.
Victoria’s Liberals have an election promise: scrap Treaty.
After years of negotiations, meetings and parliamentary debate, their proposed next step is essentially: “Have you tried switching reconciliation off and back on again?”
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson says a Coalition government would dismantle Victoria’s Treaty framework and its First Peoples’ representative body, Gellung Warl, if elected on November 28. The Coalition has pledged to introduce repeal legislation within its first hundred days.
Victoria became Australia’s first state to sign a modern Treaty with its First Peoples last year. Its framework gives Aboriginal communities a formal role in shaping policies affecting their lives, alongside mechanisms for accountability and truth-telling. It does not give the representative body a veto over parliament.
So, no, it cannot cancel your parking fine. Although a body with that power would probably win bipartisan support overnight.
Wilson argues better outcomes should come through direct investment in health, education and justice, rather than bureaucracy.
The Coalition’s alternative? A new government department called First Nations Victoria, overseen by a minister and responsible for Closing the Gap targets.
Apparently, the cure for bureaucracy is another bureaucracy, but this one comes with a different letterhead.
Treaty supporters say the distinction matters: an independent Aboriginal representative body can challenge government, while a government department answers to it.
Former Treaty Advancement Commissioner Aunty Jill Gallagher warns that returning to older advisory arrangements would reverse hard-won progress.
And that is the serious question beneath the campaign slogans: who gets to shape decisions affecting Aboriginal communities, and how is government held accountable?
Voters will judge the competing approaches in November. Meanwhile, perhaps politicians could agree on one practical target: Closing the Gap between an election promise and an actual result.
Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based author, journalist, teacher, business consultant and social justice campaigner. He is the General Manager of the Australian Book and Language Studio.
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