaker 1: an equal playing field to negotiate. It's a nation leading
Speaker 1: step towards justice, but it's under threat. After the failed
Speaker 1: Voice referendum last year, the Victorian opposition has followed the
Speaker 1: Queensland playbook and withdrawn their support. It casts an ominous
Speaker 1: shadow over the process, one in which First Nations people
Speaker 1: are once again being asked to act in good faith
Speaker 1: with the power structures that have oppressed many for so long. Today,
Speaker 1: Order Order journalist and my seven Am co host Daniel
Speaker 1: James on the promise of Victoria's treaties. It's Monday now, Daniel.
Speaker 1: You've been working on this story as formal treaty negotiations
Speaker 1: begin in Victoria and this moment, it's a historic moment.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me a bit about the journey to
Speaker 1: get here, because it's been a long time, hasn't it.
Speaker 2: So the formal process of treaty has been in place
Speaker 2: for about five years, but it stems much further than that.
Speaker 2: It stems right back as far as eighteen thirty five,
Speaker 2: when the Anti family first reached what is now known
Speaker 2: as Portland and settled there for the first time, the
Speaker 2: first European settlement in Victoria as we now know it.
Speaker 2: We're going to remember that Victoria was one of the
Speaker 2: most populated paths of the continent before European arrival, and
Speaker 2: the place was pretty much decimated within the space of
Speaker 2: fifty years. Things like small pox, massacres, removal of land,
Speaker 2: poisoning of water, disruption of waterways had a significant impact
Speaker 2: on the population here. And so the formal movement really
Speaker 2: commenced in Crinder, which was an Aboriginal mission just outside
Speaker 2: of Melbourne, where people like William Barrack organized petitions, marched
Speaker 2: and tried to represent their community for better conditions. My
Speaker 2: own people up at Maloga Yorder, Yorder there were a
Speaker 2: series of protests, but I'm also a letter written to
Speaker 2: governors of New South Wales and governors of Victoria, just
Speaker 2: trying to get parcels of land for our own people.
Speaker 3: On Warren Jerry Woy Warren Country a display of the
Speaker 3: enduring connection to land and culture. It's an historic first
Speaker 3: for Australia negotiations for a legal agreement between a state
Speaker 3: and its indigenous people.
Speaker 4: Treaties are a bridge not just between us and the state,
Speaker 4: but between the past and the future.
Speaker 3: Treaty seen as an opportunity for truth telling that Aboriginal nations.
Speaker 1: There's been a truth telling process as well, hasn't there
Speaker 1: happening alongside preparations for treaty? So can you tell me
Speaker 1: a bit about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you often hear the phrase that can't be treaty
Speaker 2: without truth. And so in Victoria they established the Yurok
Speaker 2: Justice Commission, which has the powers of a royal commission
Speaker 2: to get written testimony, call witnesses, get access to government documents,
Speaker 2: get access to archives and historical documents. And there's been
Speaker 2: a huge array of different people provide testimony before that commission,
Speaker 2: from the Police Commissioner who appeared before the Commission and
Speaker 2: apologized to Aboriginal people for any harm done by Victorian
Speaker 2: police since colonization, to the Henty family who were the
Speaker 2: first family to settle in Victoria and commit crimes against
Speaker 2: original people, all the way through to our Premier Jacenter Allen.
Speaker 5: I did not know of the massacres. I'm ashamed to
Speaker 5: say I did not. I have learned about the size
Speaker 5: and scale of the murders and the massacres.
Speaker 2: Who appeared earlier this year and was very frank and
Speaker 2: very open about her lack of knowledge of what happened here.
Speaker 5: And it brings me a sense of shame and distress
Speaker 5: that this was done. This was done by people taking
Speaker 5: all in the pursuit of taking land of first peoples.
Speaker 2: So that europe Justice Commission feeds into the treaty process.
Speaker 2: But I'll also have on the record forevermore what happened here,
Speaker 2: and that will be hopefully available in schools and any
Speaker 2: part of society that wants to learn about what happened here.
Speaker 2: We now have a record what happened here.
Speaker 1: Okay. So a lot of work, a lot of determination
Speaker 1: to get to this point. The First People's Assembly of
Speaker 1: Victoria have played a crucial role as well. Can you
Speaker 1: tell me a bit about them and what the Assembly
Speaker 1: has achieved.
Speaker 2: The First People's Assembly of Victoria is a body that
Speaker 2: represents traditional owner groups. They represent Aboriginal people from different
Speaker 2: backgrounds from around the country that happened to be residing
Speaker 2: in Victoria now. They were established about five years ago
Speaker 2: and all this stems back to the Andrews government coming
Speaker 2: into power around twenty fourteen, and when Daniel Andrews said yep,
Speaker 2: all right, let's do a treaty. It took us aback
Speaker 2: a little bit. But there has been a tremendous amount
Speaker 2: of effort and work to get these formal structures in
Speaker 2: place and to make sure that when we hit the
Speaker 2: point of negotiating treaties, which started last week, that it's
Speaker 2: an even playing field. So obviously the Crown is going
Speaker 2: to have a tremendous amount of access to lawyers and
Speaker 2: other legal agents. The same will be available to the
Speaker 2: First People's Assembly. So there are thirty three members to
Speaker 2: the Assembly. There are two co chairpersons, Rubenberg and Gara Murray,
Speaker 2: and I've spoken to them recently about the way forward.
Speaker 6: So we've got myself and Niagara as the co chairs,
Speaker 6: and then we've also gotten to readA Wait yep, and
Speaker 6: Indy Clark and Troy McDonald, so we're kind of spearheading things.
Speaker 6: But all decisions come back to the whole chamber. It's
Speaker 6: all thirty three that are involved in the discision.
Speaker 7: You can't have thirty three people in the room negotiate.
Speaker 6: That would be problematic, and the state has their team.
Speaker 6: We expect the Premier will be involved in the discussions
Speaker 6: as appropriate, as well as the minister Minister Hutchins, and
Speaker 6: then there's a bunch of public servants, yes, sit alongside that.
Speaker 6: We'll bring to the table. What we've heard are the
Speaker 6: aspirations and it's a negotiation. You have to sit down
Speaker 6: and have the discussion, which is really about self determination.
Speaker 6: If there are key decisions about First peoples that need
Speaker 6: to be made from a government lens, it shouldn't necessarily
Speaker 6: be a minister who makes those decisions, should be elected
Speaker 6: representatives of first people's making those decisions. So that's at
Speaker 6: the very high level. If we look at some of
Speaker 6: those kind of more practical outcomes, one idea we've heard
Speaker 6: really strongly is around how do we make sure we're
Speaker 6: supporting our elders. If you look at something like the
Speaker 6: Seniors Card, which for the broader community have to be
Speaker 6: sixty to access that, well, we only have limited access
Speaker 6: to that if we have shorter life expectancy, so we
Speaker 6: should have access to that earlier. How elders should be
Speaker 6: able to access that earlier.
Speaker 2: It's actually really a weird sort of paradigm because it's
Speaker 2: not a place that Aboriginal people, particularly here in Victoria,
Speaker 2: are used to having. We're not used to being able
Speaker 2: to have access to that sort of power, and that's
Speaker 2: what treaty is all about.
Speaker 1: After the break the forces trying to tear treaties apart, Daniel,
Speaker 1: like other Conservative parties across the country, most notably in Queensland,
Speaker 1: the Victorian State Opposition have said that they will now
Speaker 1: not support a treaty. So how are the First People's
Speaker 1: Assembly dealing with that as they enter into these negotiations.
Speaker 2: They are sad and by the Victorian Opposition here walking
Speaker 2: away from it. There was bipartisan support for treaty for
Speaker 2: a long time here, but on the back of the
Speaker 2: referee theum it seems that the Liberal National parties seem
Speaker 2: that there's some sort of semblance of political capital to
Speaker 2: be gained by this, but for the Assembly of themselves.
Speaker 2: They are hoping to include and speak to all members
Speaker 2: of Parliament, including the opposition, as they move forward. When
Speaker 2: I spoke to the co chairs last week, the Gara
Speaker 2: Murray was also very honest and cognizant of the fact
Speaker 2: that this is something that is hanging over the's head.
Speaker 4: I feel sad. And when I look far to see
Speaker 4: what's happening in Queensland for example, and even with maur
Speaker 4: brothers and sisters, and seeing what's happening there today, you know,
Speaker 4: within their parliament. But I think we're in a really
Speaker 4: strong position to commend treating negotiations. But that's always in
Speaker 4: our mind, I think, because we're often news as a
Speaker 4: political football, we're often politicized.
Speaker 1: Okay, but what is the risk here if we look
Speaker 1: ahead to the next Victorian election. I mean, is there
Speaker 1: a chance that things could fall apart and all of
Speaker 1: this work that has been done in good faith could
Speaker 1: be in vain.
Speaker 2: Yes. Unfortunately, it means that essentially that for people who
Speaker 2: care about this, the next state election becomes another referendum
Speaker 2: on treaty and truth telling in Victoria. So that' only
Speaker 2: just walking away from the process. The Liberal National Party,
Speaker 2: they're actually going to use it as a point of
Speaker 2: difference as they move into the next election. And so
Speaker 2: with the backing of the Herald Satan Sky News, which
Speaker 2: broadcasts across regional Victoria, the scare campaign against treaty will
Speaker 2: lift the profile of Nationals across the state in particular,
Speaker 2: and if it's anything like the referendum debate, it's going
Speaker 2: to be toxic and ugly. More than that, people will
Speaker 2: get hurt, very hurt by this. Those who live through
Speaker 2: the referendum know how painful it can be. And we
Speaker 2: need to also remember, by the time of the next election,
Speaker 2: the Labor government here would have been in power for
Speaker 2: twelve years and so Australian political history tells us that
Speaker 2: that's reaching the limit of ten years for governments in
Speaker 2: this country. And so there are a number of things
Speaker 2: stacked against treaty. There is the political opposition to it,
Speaker 2: but there's also the political reality of what happens to
Speaker 2: governments who have been around that long. And that means
Speaker 2: that while negotiations will continue over the next two years,
Speaker 2: what happens beyond the next election, depending who wins it,
Speaker 2: is unknown.
Speaker 1: Okay, so there's a real chance of a change in
Speaker 1: government which would have a definitive impact on what happens
Speaker 1: to the treaty negotiations going forward. But I want to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about what you said around
Speaker 1: the debate, the sort of the toxic debate that we
Speaker 1: saw in the lead up to the vote on a
Speaker 1: voice to Parliament federally, if we see something similar to
Speaker 1: that in Victoria in the lead up to the next election,
Speaker 1: what is the impact of that likely to be on
Speaker 1: relations between First Nations people and Victoria and the people
Speaker 1: who represent them.
Speaker 2: Well, I lived through the Marboe debate and the Scare
Speaker 2: campaign related to that, and then of course we all
Speaker 2: lived through the referendum debate last year, which was kind
Speaker 2: of like Marboe on steroids in terms of the tone
Speaker 2: of conversations about Aboriginal people, largely not too or with
Speaker 2: Aboriginal people. If the refereendum resulved in destroy the idea
Speaker 2: of reconciliation in Vittoria, then the closing down of the
Speaker 2: truth and treaty process will people have come forward shared
Speaker 2: their stories, many of them very very painful stories. They've
Speaker 2: shared their experiences with the same authorities that may have
Speaker 2: caused them harm in the first place, and the fact
Speaker 2: that they've done that shows how deeply these people care
Speaker 2: and are committed to this process. So to scrap all
Speaker 2: of it, to scrap a potential new way forward would
Speaker 2: break a lot of hearts and do irreparable damage to
Speaker 2: reconciliation here. And I would argue around the country as well,
Speaker 2: and that means that all the good faith that First
Speaker 2: Nations people have put into this process will have been lost.
Speaker 2: If this was to be successful in Victoria, it would
Speaker 2: be the first time that there has been true self
Speaker 2: determination by with and for Aboriginal people anywhere in the country,
Speaker 2: acted body that will oversee things that impact us impact
Speaker 2: First Nations people in Victoria. If that doesn't work, then
Speaker 2: it gives all the cynics and all the people that
Speaker 2: are skeptical about self determination the excuse that they need
Speaker 2: never to go there again.
Speaker 7: And I would argue that it would.
Speaker 2: Make having a national treaty almost impossible in most.
Speaker 7: Of our lifetimes.
Speaker 2: It would just feeding to the narrative that we've had
Speaker 2: around the voice that First Nations people are just Australians
Speaker 2: like everyone else, and then don't deserve anything beyond what
Speaker 2: the rest of the country are given, despite what has
Speaker 2: happened to them.
Speaker 7: In the name of the Crown.
Speaker 1: Precarious times ahead, Daniel bit Nerve Racking, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for your time today.
Speaker 7: Thanks Reby.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, the five remaining Bali nine
Speaker 1: prisoners in Indonesia will be transferred to Australia within months.
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi asked Indonesia's new President, Probo
Speaker 1: Subianto to transfer the convicted drug traffickers to Australia when
Speaker 1: he met with him on the sidelines of the APEC
Speaker 1: conference in Peru. Two of the Ballei nine, Andrew chan
Speaker 1: and Major and Sukamaran, were executed by firing squad in
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen in Indonesia after multiple attempts to save their
Speaker 1: lives were rejected. Another member died in prison, and one
Speaker 1: has already been brought back to Australia. Cabinet Minister Don
Speaker 1: Farrell says the remaining prisoners will continue to serve their
Speaker 1: life sentences on return to Australia, and laws to force
Speaker 1: social media companies to deal with misinformation on their platform
Speaker 1: have been scrapped by the government. The Communications Minister Michelle
Speaker 1: Roland has confirmedment failed to get support for the bill
Speaker 1: from the Coalition at Greens and several cross Bench senators.
Speaker 1: Mss Roland said the bill would have dealt with harmful content,
Speaker 1: but the coalition described it as an attempt to CeNSE
Speaker 1: the speech. I'm Ruby Jones, this is seven am. See
Speaker 1: you tomorrow,