The Victorian government has made a historic apology to Aboriginal Victorians in one of the first public acts to follow the signing of the state’s treaty agreement.
The official apology — which took place during a special sitting in parliament today — was negotiated as part of Victoria’s nation-leading treaty agreement, which was signed and became law last month.
This morning, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the parliament expressed its “formal and sincere apology” to First Peoples of Victoria for the harms inflicted upon them from the “actions and inactions of the state” and “the colony that came before it”.
“Decisions made in this parliament over its long history have long denied the First Peoples of its lands, their rights and their self-determination,” she told parliament.
“Today, this parliament becomes a place of reckoning, and that reckoning has meaning for all of us who call Victoria home.”
The signing of the treaty marked the end of a nearly decade-long process in Victoria. (Supplied: Leroy Miller)
While the apology passed 56 to 27, support for it was divided along party lines. Labor and the Greens voted in favour for the motion, while the Coalition opposed it.
Ms Allan said many did not know about the full extent of harm until the truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission, which heard the laws and policies of the colonial and state governments resulted in “profound and undeniable harms” to Aboriginal people.
“Colonisation of what is now called Victoria was not peaceful. It was rapid and violent,” Ms Allan told parliament.
“Lands and waters were taken without consent. Communities were displaced, languages silenced, children removed, lives lost.”
Ms Allan said sorry to every First Peoples community across the state for “the violence”, for the laws that “criminalised culture”, for the forced removal of families, and for the “harm that was done, and for the harm that continues”.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has formally apologised to Aboriginal people. (AAP: Con Chronis)
She said from today, the hope of parliament was for First Peoples’ descendants and all Victorians to “hear these truths and move forward together”, through the now-legislated treaty agreement.
“We know that words alone are not enough,” she said.
“So, let this be one act among many that honours the truth and upholds justice.”
Ms Allan closed the apology with a promise for the future that “Victoria will not look away”.
“Not from the truth. Not from the work. Not from you,” she said.
The apology will mark the beginning of a renewed relationship between Victorian Aboriginal people and the state, which has been committed to through the now-legislated treaty agreement.
“[Treaty] is not about dwelling in the past, nor laying blame. It is about acknowledging that the past still shapes the present and choosing to do better from here,” the statewide treaty agreement reads.
The apology also fulfils a recommendation from Victoria’s Aboriginal truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Yoorrook Justice Commissioner Travis Lovett arrives at Victoria’s Parliament House at the end of the Walk for Truth in June. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
Opposition leader Jess Wilson also said sorry to Aboriginal Victorians in her reply speech.
“I see the injustice in our history. I see the disadvantage that still exists today,” she told parliament.
But she said there was a “difference in approach” between the Coalition and the government in how to achieve better outcomes for First Peoples, suggesting her party would do more for “assisting Aboriginal communities to become economically sustainable”.
Ms Wilson said the Coalition would address the “continued disadvantage” of Aboriginal people if elected in 2026.Â
Victorian Minister for Treaties and First Peoples Natalie Hutchins and Leader of the Greens Ellen Sandell also extended their apologies to the First Peoples of Victoria.
Apology not a bipartisan moment
The Victorian opposition has pledged to repeal the treaty legislation if it wins government at next year’s election.
On Monday, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson wrote to Premier Jacinta Allan to say her party would not support the apology in its current form.
“The differences in approach between the Coalition and the Government in relation to Treaty represent a policy disagreement on the most effective way to close the gap, not a disagreement on the urgent need to close the gap,” Ms Wilson said in a letter seen by the ABC.
“Your proposed motion includes references to the Treaty and therefore means, as currently drafted, the Coalition could not support it.”
A smoking ceremony was conducted on the steps of Victorian Parliament ahead of a formal apology to First Peoples on behalf of the state of Victoria. (AAP: Con Chronis)
Ms Wilson said she wants to work “collaboratively” with the premier to find words so the apology can pass with bipartisan support.
On Tuesday, Ms Wilson acknowledged the lack of bipartisan support in her speech to parliament, saying former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett’s Stolen Generations apology in 1997 was “brought forward by both sides of parliament” with “words both sides of the house could endorse”.
A government spokesperson said it was undeterred by the Coalition’s position.
“After 10 years and multiple pieces of legislation, the leader of the opposition is now trying to say no after voting yes to the Voice,” they said.
“The current approach to closing the gap is not working and we must do more.
“We won’t be stopped from doing what’s right because Jess Wilson is held hostage by the extreme right in the Liberal Party.”
It is not the first official apology to be delivered to Victoria’s Aboriginal people in recognition of the state’s history of violence, dispossession, racism and exclusion.
Throughout the four-year truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission heard more than a dozen apologies from state ministers and government representatives.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after giving his apology speech to the Stolen Generations in 2008. (AAP: Stefan Postles)
Many formal apologies in the past have been focused on harms caused by the government policy of removing Aboriginal children from their families.
In 1997, Liberal premier Jeff Kennett made an apology in parliament in recognition of harms caused by the state’s policies of child removal, while a national apology to the Stolen Generations was delivered by prime minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra in 2008.
Last year, Victoria’s police commissioner made an official apology for the force’s role in the Stolen Generations.