Victorian State Opposition Pulls Support for Indigenous Treaty

A 'Yes' street mural painted by muralist Tom Civil in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 2, 2023. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Victoria’s opposition has withdrawn support for a formal treaty between the state and local Indigenous communities, citing concerns around transparency as well as delays to construction and new developments.

The move follows that of the state Queensland opposition late last year, which withdrew its support for a treaty following the national defeat of The Voice referendum on Oct. 14.

Victorian Nationals leader and shadow spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs, Peter Walsh, said the party had concerns about cultural heritage laws and their impact on development in the state.

“I share those concerns that developers have been saying and that is being exacerbated by the Bunurong Land Council going into administration, which covers most of the greater area of Melbourne,” he told Sky News on Jan. 21.

“But there have been issues across regional Victoria dating back years, where people can’t get the study they need done, they can’t get even get a response to a request to have a study.”

The MP said studies were also expensive and approvals could also be delayed indefinitely.

“Classic example, someone wanted to de-silt a channel. The channel was built decades ago, there was silt in it, zero chance of cultural heritage issues, but they couldn’t actually get permission to clean that channel out so they could get water for their piggery,” he said.

Despite supporting the treaty in 2022, Mr. Walsh said “things had changed” since then.

“We have had internal discussions, and we don’t believe we should proceed with the treaty until issues around cultural heritage, until issues around the traditional owner settlement, are actually resolved that I moved in the Parliament last year.”

Premier Responds

Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan accused the opposition of trying to “crab walk” away from the treaty under the guise of cultural heritage issues.

“People know that you’ve got to go through a range of third-party approvals, traditional owner groups, water authorities, utility corporations, councils, and depending on what sort of size and style the development is, state and federal government approval processes as well,” she told reporters on Jan. 22.

She said the Opposition Leader John Pesutto, rather than the Nationals leader, should be explaining the “enormous U-turn” by the Liberal-Nationals.

“This was a decision that was taken by the shadow cabinet in October. Let’s think back to October, there was a by-election going on. The Liberal party were asking the Victorian community of Mulgrave to support them and their policies, yet they were concealing from the Victorian community their U-turn on something as big and important [as the] treaty.”

The head of the First People’s Assembly Rueben Berg said the decision was disappointing but was confident the process could continue.

“There’s many concerns from a traditional owner standpoint as well around that cultural heritage legislation,” he told ABC radio.

“The reality is that treaty provides an opportunity to address some of those things in really meaningful ways.”

Mr. Berg said that despite national opposition to The Voice, the treaty was a different issue and had support.

Has Indigenous Reconciliation Gone Too Far?

On Oct. 14, 55 percent of Victorians voted against changing the Constitution to incorporate an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The Voice included a separate advisory body to the legislature and executive, focused on matters deemed relevant to Indigenous people.

The defeat of the referendum also spurred the Liberal-National Party opposition in Queensland to withdraw its support for an Indigenous treaty in the state, while sparking wider discussion over whether Aboriginal reconciliation has gone too far.

Notably, the chief of the Queensland Police Union, Ian Leavers, spoke out against a treaty, saying it would lead to segregation in the criminal justice system—one set of rules for Indigenous perpetrators, and another for the rest of society.

“This will be uncomfortable to read and some people will whip themselves into a frenzy over it, but the facts are clear: The latest data from Queensland Corrective Services confirms young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have committed more serious crimes than any other group in custody,” he wrote in The Courier-Mail on Oct. 25.

Mr. Leavers criticised several recommendations from Victoria’s Yoorook Justice Commission on Indigenous offenders.

“It suggests allowing every First Nations criminal to be given immediate bail for everything except murder and terrorism,” Mr. Leavers wrote. “That’s right. They are effectively offering a free pass to every rapist, domestic violence abuser, habitual home invader, and car thief who tells police they identify as Aboriginal.”

Meanwhile, two city councils in South Australia have scrapped the Indigenous “Acknowledgement to Country” ceremony during council meetings, while the Western Australian Labor government last year had to back down from its Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act just one month after introducing it to Parliament.