The Victorian government on Tuesday introduced a treaty bill that would establish a permanent Indigenous advisory body and allow eligible Indigenous Victorians aged 16 and over to vote for its representatives, a move that has drawn criticism from opponents who say the detail was revealed with little public consultation.
The proposed body, to be known as the Gellung Warl — a Gunaikurnai phrase meaning "tip of the spear" — would replace the temporary First Peoples Assembly of Victoria and elect 33 representatives to advise the state government on laws and policies affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Voting would be open to Victorian Traditional Owners living anywhere in Australia and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have lived in Victoria for at least three years.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the government had reached an in-principle agreement with the First Peoples Assembly after about ten months of negotiations, and framed the bill as the next step in formalising a treaty process that has been under development for almost a decade. The government estimates the deal will cost just over A$300 million from 2020 to 2028 and includes commitments to deliver a parliamentary apology to First Nations people, allow the advisory body to propose name changes for specified geographic features where evidence shows offensiveness, and require public schools to teach about Aboriginal experiences since colonisation using the Yoorrook Justice Commission's official record.
Drafters of the bill were at pains to say the advisory body would not have the power to make laws or otherwise limit the Victorian parliament's ability to govern. Allan told reporters the state treaty was "very, very different" from the federal government's rejected Voice to Parliament proposal and rejected comparisons as misinformation.
Critics, however, have seized on the proposal to allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections for the Gellung Warl, noting that it would lower the voting age two years below the national voting age for federal and state elections. Margaret Chambers, a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, told the Daily Mail that Premier Allan "has not been upfront and honest about her radical plan to allow 16-year-olds to vote in Victorian elections for this new third chamber of parliament" and described the change as an attempt to "sneak the lowering of the voting age, to 16, into the treaty process."
Opponents have also argued that the timing and detail of the bill left little opportunity for an informed public vote, noting that Victoria's electorate rejected the federal Voice proposal in 2023. Some critics said the state government had not put the matter to a referendum or included it as a question at the next state election, with Allan responding that Victorians had already indicated support for treaty processes in previous ballots.
Supporters of the treaty process point to the six-year history of the First Peoples Assembly, which was established to consult with government toward a treaty and held elections in 2019 and 2023. Those elections recorded low turnout, and some analysts suggested expanding the franchise to include 16- and 17-year-olds could raise participation in future elections for the new body.
The bill is expected to pass easily in the Legislative Assembly, where Labor holds a commanding majority, but to face more strenuous debate in the Legislative Council. Parliamentary scrutiny is likely to focus on eligibility criteria, the lowered voting age, the advisory body's scope and safeguards built into the legislation to preserve the parliament's law-making authority.
The treaty bill is the first of its kind in Australia at the state level and follows nearly a decade of preparatory work in Victoria. The preamble to the proposed law acknowledges dispossession and violence experienced by Traditional Owners after colonisation and describes the measure as ushering "the dawn of a new era" in the state.
The Daily Mail reported it contacted Premier Allan for comment. If the bill proceeds, it would mark a significant development in Victoria's relationship with its Indigenous communities and could set a precedent for other Australian jurisdictions considering formal treaty or recognition processes.