By Kate Ashton
Australia’s first formal truth-telling inquiry has found crimes against humanity and a genocide were committed against Aboriginal people in Victoria, and has recommended that Victorian First Peoples are compensated through treaties with interest.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s expansive final report was tabled in Victorian Parliament on Tuesday.
It made 100 recommendations based on the four-year, Aboriginal-led royal commission, which investigated past and ongoing impacts of colonisation in Victoria.
It found that serious crimes were committed during the colonisation of Victoria, including “mass killings, disease, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide [the death of languages], cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation”.
The inquiry has recommended the government use a treaty framework to “provide redress for injustice which has occurred during and as a result of the colonial invasion and occupation of First Peoples’ territories”.
That included redress for “all consequent damage and loss, including economic and non-economic loss for genocide, crimes against humanity and denial of freedoms” plus interest, and could also include initiatives like tax relief.
Among the other recommendations is a call for Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly to be made permanent and given decision-making powers.
The First Peoples’ Assembly is a democratically elected body that has existed in Victoria since 2018 and is currently tasked with negotiating a state-wide treaty in Victoria.
Ongoing truth-telling initiatives among recommendations
The inquiry has also recommended enhanced opportunities around land rights for First Nations groups in Victoria.
This could include redress in the form of land grants for the families of Aboriginal soldiers who were denied land parcels after fighting for Australia in World War I and World War II.
It could also include strengthening First Peoples’ rights to land through treaty, which could mean tax exemptions for First Peoples on natural resources, or transfers of rights or entitlements on Crown lands.
It also called for more markers and memorials that feature Aboriginal perspectives at places like massacre sites, and more Aboriginal place names.
The commission also called for ongoing truth-telling initiatives, including at universities, and more funding and oversight to ensure better health, housing and educational outcomes for Victoria’s First Peoples.
Since 2021, the Yoorrook Justice Commission has been tasked with investigating the past and ongoing impacts of colonisation in Victoria.
In its extraordinarily broad terms of reference, the commission was asked to investigate systemic injustices against First Peoples in order to make recommendations that addressed past wrongs and prevented them from happening again.
Running for more than four years until this week, it is now the longest state-run royal commission in Victoria, hearing from hundreds of witnesses over 67 days of public hearings.