Victoria is on the cusp of signing a Treaty with Indigenous people. It could change lives

Victoria is on the brink of making history. This week, after years of negotiations, the state government tabled a landmark Treaty Bill in parliament.

If passed, potentially later this month, it will deliver a formal apology to First Peoples, embed Aboriginal truth-telling in schools and restore traditional names to parks and waterways.

Crucially, the Treaty process has unfolded alongside the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia’s first Indigenous-led truth-telling inquiry.

For many, “Treaty” might sound abstract or political. But in Victoria, it’s becoming something concrete: a new way of sharing power, resources and recognition that could transform the daily lives of First Peoples and set a standard for the rest of the nation.

How we got here

Unlike Canada or New Zealand, Australia never signed a Treaty with its Indigenous peoples.

British colonisation was justified under the legal fiction of terra nullius, the idea that no one owned the land.

The result was dispossession, violence, and laws that stripped First Nations people of rights most Australians take for granted.

Over the decades, governments held dozens of inquiries, from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to the Bringing Them Home report into the Stolen Generations. These exposed painful truths, but rarely led to real reform.

In 2021, Victoria tried a different path. The First People’s Assembly paired truth-telling with Treaty making. It set up the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia’s first formal truth-telling body with the powers of a Royal Commission.

Read more: A test of political courage: Yoorrook’s final reports demand action, not amnesia

Yoorrook has heard hundreds of testimonies about the impact of colonisation: from massacres and child removals to over-policing and racism in health and housing.

Importantly, this process is Indigenous-led, designed with and for First Peoples, and intended to shape Treaty itself.

The Treaty plan in detail

The flagship of Victoria’s Treaty initiative will be a new body called Gellung Warl, a Gunaikurnai phrase for “tip of the spear”.

This organisation will be more than symbolic. It’s designed as an enduring part of Victoria’s democratic landscape, with a legislated $70 million annual budget that rises by 2.5% each year. Cutting its funding would require parliament to change the law.

Gellung Warl will fold in the existing First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and expand its role. It will include:

• a permanent truth-telling body, continuing the work of Yoorrook

• an accountability commission empowered to monitor government ministers, agencies, and programs

• advisory and consultation powers, including the ability to request information about new laws and publish advice on whether proposed bills are compatible with Treaty.

This mirrors laws already in place under Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.

Elected members of the assembly will have unprecedented access to government. They will be able to make representations directly to cabinet, ministers, departmental secretaries and even the police chief commissioner.

The assembly will address parliament once a year and attend cabinet meetings at least twice annually. This is unprecedented in Australia.

Balancing empowerment with sovereignty

Some critics warn the Treaty risks undermining parliamentary sovereignty.

In January 2024, the Victorian opposition withdrew its support after the failed national Voice referendum, claiming it could create division.

The government has stressed what the bill will not do. It won’t change the state or federal Constitution, create a “third chamber of parliament” or deliver individual reparations.

Instead, it provides a framework for shared decision-making, truth-telling and accountability while preserving parliament’s authority.

Former Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bell calls this balance the bill’s two “golden threads”. It empowers Indigenous people in politics while safeguarding parliament’s ultimate lawmaking powers.

Why it matters

Once Treaty is signed, every bill introduced into parliament will need to include a Statement of Treaty Compatibility explaining whether the assembly was consulted and whether the bill aligns with Treaty’s aims.

If a bill conflicts with these aims, it can still pass, but the inconsistency will be on the record.

The hope is that Treaty will lead to practical improvements. With new accountability mechanisms such as Nginma Ngainga Wara, a First Peoples’ “productivity commission”, governments will be monitored on how policies impact Indigenous communities on the ground.

This body can conduct inquiries, publish findings and keep the pressure on, though it will not have coercive powers.

Combined with Yoorrook’s truth-telling, this architecture could reshape daily life. From better housing and healthcare to more culturally-grounded education and land management, Treaty offers a chance to tackle disadvantage through shared decision-making and self-determination.

A model for others?

Other states have flirted with truth-telling and treaty, but momentum has stalled.

In the Northern Territory, an independent Treaty Commission delivered its final report in 2021, yet the new government has since dismantled the process and wound back truth-telling initiatives.

In Queensland, the much-heralded Path to Treaty Act was repealed in 2024. This shut down the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry and the First Nations Treaty Institute.

Tasmania, meanwhile, has made little progress despite early discussion.

Against this backdrop, Victoria stands out as the nation’s only genuine bright spot. With Yoorrook and Treaty advancing side by side, it is the sole jurisdiction still committed to embedding truth-telling and Indigenous self-determination into law.

Politically, Victoria is also a test case. If the Treaty process can withstand opposition and build public support here, it may help overcome political hurdles elsewhere and set a national precedent.

Internationally, processes in Canada and New Zealand show treaties can underpin real shifts in consultation, education and challenging poor health outcomes.

Read more: The federal government has left Indigenous Treaties to the states. How are they progressing?

A turning point

Imagine if Treaty delivered Aboriginal-controlled housing, so Elders no longer waited in vain for basic repairs.

Imagine if schools placed Indigenous history and languages at the heart of the curriculum, shaping a shared Victorian identity. Imagine if land management decisions were made with Traditional Owners, restoring both country and community health.

These are not distant hopes but practical changes Treaty can make real. Next week, community leaders, academics and legal advocates (ourselves included) will meet at a roundtable to support translating the most urgent Yoorrook recommendations on land justice, criminal justice and child protection into Treaty outcomes.

Treaty is no magic wand. As an act of parliament, it can always be repealed or amended by a future government, despite efforts to “future-proof” it with funding guarantees and institutional safeguards.

But for the first time, Victoria is confronting its colonial past while reshaping its present. If it succeeds, it will not only change lives here, it will demonstrate to the nation that truth, justice, and Indigenous self-determination can finally move from rhetoric to reality.

The author would like to thank Gheran-Yarraman Steel, a Boonwurrung Traditional Owner and senior leader at RMIT, for his co-authorship of this article.