FAQs
About the Treaty Authority
What is the Treaty Authority’s role?
The Treaty Authority:
- Oversees Treaty negotiations in Victoria
- Makes sure parties follow the rules in the Treaty Negotiation Framework
- Assists parties to make agreements
- Helps to resolve disputes related to Treaty-making and
- Carries out research to support and inform Treaty negotiations.
Is the Treaty Authority independent?
The Treaty Authority was established by agreement between the State of Victoria and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria. It is independent of the State and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – it is not subject to direction and control of a Minister (or anyone else) and has a budget guaranteed by law.
What authority does the Treaty Authority have to oversee Treaty-making?
The Treaty Authority’s key functions are set out in legislation, including overseeing Treaty-making in Victoria. Other formal agreements, including the Treaty Negotiation Framework and the Treaty Authority Agreement, set out more detailed information about how we work and our role in Treaty-making.
How is the Treaty Authority funded?
In the Treaty Authority Agreement, the State of Victoria committed to providing ongoing funding sufficient to ensure that the Treaty Authority can undertake its functions and duties effectively and exercise its powers under the Treaty Authority Agreement, the Treaty Negotiation Framework, the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018 (Vic) and the Treaty Authority and Other Elements Act 2022 (Vic).
The Treaty Authority’s ongoing funding is secured through a special appropriation in the Treaty Authority and Other Elements Act 2022 (Vic). This ongoing funding ensures the Treaty Authority can perform its functions independently from and free from any perception of interference by any party to the Treaty process.
Who are the Treaty Authority Members?
The Treaty Authority is led by five respected Treaty Authority Members, all First Nations people, who were appointed through an independent process and have been brought on board for their experience, expertise and cultural knowledge to oversee Treaty-making.
The Treaty Authority Members are:
- Jidah Clark, Djab Wurrung (Chair)
- Petah Atkinson, Yorta Yorta
- Thelma Austin, Gunditjmara
- Andrew Jackomos, Yorta Yorta
- Duean White, Biripi
Do Treaty Authority Members have a Code of Conduct?
The Treaty Authority Members follow Standards of Conduct when they carry out their roles, including when making decisions. The standards include things like being impartial and independent, acting fairly and with integrity and respect, being culturally safe, managing conflicts of interest and being transparent.
Statewide Treaty
What is Statewide Treaty?
Statewide Treaty will be negotiated with the State of Victoria over all Country that is currently known as Victoria. Statewide Treaty will benefit all Victorians, including Victorian Traditional Owners and First Peoples living in Victoria.
How is Statewide Treaty different to a local Traditional Owner Treaty?
Statewide Treaty will be about statewide matters that impact all First Peoples living in Victoria, such as improving health, education and justice. This is different from local Traditional Owner Treaties which reflect Traditional Owners’ aspirations and priorities for their own Country.
Is the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria negotiating Treaty on behalf of all First Peoples?
The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria has been entered onto the Negotiations Database as the First Peoples’ Representative Body for the purposes of Statewide Treaty negotiations. If you’re an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person or organisation from Victoria, you can share your views on the First Peoples’ Assembly’s plans to meet standards and represent you in Statewide Treaty. Have your say here.
If the Assembly is identified as the body that will negotiate Statewide Treaty with the State, it will represent all First Peoples living in Victoria in negotiations.
What will Statewide Treaty be about?
Statewide Treaty will be about statewide matters that impact all First Peoples living in Victoria. This could include things like improving health or education, or big structural changes like having a permanent First Peoples’ representative body.
The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria has already expressed they will seek to progress Yoorrook recommendations.
How can First Peoples have a say about what’s in Statewide Treaty?
The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria is already yarning with First Peoples to get ideas and feedback for Treaty negotiations. Reach out to the Assembly to find out more.
Will Statewide Treaty benefit First Peoples who aren’t Traditional Owners?
Yes. Statewide Treaty is about matters that impact all First Peoples living in Victoria, including First Nations peoples who live in Victoria but aren’t Victorian Traditional Owners.
How are we going to support Stolen Generations in making Treaty?
Stolen Generations members can be represented through the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Victoria are eligible to enrol and vote for their local Member of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria. This includes Stolen Generations members living in Victoria.
When will negotiations start for Statewide Treaty?
Negotiations for Statewide Treaty are expected to start later this year.
How long will Statewide Treaty take to negotiate?
There is no time limit for how long it will take to negotiate Statewide Treaty. This is the first time Treaties will be negotiated in Australia, and we expect it will take time.
Interim agreements can be made along the way to bring benefits to First Peoples during Treaty negotiations rather than waiting until a final agreement is reached.
Traditional Owner Treaties
What is a Traditional Owner Treaty?
Traditional Owner Treaties can be negotiated by Traditional Owners about their aspirations and priorities over their Country including their traditional lands and waters.
How is a local Traditional Owner Treaty different from Statewide Treaty?
Unlike Statewide Treaty that will be about statewide matters that affect all Victorian First Peoples, local Traditional Owner Treaties relate to matters that are important to Traditional Owners in their own local areas.
What authority do Traditional Owners have to negotiate a Treaty?
Traditional Owners have the right to speak for Country, which gives them the power to negotiate a Treaty. They also have rights under international human rights law to self-determine their own political, legal, social and cultural affairs.
How can Traditional Owners apply to be a part of the Treaty process?
Any Traditional Owner group in Victoria can let the Treaty Authority know that it wants to be part of Treaty. To notify us of your interest in being a part of negotiations, a group must confirm how it satisfies the Minimum Standards as set out in the Treaty Negotiation Framework. The first step is to have a yarn with the Treaty Authority.
What if more than one group wants to negotiate a Treaty in the same area?
There can only be one Traditional Owner Treaty that covers any particular part of Victoria. This means that if more than one group wants to negotiate a Treaty in the same area, they have to come together as a Delegation to negotiate with the State.
Who can negotiate a Traditional Owner Treaty?
A Traditional Owner Treaty is negotiated by what is known as a ‘Treaty Delegation’. This might include one Traditional Owner group or multiple groups on the Negotiations Database who come together to form a Delegation for the same area.
If more than one Traditional Owner group wants to negotiate a Treaty over the same Country, they have to come together to form a single Treaty Delegation.
Can an individual negotiate a Treaty?
A Traditional Owner Treaty can only be negotiated by a Delegation, which is made up of one or more Traditional Owner groups on the Negotiations Database. To be a part of Treaty negotiations, individuals will be represented as a member of a Traditional Owner group in the delegation.
What if we can’t agree on a Delegation to negotiate a Treaty?
We know that for some Traditional Owner groups, forming a Delegation to negotiate a Treaty over the same Country may be challenging and take time.
We recognise that it won’t always be easy to work through the ongoing impacts of colonisation and dispossession, so the process aims to provide time and support to allow different groups to self-determine who will negotiate a Treaty in the same area.
The Treaty Authority can help to resolve disputes about forming a Delegation, including when different groups are unable to find a way forward together.
Is there a time limit for negotiating a Treaty?
There is no time limit for negotiating a Traditional Owner Treaty. This is the first time Treaties will be negotiated in Australia, and we expect it will take time.
What are the Minimum Standards for Traditional Owners?
The Treaty Negotiation Framework sets out the standards that all Traditional Owner groups must meet to enter Treaty negotiations.
The Minimum Standards are grouped into four categories:
- Land and Waters: A Traditional Owner group must identify the Country over which they intend to negotiate a Traditional Owner Treaty.
- Community: A Traditional Owner group must state how it identifies collectively, and provide a list of members. It must also identify its governance structure.
- Leadership: A Traditional Owner group must choose and authorise its negotiating team, and identify the group’s decision-making processes.
- Inclusivity: A Traditional Owner group must identify its processes to:
– Ensure the group is inclusive of all its members
– Uphold Cultural Authority
– Educate and consult its members regarding Treaty negotiations and
– Seek the collective support of its members about any Treaty negotiation outcomes.
What can a Treaty include?
Traditional Owners in Victoria will negotiate Treaties that reflect specific aspirations and priorities for their communities and traditional lands and waters.
Treaties might include things like:
- Traditional relationships with land and waters including reparations, entitlements and management
- Strengthening culture and language
- Economic underpinnings for caring for Country and
- Business development opportunities.
How do Traditional Owner groups register their interest with the Treaty Authority?
Once the Treaty Authority has opened its Database, Groups will be able to register their interest with the Treaty Authority. We will let First Peoples know how to do so.
The first step will be to have a yarn with our Members.
Can a family register its interest? Do we need to be incorporated? Do we need to go through a Traditional Owner corporation?
A family can register its interest. Any Traditional Owner group that is satisfied it meets the Minimum Standards in the Treaty Negotiation Framework can make a notification to go onto the Negotiations Database. There is no requirement to be incorporated.
What support is available to help us with our application?
The Self-Determination Fund has been set up to support Traditional Owners to get Treaty-ready. They can help Traditional Owner groups who need support to come together, to form their aspirations for Treaty, to undertake a range of activities to meet the Minimum Standards in the Treaty Negotiation Framework and to prepare to enter negotiations.
Contact the Self-Determination Fund on 1800 371 103 or on [email protected]
How will you ensure that Yoorrook’s recommendations are responded to?
The subject matter of Treaty negotiations will be for the parties to decide. We expect that parties will be keen to use the recommendations from Yoorrook to guide their discussions. Statewide Treaty will also progress Yoorrook recommendations.
General
What is a Treaty?
A Treaty is a formal agreement between First Peoples and the Government.
In Victoria, there are two types of Treaties that can be negotiated – Statewide Treaty to benefit all First Peoples living in Victoria and a series of individual local Traditional Owner Treaties.
What is the Treaty Negotiation Framework?
The Treaty Negotiation Framework is the agreement between the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the Victorian Government that sets out the rules for Treaty-making in Victoria.
The Treaty Authority is responsible for making sure that negotiating parties follow the rules in the Treaty Negotiation Framework.
When will Treaty negotiations begin?
We expect the Treaty process to begin in the second half of 2024. There are some steps before negotiations can begin. These include confirming that the State of Victoria, the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and Traditional Owner groups have met their obligations, and that negotiation protocols have been agreed on.
What do I need to know about the Negotiations Database?
The Treaty Authority manages a database known as the Negotiations Database.
The Database is where public and private information is held about Treaty negotiations. This includes public information such as who is negotiating a Treaty, the Country it will cover and the status of negotiations.
If you are a Traditional Owner group that wants to negotiate a Treaty over your Country, the database is also where you will submit your forms and supporting information to begin the process.
Will all information about Treaty negotiations be public?
Not all information about Treaty negotiations will be public.
The Treaty Authority needs to make some information public to uphold its accountabilities under the Treaty Negotiation Framework. We will tell First Peoples parties what information about them we need to release, and they will be able to review and agree to the wording beforehand.
How will cultural knowledge be protected?
The Treaty Authority will uphold and observe Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Data Governance principles to the fullest extent possible having regard to applicable laws.
We will protect the knowledge and information (data) we receive from First Peoples parties and participants. We know some cultural knowledge is sacred and should not be shared widely. We’ll ask Traditional Owners to identify this knowledge and tell us if specific protections are needed for it.
Why do I keep hearing the term Minimum Standards?
The term Minimum Standards comes from the Treaty Negotiation Framework.
All parties who want to negotiate a Treaty must meet the Minimum Standards before they can enter negotiations – this includes the State of Victoria, the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and Traditional Owner groups.
The Minimum Standards are about:
- Land and waters
- Community
- Leadership and
- Inclusivity.
What happens if a party breaches a Treaty?
As part of Treaty negotiations, parties must agree on a dispute resolution process and ways to enforce the Treaty if a party breaches it (e.g. a tribunal). These enforcement processes may depend on the content of Treaties.
It also has to be clear in a Treaty that parties can’t start legal action until the dispute resolution process agreed in the Treaty has been followed by the parties.