Co-chair says treaty will not outline specific changes to syllabus but is ‘more about saying this is the role that First Peoples will play’
Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly wants decision-making powers over how the state’s Indigenous history is taught in schools but says a treaty will not outline specific changes to the curriculum.
The assembly – the state’s democratically elected Indigenous body – will begin nation-first treaty talks with the Allan government in the coming days. A state-wide treaty – the first of its kind in Australia – will tackle problems affecting First Nations Victorians.
Its co-chair Rueben Berg said he was hopeful the first agreements could be struck by the middle of next year.
Berg, a Gunditjmara man, said curriculum changes could draw on the work of the state’s Indigenous truth-telling inquiry – the Yoorrook Justice Commission – which will hand down a final report by mid-2025. He said the assembly wanted a treaty to grant it a decision-making role over the curriculum.
“It’s less so about having written in the treaty exactly what the curriculum will change to and more about saying this is the role that First Peoples will play in that development of that curriculum,” he said.
Berg said the assembly could draw on a “huge range of expertise” from Indigenous Victorians.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, told Yoorrook in April its findings could be embedded in curriculum to ensure all children learn about the state’s past and about persisting inequalities.
On Thursday, Allan told reporters treaty negotiations would make the state “even stronger, even fairer, even more equal for all Victorians”.
She said there would be “regular updates along the way” about the negotiations.
“There will be opportunities for the Victorian community, the entire community to follow on with negotiations,” she said.
“We want everyone to see what is going on.”
The assembly has previously flagged expanding its role so it has decision-making powers on issues affecting Indigenous Victorians and can hold the government to account, implementing key recommendations from Yoorrook and an ongoing truth-telling process as other priorities for the treaty.
The 33-member assembly said other proposals included earlier access to seniors cards for First Nations Victorians, community-owned and managed public housing and a public holiday to celebrate Indigenous culture and history.
Berg said the broadened role of the assembly could help ensure that traditional owner groups can determine placenames in their areas. “We want to remove some of the barriers that exist in the process of dual-naming,” he said.
Berg said he wanted the assembly’s enhanced role to include truth-telling, beyond the work of Yoorook. One option could be a focus on “place-based” truth-telling.
Alongside a state-wide treaty, traditional owner groups will also be able to enter into separate treaties with the state about issues in their areas and priorities for their communities.
Last week Allan said she would not put a timeframe on negotiations. She said their outcomes would need to be passed by the state parliament.
Allan also pointed to the advice of the Productivity Commission and international jurisdictions as evidence that a treaty would lead to better outcomes for First Nations People.
The commission in February published a scathing review of the revamped Closing the Gap agreement which found that state and territory governments had not shared decision-making with Indigenous people.
Victoria’s opposition withdrew support for the treaty process in January, citing concerns about culture heritage laws, after the defeat of the federal voice to parliament.
It means there is a two-year window for treaty agreements to be secured, under a Labor government supportive of the process, before Victorians head to the polls in November 2026.
This month Queensland’s newly elected Liberal-National government ordered the state’s truth-telling inquiry to cease its work – a policy it took to the election. The inquiry was the first part of the state’s treaty process.
New South Wales is conducting a treaty consultation process after treaty commissioners were elected this year.
South’s Australia’s First Nations voice to parliament is expected to lead to a treaty after the process restarted after a pause under the former Liberal government.