Overview
- Legislation would make the First Peoples’ Assembly permanent as Gellung Warl, a statutory authority with a dedicated room in Parliament and oversight by IBAC and the ombudsman.
- Truth-telling is to be embedded in the Prep–Year 10 curriculum, drawing on the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s Official Public Record as a foundational text.
- Gellung Warl would be consulted on laws and policies affecting Aboriginal Victorians, manage an Aboriginal-led infrastructure fund, and continue statewide truth-telling work.
- The treaty framework enables proposing traditional names and renaming state-controlled parks, waterways and other features considered offensive, and provides for a parliamentary apology with wording still to be negotiated.
- Labor can pass the bill in the lower house; the Coalition opposes it, the Greens back it, and with Greens’ support the government needs two more crossbench votes in the upper house, with full operations targeted by July 1 next year and total program costs reported at just over $300 million from 2020 to 2028.