Speaker 1: This is the second episode in a two part series.
Speaker 1: If you haven't yet, go back and listen to part one.
Speaker 1: It's called The Road to Europe. In this episode, we
Speaker 1: find out what happened when the Europe Justice Commission started
Speaker 1: taking evidence and what should happen now that the truth
Speaker 1: has been told. Daniel, you've been documenting the Europe Justice Commission.
Speaker 1: Tell me more about who else we heard from.
Speaker 2: Aw heard from people like Uncle Jim Berg, who has
Speaker 2: been a seminal figure in the original community here. He
Speaker 2: was the person that established the Curity Heritage Trust As
Speaker 2: an example.
Speaker 3: However, that is often wondered about my dad and his family.
Speaker 3: None I ever known or soon I was total. He
Speaker 3: was taken away from his mum and became part of
Speaker 3: the Stolen generation.
Speaker 2: People like Jill Galligher. She is someone that has come
Speaker 2: from a very traumatized background and was able to articulate
Speaker 2: her story beautifully.
Speaker 4: These social determinants are the invisible shackles that constrain us
Speaker 4: as Aboriginal people, impacting on our lives far more than
Speaker 4: genetics or individual choices.
Speaker 2: Ever, could we heard from other people like Aliam of Thorpe,
Speaker 2: who is Senatorlia Thorpe's mother presented before the Commission.
Speaker 3: You got a name because that your Aboriginal name was
Speaker 3: run away.
Speaker 4: You didn't know it, so I don't know.
Speaker 2: I've still lost. She was an absolute stalwart and helping
Speaker 2: to establish the community controlled sector down here in Victoria,
Speaker 2: the retauring Aboriginal Legal Service and the return Abriaginal Health Service,
Speaker 2: and hearing all these stories from all these elders before
Speaker 2: they're gone is something that we just can't sort of
Speaker 2: underestimate the power of that because having it down on
Speaker 2: the official record as part of the true history of
Speaker 2: this place from the people that experienced them themselves is
Speaker 2: something that and I'm assuming a lot of other people
Speaker 2: involved in the process will never take for granted.
Speaker 1: So we've got these collective stories of abuse, particularly from
Speaker 1: members of the Stolen Generation, as they are giving their evidence.
Speaker 1: What do you think became clear about the way that
Speaker 1: various systems in this country have the role that they've played.
Speaker 2: That's a very good question, because what became clear is
Speaker 2: that not only were systems initially designed at the exclusion
Speaker 2: of Aboriginal people. What became clear as Aboriginal people became
Speaker 2: more and more of a problem for the system and
Speaker 2: for politicians and everyone else in between. Those systems actually
Speaker 2: started to adapt to breed the Aboriginal community out into
Speaker 2: the white community. So in the late nineteenth century, there
Speaker 2: was this thing called, and it's a terrible term, called
Speaker 2: the half Caste Act, which initially just prevented half casts
Speaker 2: and quarter casts, all these terrible eugenic terms members of
Speaker 2: the Aboriginal community from dealing with the full blooded members
Speaker 2: of their community. So the idea was that you would
Speaker 2: leave the full bloods on missions to die, and you
Speaker 2: would keep the half casts and quarter casts and everyone
Speaker 2: else in between away from them, so there couldn't be
Speaker 2: any more sort of procreational or strengthening of Aboriginal blood
Speaker 2: by Aboriginal people getting together. And the idea is that
Speaker 2: eventually the half cast would fade away into the general
Speaker 2: population over time, so we will just have a bunch
Speaker 2: of people that wouldn't identify as being Aboriginal, but they
Speaker 2: would tan up very well during summer. And Victoria is
Speaker 2: full of those stories. Now, that is a specific act
Speaker 2: that was specifically designed to do that. That is cultural genocide.
Speaker 2: Every Aboriginal person lived under the purview of the Half
Speaker 2: cast Act, and then informed the way things like the
Speaker 2: criminal justice system and the child protection system, the health
Speaker 2: system dealt with First peoples. These things were very, very real,
Speaker 2: and these things were highlighted at a very granular level
Speaker 2: throughout the workings of Europe and the.
Speaker 1: Victorian Premier Sinator Alan. She became Australia's first sitting state
Speaker 1: leader to testify to an Indigenous Ledge Truth Commission. Tell
Speaker 1: me about her appearance, the questions that she faced.
Speaker 2: Premier, the evidence that you were about to give, do
Speaker 2: you undertake to provide truthful evidence to the europ Justice Commission?
Speaker 5: I certainly do well.
Speaker 2: It was quite extraordinary because it's the first time that
Speaker 2: someone with that much authority has been called before Aboriginal
Speaker 2: people to provide testimony, and it's the first time that
Speaker 2: Aboriginal people have been in the powerful One of the
Speaker 2: extraordinary things from that day was that the premiers acknowledged
Speaker 2: ignorance on some of the massacres and killings that had
Speaker 2: happened in her part of the world. On jud j
Speaker 2: our own country in Bendico, I have.
Speaker 5: Learned much that I did not know in terms of
Speaker 5: the true history of the dispossession, what the settlers, the
Speaker 5: colonizers did when they came to Victoria. I did not
Speaker 5: know of the massacres. I'm ashamed to say I did not.
Speaker 5: I have learned about the size and scale of the
Speaker 5: murders and the massacres.
Speaker 2: She also said that she didn't learn about any of
Speaker 2: this in school. She wouldn't have had a clue who
Speaker 2: the traditional owners were. That moment really highlighted why we
Speaker 2: needed a truth telling commission and why Europe was so important.
Speaker 2: The europe commiss I actually heard from two hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty nine witnesses, eliciting sixteen government apologies from various ministers
Speaker 2: and chiefs of various departments. One of the most notable
Speaker 2: apologies was from the Victorian Police Commissioner.
Speaker 6: The result of systemic racism, racist attitudes and discriminatory actions
Speaker 6: of police have gone undetected, unchecked, unpunished or without appropriate sanctions,
Speaker 6: and of course significant harm across generations of Aboriginal families.
Speaker 2: It was something that wasn't called for, but it was
Speaker 2: also something that really left the police force open to
Speaker 2: criticism every time from thereon it acted in a way
Speaker 2: that was seen as being prejudicial against Aboriginal people.
Speaker 1: After the break, the truth has been told so what
Speaker 1: comes next, Daniel. The final report from the Europe Commission
Speaker 1: has now been handed to the government. Can you talk
Speaker 1: me through what the Commission wants the government to do
Speaker 1: with its findings, What the recommendations are.
Speaker 2: They cover a whole bunch of different areas, things like
Speaker 2: strengthening the treaty process to make sure that the lessons
Speaker 2: of Europe are better than those processes, and obvious one
Speaker 2: is a set of recommendations that go to the idea
Speaker 2: of strengthening cultural competence and responsiveness. That's where the story
Speaker 2: of Europe and the history and the reports that it
Speaker 2: on earthed will hopefully find their way not only into
Speaker 2: the curriculum, but also into some of these potential cultural
Speaker 2: competence frameworks that may be established as a result of that.
Speaker 2: Linking so much of what we do here in Victoria
Speaker 2: back to human rights and basic human rights, including aboriginal
Speaker 2: cultural rights. There are a set of recommendations that go
Speaker 2: to that and ongoing truth telling as we move forward.
Speaker 2: That's something that the First People's Assembly of Victoria has
Speaker 2: been calling for and there's something that the eurok Justice
Speaker 2: Commission has been very cognizant of as it's been moving forward.
Speaker 2: Oversight of the trial protection system's early prevention and intervention
Speaker 2: when it comes to child removal. When original children are
Speaker 2: removed from home, if they go to a non Aboriginal setting,
Speaker 2: that they have an opportunity to reunify with their Aboriginal
Speaker 2: heritage and with their Aboriginal culture.
Speaker 1: And you've spoken about the personal stories the Commission heard
Speaker 1: and about the systemic failures of governments. So how did
Speaker 1: you address the issue of reparations.
Speaker 2: We know because it was presented before the Commission that
Speaker 2: there was two hundred and eighty seven billion dollars worth
Speaker 2: of gold extracted in Victoria since eighteen fifty one, and
Speaker 2: of that money, none of it has been seen by
Speaker 2: Indigenous people. There has been eighty three billion dollars in
Speaker 2: revenue generated from water rivers and the damming of those rivers,
Speaker 2: one point eight billion generated from friestry and grazing licenses
Speaker 2: in the last thirteen years alone. So what the government
Speaker 2: decides to do with that is yet to be seen.
Speaker 2: Let's just hope that it isn't another case of another
Speaker 2: rural commission that has provided a lot of thorough and
Speaker 2: meaningful recommendations that aren't acted upon by the government. Receives
Speaker 2: them all the successive governments that still haven't acted on them.
Speaker 2: And of course I'm thinking of the Rural Commission that
Speaker 2: through Aboriginal dests and custody as a prime example of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the issue of trust is so key here. As
Speaker 1: you say, there have been so many reports, inquiries and
Speaker 1: yet nothing changes. So what sense do you get of
Speaker 1: the willingness of those in power to take accountability, to
Speaker 1: make meaningful change, to accept and adopt what the Commission
Speaker 1: is telling them.
Speaker 2: I think we're in a unique situation because we have
Speaker 2: a Victorian government. There's been in power for a long
Speaker 2: time now, but it is a government that took the
Speaker 2: advice of Aboriginal people to instigate the treaty process, took
Speaker 2: the advice of the First People's Assembly of Victoria to
Speaker 2: instigate the truth telling process in Europe. You would think
Speaker 2: they would be more open to receiving the recommendations from
Speaker 2: the Commission than potentially any other government in the history
Speaker 2: of Australia. They're certainly making the right noises, they have
Speaker 2: been supportive of the Commission. But the one great thing
Speaker 2: that we have to our advantage at this point that
Speaker 2: has never happened anywhere else in this country is that
Speaker 2: we have the First People's Assembly of Victoria there as
Speaker 2: a separate, powerful entity that will be able to hold
Speaker 2: government to account in real time. So many of the
Speaker 2: recommendations and reports that have befallen here in Victoria and
Speaker 2: around the country have fallen by the wayside because there
Speaker 2: hasn't been any sort of apparatus for governments and departments
Speaker 2: systems to be how to account in real time. And
Speaker 2: here in Victoria we have that through the First People's
Speaker 2: Assembly of Victoria. One of the things I'm always mindful of,
Speaker 2: and I'm not sure how much other people have been
Speaker 2: thinking about it, but post the disastrous result of the
Speaker 2: voice and the political capital that many in our political
Speaker 2: class have been trying to obtain from that defeat, it's
Speaker 2: unlikely in my view that we'll ever see anything like
Speaker 2: this in this country again. Something that has given the
Speaker 2: powers that Uruk has had the Prime Minister post the
Speaker 2: defeat of the referendum, has seemingly walked away from any
Speaker 2: notion of a truth telling process. We've seen truth telling
Speaker 2: processes kiboshed in Queensland. We're in a much more thwart
Speaker 2: political environment now that makes what's happened at Uruk and
Speaker 2: the people that presented to Yuruk and the work the
Speaker 2: commissioners have done even more powerful because it is unlikely
Speaker 2: that we'll ever see anything like this in this country. Again.
Speaker 1: Well, Daniel, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2: Always good space you Ruby.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, Victorian health authorities have recommended
Speaker 1: twelve hundred children linked to a childcare worker charged with
Speaker 1: sexual abuse get tested for infectious diseases. Victorian Premier descent
Speaker 1: To Allen has called the case shocking and distressing, after
Speaker 1: the twenty six year old man was charged with seventy
Speaker 1: child abuse offences while working at twenty different childcare centers
Speaker 1: between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty five. Police say the
Speaker 1: alleged victims will all aged between five months and two
Speaker 1: years of age, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnyahoo is
Speaker 1: set to meet with US President Donald Trump next week
Speaker 1: in Washington of amounting pressure to broker a new ceasefire
Speaker 1: agreement in Gaza. The news comes as Israel ramps up
Speaker 1: its bombing of Gaza with air strikes killing sixty Palestinians,
Speaker 1: including twenty two women, children and a journalist. Hiding in
Speaker 1: a cafe. Over the weekend, the US President took to
Speaker 1: social media to call on Yahoo to quote make the
Speaker 1: deal in Gaza. I'm Ruby Jones is seven am. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening.