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Victoria Investigating Whether To Offer Indigenous People Reparations For Past Injustices

Victoria Investigating Whether To Offer Indigenous People Reparations For Past Injustices

The state is launching an Australian-first inquiry to investigate the ongoing effects of colonisation on Victoria’s Indigenous community.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Victoria is launching an Australian-first inquiry to investigate the ongoing effects of colonisation on the state's Indigenous community.

The Truth and Justice Commission is backed by a recent royal commission and will look into whether reparations should be offered to Aboriginal people for past injustices.

According to The Age, the inquiry will mirror a similar one introduced in South Africa under Nelson Mandela to sort out enduring issues from apartheid. New Zealand, Mauritius and Canada have also brought in alike commissions.

It's unclear whether the commission will be able to compel witnesses to make recommendations like a Royal Commission.

PA

There will be hearings looking into how the Indigenous population of Australia operate socially economically in the country, as well as how their health is compared to other citizens.

Those meetings will also seek to understand how colonisation and things like the White Australia Policy have affected them.

Gunditjmara man Michael Bell said the over-representation of Indigenous people in jail, high proportion of children in foster care, and difficulties of older women getting work were all representations of how colonisation have affected them.

It's hoped the inquiry will help the wider public know about the country's history and lead to real-world change.

The First People's Assembly issued a statement to The Age, which said: "It is important that the hunger for knowledge by the public and the willingness of Aboriginal people to tell their stories, despite the pain it will cause, be given the best possible setting for the truth to emerge."

PA

The Assembly is comprised of 32 people who are elected community members and traditional owner representatives. Their job is to set out rules and framework for a treaty with the Victorian government.

Bangerang woman, Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, said: "It's about being able to negotiate. Treaty will give us leverage when working with government. We can negotiate what Aboriginal communities need and require for us to have, I think, parity with the wider community."

Victoria is the only state or territory in the country that has has enacted the treaty and truth elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

The statement called for an Indigenous 'voice' in the constitution and a truth-telling commission, with the latter being announced today (March 9).

The inquiry is expected to wrap up and reveal its findings after November next year after the state election.

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Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia