injustices against First Peoples<\/a> were investigated in a landmark, four-year inquiry by the Truth-Telling Yoorrook Justice Commission. <\/p>\nIt found the inequities faced by First Peoples in Victoria today stemmed directly from colonisation. This included overrepresentation in the justice and child protection systems and inequitable outcomes in health, housing, employment, education, economic and political life.<\/p>\n
![\"Australia's]()
Australia’s first treaty has been signed between First Peoples of Victoria and the state Government. Photo \/ Leroy Miller: First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing invasion, successive colonial and Victorian governments have enacted laws, adopted policies and engaged in practices that dispossessed and removed First Peoples from their lands and waters and denied equitable access to social services and resources,\u201d the commission said. <\/p>\n
The taking of land and resources was violent, the commission continued, as First Peoples were displaced and massacred by European settlers in the pursuit of land and waters. <\/p>\n
Despite this, the First Peoples of Victoria demonstrated \u201cremarkable resilience\u201d in maintaining their identity and their connections with each other and their land. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor time immemorial, Victorian First Peoples have practised their lore and law, cared for their communities, families and children, and nurtured Country through their spiritual, cultural, material and economic connections to land, water and resources. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst Peoples have demonstrated that with secure access to their lands, waters and resources, they are better able to provide for the social, economic and cultural needs of their community than government or industry.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Assembly]()
Assembly Co-chair and Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Dhudhuroa woman Ngarra Murray. Photo \/ Leroy Miller: First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria<\/p>\n
In a formal apology – prompted by the treaty negotiations – Allan said the treaty marked a \u201cnew era\u201d and the commission\u2019s inquiry allowed for a \u201cshared future built in full view of the past with knowledge that many of us did not know about the true extent of this harm\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow that we have a statewide treaty \u2014 a negotiated agreement between equals \u2014 we can begin to say what should have been said long ago,\u201d Allan said, adding: <\/p>\n
For the laws, the policies and the decisions of this Parliament and those that came before it \u2014 laws that took land, removed children, broke families and tried to erase culture \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the tears shed in the dark, for the silence that shadowed their years, and for the childhood taken, never to return \u2014 for the Stolen Generations \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the violence committed under the banner of the State, and the colony that came before it, and for the neglect that allowed it to continue without consequence \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the wealth built on lands and waters taken without consent, while First Peoples were locked out of the prosperity it created \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the silencing of language, and the erasure of words that carried knowledge older than the state itself \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the forced removal of families to missions and reserves, where culture was controlled, movement restricted and identity denied \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the policies that stripped First Peoples of the right to move freely, to marry without permission, to work for fair wages, or to live with dignity on their own land \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the laws and policies which removed First Peoples from their lands and allowed the sale of sacred sites without consent \u2014 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
For the laws that filled institutions disproportionately with First Peoples and made this seem ordinary \u2013 we say sorry. <\/p>\n
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible journey to get to where we are. We come from a strong history of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,60933,2840,432,85,24812,4057,5432,6928,8615,63701,1888,153181,16655,51249,209,9832,13610,221,60934,8156,59965,20513,32854,22638,153180,3234,2720,9097,111,43,139,69,384,520,766,31706,5652,13672,1529,38961,7821,17249,27704,102,63258,1354,1530,80,2963],"class_list":["post-270287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-aboriginal","tag-across","tag-action","tag-australia","tag-australias","tag-behind","tag-between","tag-celebrating","tag-come","tag-ditch","tag-first","tag-gabel","tag-glimpse","tag-grounds","tag-group","tag-helped","tag-highs","tag-how","tag-indigenous","tag-julia","tag-landmark","tag-legislation","tag-lows","tag-marks","tag-mobs","tag-months","tag-mori","tag-must","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-relationship","tag-reports","tag-signed","tag-signs","tag-state","tag-three","tag-treaty","tag-victorian","tag-visited","tag-waitangi","tag-with","tag-witnessed","tag-woman","tag-years","tag-zealand","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}