Yoo-rrook Justice Commission welcomed by south-west Aboriginal leaders

The region's violent colonial beginnings resulted in the loss of many lives of First Nations people and in turn, in the ongoing suffering of generations to follow.

It's a history that's been rarely spoken about until now.

The state government has launched the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission, a nation-first inquiry into the historic and ongoing injustices committed against Aboriginal Victorians.

Gunditjmara man Michael 'Mookeye' Bell is the First Peoples' Assembly Member for the South West Region - the elected body established to drive Victoria's treaty process - and welcomes the truth-telling commission.

"It's a great opportunity to have a process to try and talk about the impact of colonisation on our mob," Mr Bell said.

"It's something that's needed. We've had other inquiries over the years on deaths in custody and the Stolen Generation report, but here's an opportunity to have an inquiry on colonisation.

"It's a significant outcome to have the conversation around it and to inquire about past practices and policies and how they impacted on Aboriginal people and still do today."

Yoo-rrook is named after the Wemba Wemba-Wamba Wamba word for 'truth'.

The inquiry, which will be independent of government and have the powers of a royal commission, will examine injustices committed against Aboriginal Victorians across all areas of social, political, cultural and economic life.

It will help guide Victoria's treaty negotiations with its Aboriginal communities.

"We've been working hard with self-determination, a lot has been done but we've still got a long way to go given the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system and out of home care," Mr Bell said.

"There's a fair bit of work to do around the impact of intergenerational trauma from the colonial period."

The horrific Convincing Ground Massacre in Portland is just one example of the south-west's dark colonial past.

"The region - it's frontier alright. Trying to talk about that history and the internal wars that took place inside Australia hasn't really been spoken about, not until recently.

"It's about how dispossession and the impacts of dispossession continually kept Aboriginal people back from growing with the state.

"There are good things happening too, empowering Aboriginal people in health services for example. We have well-entrenched health services in the south-west with Gunditjmara, Kirrae, Winda and Wurrung health delivering culturally-appropriate services for Aboriginal people.

"It's going to be interesting to see the findings that do come out and identify potential ways forward.

"How to get a voice that is recognised and not undermined is really important to ensuring the acknowledgement of the First People of the country."

Uncle Mookeye worked across the south-west region for over three decades in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committees (RAJAC), Koori Carnivals and in health and wellbeing.

As an Assembly Member, he is dedicated to creating an appropriate Treaty Negotiation Framework for all Traditional Owners in the south-west to negotiate future Treaties.

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Acting Premier James Merlino said more than 30 countries, including Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, had undergone a similar truth-telling process.

"This is long overdue," he said. "It's an acknowledgement that the pain in our past is present in the lives of people right now.

"It's a recognition that without truth, without justice, you can't have a Treaty.

"You can't take that incredibly powerful step forward until we go through this process of truth and justice, giving Indigenous and non-indigenous people alike the opportunity to tell their whole story, for that to be a path to truth and a path to healing.

"You can't have true reconciliation for all Victorians until we go through this process."

He said

A search is underway for five commissioners to head the inquiry, with public hearings expected to begin by July.

An interim report must be handed down within 12 months, with the inquiry expected to run for three years.

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