With Aboriginal treaty negotiations about to start in Victoria, there has been a warning that some Indigenous groups are ‘out for blood’ due to resentment over the failed Voice referendum.
The talks between the state government and dozens of Aboriginal organisations are due to begin on November 21, with those involved expecting it to be a long haul due to simmering anger over the Voice.
The groups are expected to negotiate on issues such as more control over state policies affecting Indigenous people and having some land handed over to them, but the Coalition has slammed this as ‘secret treaty negotiations’.
But the talks could be fraught as some organisations felt ‘robbed’ by the failed referendum and will be pushing for ‘much more’, the Herald-Sun reported.
The Victorian parliament, under then premier Daniel Andrews, passed legislation with bipartisan support in 2022 to set up a Treaty Authority with $65million in initial funding.
But the failure of the Voice to Parliament referendum just over a year ago had seen the Opposition’s support for a treaty in Victoria go cold.
The Coalition has expressed concern about the impact of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws on new developments in the state.
The government, now led by Premier Jacinta Allen, has not ruled out handing over compulsorily acquired private property to Indigenous groups and may also declare a new public holiday to celebrate Aboriginal culture.
With Aboriginal treaty negotiations about to start in Victoria, there has been a warning that some Indigenous groups are ‘out for blood’ due to the failed Voice referendum
Under Victoria’s Treaty Negotiation Framework, the state does not need to seek the public’s approval to sign off on any treaty agreements.
Though the state government will seek a statewide treaty, there is also likely to be separate treaties for individual groups, which could contain reparations and land use agreements.
The Opposition Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Peter Walsh said ‘Victorians should be alarmed that the Allan Labor government is starting secret treaty negotiations.
‘Without openness and transparency, Victorians will never know what rights or access to land and water will be traded away without their knowledge or agreement,’ he told the Herald-Sun.
But Natalie Hutchins, the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, vehemently disagreed.
‘If you listen to the people directly affected by policies, you get better outcomes – that’s commonsense,’ she said.
‘Treaty is about making a better and fairer state for every Victorian.’
Federal SenatorJacinta Nampijinpa Price, who was one of the leading Aboriginal voices opposed to the referendum, is concerned with how the negotiations in Victoria are progressing.
‘The truth is, if the Victorian and federal governments thought Australians were truly in favour of truth and treaty, there would be no reason for them to be going about these matters in the surreptitious way they are,’ she said.
The developments in Victoria follow NSW premier Chris Minns being slammed for also forging ahead with treaty consultations with Indigenous Australians.
Warren Mundine, an Indigenous leader who opposed the Voice, urged Mr Minns to ‘stop wasting money’, saying a treaty would not solve problems within the Aboriginal community.
The talks between the state government and dozens of Aboriginal organisations are due to begin on November 21. A rally in Melbourne on September 17, 2023 is pictured
‘It’s not going to … help anyone, it’s just a total waste of time,’ he said. ‘Stop with these stupid, stupid conversations.’
Mr Mundine, who started out as a Labor political operative before later running for a seat as a Liberal, said NSW should instead ‘start looking at the crime rate’.
‘Let’s start getting education, let’s start getting jobs and dealing with those government issues that need to be done,’ he told Sky News.
‘If we take their track record so far it shows like in the Voice campaign they went out on a “listening” tour, and they didn’t listen because they got flogged in that vote,’ he said.
‘My advice to Chris (Minns) is, come on mate, stop wasting money. We know what the issues are within Aboriginal communities.
‘We know how to fix things and get things better. Setting out these talkfests (is) just a waste of time, and even if you go ahead with it, it has to be a vote for the people of NSW.’
