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(Bloomberg) — Victoria has made history as the first Australian state to strike a treaty with its Indigenous peoples — a landmark step in a nation still reckoning with its colonial past.
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Premier Jacinta Allan signed the agreement in Melbourne on Thursday, capping nearly a decade of talks with Victoria’s First Nations peoples. The 34-page treaty document formally recognizes the harm caused by colonization and establishes a new representative body to advance Indigenous rights and outcomes across the state.
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“Today is a recognition that ancient systems of law and the modern institutions of our democracy can stand side-by-side,” Allan said.
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No Australian government has reached a formal agreement with its First Nations people in the more than two centuries since British settlement — even as countries such as Canada and New Zealand have struck similar accords.
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An excerpt from Victoria’s Statewide Treaty:
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“The injustices that began with colonisation – dispossession, racism, and discrimination – continue to shape the lives of First Peoples today. Treaty is the next step through that door. It 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.”
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Australia’s prior attempts at reconciliation with Indigenous people have seen mixed outcomes. A landmark 1992 court ruling on land rights was later diluted by successive governments, and decades of forced child removals prompted a national apology from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008. Most recently, a 2023 referendum soundly rejected Anthony Albanese’s bid to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in the constitution.
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Despite living in one of the world’s wealthiest nations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians face shorter life expectancy, poorer education outcomes and higher infant mortality than the broader population.
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Victoria’s center-right opposition has pledged to repeal the treaty if they win a statewide election due to be held in November 2026.
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