Australia’s Victoria State signs first Treaty with Indigenous People
Melbourne,Australia – Victoria state hasโข formally signed a treaty with itsโค Indigenous population,marking a historic first for Australia and aโ significant step towards reconciliation. โThe treaty,enacted December 12,includes a formal โapology to Indigenous people and establishesโค a permanent representative body to advise โthe Victorian government on issues including healthcare,housing,education,and culture.
“Todayโ begins a โขnew chapter in the story of our state,” said Premier Jacinta Allan โฃat โthe signing ceremony in Melbourne. “When people canโ have a โreal say in issues that affect their lives, their prospects โimprove, and our state becomes more just.”
australia has lagged behind other former colonies – including โฃthe United States, Canada, andโค New โZealand – in formally recognizing the rights of its original inhabitants. Asโ British colonization began in 1788, the Indigenous population has faced systemic discrimination, violence, and dispossession, including a “White Australia” policy andโค the forced removal of children โfrom โtheir families until the 1970s.
Approximately one million Aboriginalโฃ andโ Torres โStrait Islander people currently experience โคsocio-economic โoutcomes below the national average.
The treaty represents “an vital recognition of the people’s right to self-determination,” โaccording to a law professor at the University of New South Wales, and is expected to โinfluence โtreaty negotiations in other โคAustralian โขstates.
The move follows a 2023 nationalโ referendum in whichโ nearly 60 percent of Australians โฃvoted against a proposed โconstitutionalโ amendment to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the original inhabitants and establish a constitutional roleโค forโ them. Treaty talks in Victoria began โin 2016.