Friday 12 December – John Cain Arena
Ngatanwarr. Kardangran WW Mirring. Ngatoongan Mineer Nyoottoong Mirring pa Alam Meen.
We pay our respects to the land. The Elders here today, and to those that passed before witnessing this moment.
And to our ancestors whose campfires are in the sky.
My name is Jidah Clark. I’m a proud Djab Wurrung man, and I am the Chair of the Treaty Authority.
The Treaty Authority is the independent body that oversees Treaty-making in Victoria. Led by five Aboriginal people, we help bring Traditional Owners and the State to the negotiating table.
The Treaty Authority safeguards the Treaty process, ensuring it happens with equity, fairness and integrity. And that it respects both systems of law.
We played this role in the negotiations for the First Statewide Treaty.
Today we acknowledge the work of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the State of Victoria and congratulate both Parties.
We congratulate all of those who have contributed to the work. And to the law keepers, those who stomped the ground today, and our old people who laid the foundations for what has been achieved.
We congratulate all Victorians, who gain a stronger sense of belonging, a stronger identity, and who will inherit a more just and fairer future.
But the Statewide Treaty we celebrate today is only part of the story. More will be written by Victorian Traditional Owners.
We now have Traditional Owner Groups on the Treaty Negotiations Register – the first formal step toward making local treaties.
Many more are preparing to join them.
To them, we say – this journey is yours to shape. If you decide to walk the path to Treaty, we’re with you every step of the way.
Treaty is a call for justice, it is an invitation to reckon with the past, to set us all on a path to healing, and to celebrate the legacy of the world’s oldest continuing culture.
Victoria has accepted that invitation.
Decades of tireless, Community-led advocacy. Almost twelve months of negotiations.
Now, with today’s Cultural Assent, the Treaty Authority announces that the First Statewide Treaty has commenced.
