VICTORIAN TREATY PROCESS OFFERS MODEL FOR COMMONWEALTH

The Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for a treaty to be made between First Nations people and Australia. (Image credit: From the Heart.)

A West Australian legal academic says the state of Victoria’s progress towards making a treaty can offer lessons for other parts of the country.

In October, the state government and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria agreed on a framework to set up the principles and criteria for negotiating their treaty.

The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) recently published a case study by Harry Hobbs and Dani Larkin examining the treaty-making process in Victoria.

ANZSOG Case Library Director Professor Shaun Goldfinch said the commonwealth should look to the state as an example.

“I think the key lesson is that the process needs to be led by First Nations people,” he said.

“It’s not something you impose from Canberra and say, ‘This here’s the treaty, sign it or walk off.’

“You actually start at the very beginning, and you say, ‘How do we get to this process? How do we make sure that groups are all involved in this process?’”

Professor Goldfinch said treaties on commonwealth and state levels could address historical injustices.

“There’s a growing recognition of course that there were things that were done that were, to be honest, outrageously horrendous,” he said.

“There’s also a recognition that Australian states and the Australian commonwealth need to really engage with what’s happened in the past.

“It’s something that needs to be faced up to.”