Comment

Marcia Langton
How Victoria’s Treaty could change Australia

If there was jubilation in August when Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg, co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, and Natalie Hutchins, the minister for Treaty and First Peoples, settled an “in-principle agreement” for Australia’s first Treaty after a decade-long process, it was not evident in the media. Only one or two articles covered the next step in the Treaty process. On September 9, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan introduced the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 into the Victorian parliament.

As I read her second reading speech, I expected disappointment. There was no soaring oratory; not pedestrian, I thought, but still a laundry list of mollifying statements. “This place holds the oldest living cultures on earth – a fact that we uphold with pride through treaty.” “Treaty is in your name, too, and it benefits us all … Treaty doesn’t take anything away from anyone. It’s about improving people’s lives and giving everyone a better future.”

Having followed these debates for half a century and being depressingly familiar with the arguments and details of treaty-making in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, the litany of consultative bodies and inquiries in Australia, and the loss of the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, it occurred to me that these words might have been thrilling 20 or 30 years ago. Now, they leave a bitter taste. So much has been said in this vein with utter insincerity. The treachery and vindictiveness of federal politicians and media commentators on the constitutional status of Aboriginal peoples had tainted our finely crafted words, delivered in speech after speech, petitions, submissions, books, essays and interviews.

Then I read further: “We will lead Australia, take a step closer to righting the wrongs of the past and building a better future for all Victorians … Treaty will be a source of pride for all Victorians – representative of a proudly diverse and multicultural state which values its history and all of its people … Because this is not about taking anything away from anyone – it is about practical changes to do things better, together … Use of First Nations language is a practical way we can show respect.”

We had raised this last matter in 2011, when the expert panel advised Julia Gillard’s government on constitutional recognition. Members of the committee described it as a step too far. Now it was part of a premier’s commitment to the people of her state and to the process of real reconciliation.

There was also this, about which I was less cynical: “Ensuring that the members of Parliament hear directly from First Peoples’ elected representatives is one of the ways we can reset the relationship between the state and First Peoples, ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated, and support the Parliament to make informed decisions which are in the best interests of all Victorians, including First Peoples.”

It became clear in the words that followed that what I had thought was a mundane laundry list of issues below the standard of established Indigenous rights was more than we had wanted to achieve in proposing the constitutional question in the 2023 referendum. Clearly and unequivocally, this was about the right to self-determination.

“Treaty recognises that it is not appropriate for the state to make these decisions and that it is more efficient and effective to have First Peoples making these decisions for their communities.”

The Voice we had hoped for was set out in the bill, and even if it applies only within the borders of Victoria, with no effect on federal matters, it is nevertheless the archetype of a vehicle for self-determination aspired to throughout the country by the greater majority of Aboriginal people.

The bill establishes Gellung Warl, evolving from the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, as a permanent representative body for First Peoples in Victoria. Gellung Warl will have governance, oversight and decision-making powers on First Peoples’ matters, including: providing advice to parliament and government; making specific decisions on First Peoples’ issues; holding government accountable for commitments to First Peoples; and supporting ongoing truth-telling and healing. Key functions of Gellung Warl include: strengthening the school curriculum on First Peoples’ history; proposing traditional names for geographic features; operating a First Peoples’ infrastructure fund; and leading celebrations of First Peoples’ excellence.

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria will continue as the main decision-making arm within Gellung Warl, with powers to: address parliament annually; provide input on new legislation affecting First Peoples; meet with senior government officials and cabinet; and make rules and guidelines on certain First Peoples’ matters.

The bill establishes two key offices within Gellung Warl: Nginma Ngainga Wara, an accountability mechanism to monitor government programs and policies affecting First Peoples; and Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, an office to lead ongoing truth-telling and healing efforts. Oversight measures for Gellung Warl include: independent electoral processes run by the Treaty Authority; oversight by state integrity agencies; and strong community accountability mechanisms.

Through Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, First Peoples in Victoria will have control, access and possession of the information that they have provided to the office, which is about their Traditional Owner groups, knowledge systems, customs, resources, or territories.

As I read these provisions of the bill, a series of emotions and epiphanies washed through me. This was indeed a landmark moment in Australian history.

The Victorian government and representatives of Aboriginal Traditional Owners in Victoria had settled the terms of the nation’s first Treaty, ushering in a new era of self-determination and shared decision-making.

I turned to the media to find an analysis, looking for reassurance that this first reading speech should be taken at face value. An essay by Daniel James, Yorta Yorta writer and author of several key documents in this Treaty process, gave me more than solace. Published on his Substack platform, the piece was called “Treaty: This is how we get over it”. Unlike the searing, painful text of the Yoorrook Justice Commission report, to which he had contributed, here instead was a song of hope:

“Treaty builds the architecture of a renewed relationship. It creates Gellung Warl, meaning ‘tip of the spear’ in Wemba Wemba language, a permanent body representing First Peoples, with decision-making power and the authority to negotiate further treaties. Within Gellung Warl, treaty establishes two powerful arms: Nginma Ngainga Wara, meaning ‘the voice that holds to account,’ an accountability body to monitor government action and dismantle institutional racism, and Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, meaning ‘to keep speaking truth’ in Wemba Wemba language, a permanent truth-telling mechanism to continue gathering testimony and building the public record. Together, they ensure that truth and accountability are not one-off gestures but enduring commitments.”

The bill has not yet passed in the parliament. What happens next is in the hands of politicians and future parliaments. When it becomes law, it will be followed by complex arrangements for its implementation. This would begin immediately, with elections for the new Gellung Warl expected by mid 2026. The body will then assume its expanded powers in areas such as oversight, appointments and decision-making.

While Gellung Warl will not have veto power over legislation, and the usual powers of parliament will circumscribe it, it represents a significant transfer of decision-making authority to Victoria’s Aboriginal Traditional Owners. The body will evolve from the current First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and be enshrined in law through the Statewide Treaty Act, with a legislated fund for its operations. The bill runs to 250 pages and the state’s legislation on heritage, freedom of information, audits, tax, data management, public records and public administration will be amended to enable its purposes.

The Victorian Treaty is a model for treaties in other jurisdictions. It has been closely watched in New South Wales, where Treaty commissioners are consulting with Aboriginal people in that state.

For now, Victoria stands alone in reaching this milestone after decades of calls for Treaty from Aboriginal people. As Victorians await its passage into legislation, this historic document outlines the terms for the first Australian experiment in shared sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination. The challenge will be in translating the Treaty’s lofty words into tangible improvements in the lives of Aboriginal people in Victoria.

Most Aboriginal people in Victoria are celebrating a hard-won victory with cautious optimism about the road ahead. The joy in having reached this critical step is evident in the words of Daniel James, who, like so many others, has worked 10 long years for this.

“This moment did not arrive out of nowhere,” he writes. “It carries the weight of a line that stretches back more than sixty thousand years across the lands and waters we now call Victoria. A line of footsteps, stories, and sovereignty that refuses to be broken. As the treaty preamble itself declares, ‘This land was never empty, never ceded, never erased.’ ”

This is the sovereignty that is truly Indigenous, not one derived from slogans based on a poor understanding of the Westphalian concept, shouted at protests at Flinders Street Station. It is drawn from the dust of ancestors in the land and from the spiritual connection that holds Aboriginal people to that line of descent from the ancients.

We should celebrate when the bill becomes an act. It will transform the bitterness of more than 200 years of history into a new and exciting era of becoming more than a postcolonial province with a “regrettable” history. As Njamal legal scholar Tyson Holloway-Clarke and Professor Lee Godden of the Melbourne Law School put it: September 9, 2025, was a day of “peace making, of law making, of healing and reconciling”.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on October 4, 2025 as "A model Treaty".

For almost a decade, The Saturday Paper has published Australia’s leading writers and thinkers. We have pursued stories that are ignored elsewhere, covering them with sensitivity and depth. We have done this on refugee policy, on government integrity, on robo-debt, on aged care, on climate change, on the pandemic.

All our journalism is fiercely independent. It relies on the support of readers. By subscribing to The Saturday Paper, you are ensuring that we can continue to produce essential, issue-defining coverage, to dig out stories that take time, to doggedly hold to account politicians and the political class.

There are very few titles that have the freedom and the space to produce journalism like this. In a country with a concentration of media ownership unlike anything else in the world, it is vitally important. Your subscription helps make it possible.

Send this article to a friend for free.

RELATED READING