THE First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria has reached an important milestone in its work to develop a Treaty negotiation framework.
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The assembly, which is the first democratically-elected body of Indigenous people in the state's history, tabled their first annual report in state parliament last week.
Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative chief executive Raylene Harradine, who is an assembly member for the north-west region, said the first report was important for the assembly.
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"For me, I think this milestone is where we can take time to just note the significant piece of work that we as a group have been working on," she said. "The luxury we have is the expertise that all of the members bring.
"We bring that breadth of cultural knowledge. All of the work we're doing is pivoted on culture. That's our guiding principal."
The report noted the assembly had made "significant progress" since its first meeting in December, with the assembly and state government now close to agreeing on an interim dispute resolution process for Treaty negotiations.
The report also said the state government had committed to delivering the assembly's two immediate priorities - a Stolen Generations Redress Scheme and a Truth-telling Process.
"We welcomed the government's commitment and emphasised that a shared understanding of Victoria's history and the truth of Aboriginal peoples' experiences is fundamental to all Victorians moving forward with the Treaty process," the report said.
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"Truth-telling and a Stolen Generations Redress Scheme are especially important because many of our Elders will not live to see the fruits of the Treaty process. We need to deliver on these priority issues now."
The report noted the assembly's aim was to have all of the elements of the Treaty negotiation framework in place by 2022.
Ms Harradine said while the past year had been challenging, the assembly was looking forward to continuing their important work.
"We will weather the pandemic and do what we have to do," she said. "The work hasn't stopped. We have to keep going together.
"COVID-19 is challenging in terms of the engagement we wanted to achieve - doing more of that work has been really difficult.
"But I'm looking forward to seeing what we're going to do in the next 12 months and see what comes out of our next annual report."
Tara Cosoleto
Journalist covering courts and general news at the Bendigo Advertiser.
Journalist covering courts and general news at the Bendigo Advertiser.
