"President, today is a historic day. Today is a day decades in the making.

 

Today is the day we come together - as members of this place, as advocates, allies and as a community - to speak to the first ever Statewide Treaty.

 

This moment. This history. This legacy.

 

What it means to my people, my community - it is almost beyond words.

 

5 years ago, to the day in fact, I stood there, and I delivered my first speech. I began by acknowledging and thanking the Wurundjeri People for the blessings they bestowed on me and affirmed our shared ambition for truth telling, and in the spirit of that truth, I feel those blessings every time I walk in this place, but especially right now.

 

I acknowledge and pay my respects to you today, for your Elders and ancestors for your stewardship, for your guidance and for your continued care and custodianship of this country I so love and call home.

 

You see, in that speech I talked of the significance of the national apology to the stolen generations. That was the day that my personal story and my political purpose came together, when I committed myself to doing my part in ensuring that we build a fair and truly democratic future for First Nations People. With this bill, we do just that.

 

I stand today - and every day - in the footsteps of generations of our ancestors. I carry with me the knowledge, stories and spirit of our Elders. I am strengthened by a deep and powerful connection to Country, kin and culture - one that stretches back more than 60,000 years.

 

Standing before you all in this place, I feel the weight of this heritage - and it fills me with pride.

 

Today, we join together in the spirit of healing and reconciliation to acknowledge the past, and commit to a better future - for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Victorians alike.

 

Today, we heed the call made by generation after generation of our Elders - a call to move forward into a new era together.

 

Today, after more than a century of waiting, we mark the beginning of that new era - the Treaty era.

 

The path to Treaty has been long.

 

Our old people have been on the journey to Treaty since the beginning of colonisation, having long been vocal in calling out the history of injustices and dispossession faced by First Peoples in this country.

 

As a State, we began to walk alongside First Peoples in 2016, when this Labor Government embarked on the first community consultations with the Treaty Working Group.

 

In 2018, we strengthened our commitment to Treaty through the establishment of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission and the passing of the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act.

 

In 2021, we established the country’s first ever truth-telling commission, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, to reckon with the past and ongoing injustices experienced by mob in this state, recognising that a commitment to Treaty is also a commitment to honesty, reconciliation and healing.

 

In 2022, we agreed to the Treaty Negotiation Framework and created the Treaty Authority to facilitate fair, effective and efficient Treaty negotiations between the State and First Peoples.

 

In 2024, we opened Treaty negotiations, and began the task of translating our commitment to a better, fairer tomorrow into the Bill and Statewide Treaty before this house today.

 

Now, over the course of this week, we will take the final step towards this nation’s very first Treaty - the culmination of 10 years of leadership and hard work by this Government, the First Peoples’ Assembly, the Treaty Authority and the Yoorrook Justice Commission, as well as the advocacy of the many staunch, deadly First Nations people who have fought for justice and recognition for mob over the decades, some of whom join us in the gallery.

 

President, I want to take this opportunity, as rare as it is special, to honour Dr Jill Gallagher.

 

I’ve had the unique opportunity to learn and grow under the esteemed leadership of Aunty Jill and see her steady influence all over this Treaty legislation that is before us, from her foundational work as the Treaty Advancement Commissioner. It is filled with passion, purpose and an unwavering aspiration for the future that we all deserve.

 

There are threads of compassion and understanding that are synonymous with the way Aunty Jill made sure that everyone had a say in the shaping up of our representative body that negotiated this first statewide Treaty.

 

Amongst it all, Aunty Jill had the time to be my light, to keep me strong when I wavered and to remind me that as the daughter of a stolen generation survivor I too, could find my way home and establish an even deeper connection to my people. A connection that today gives me the strength to stand before you.

 

What I haven’t said publicly before is that these last 2 years have been both a challenge and a triumph, as I discovered that out there was my grandmother, alive and strong on Yorta Yorta country after a lifetime of me and mum being told otherwise.

My story is not uncommon. But the opportunity I was given to reconnect with a family member is.

 

Up in Mooroopna, I met my grandmother for the first time, last year, in an embrace that crossed the generations and our imagination.

 

The hurt, the pain, the attempt at erasure of our people, history, culture and language cannot and should not be our burden to bear alone as First Peoples, as it has been for me and my family and too many Aboriginal families in our State.

 

Which is why I want to thank the truthtellers, who so bravely shared their stories at Yoorrook for speaking the truth to power and for changing the public record of our state.

 

I honour their courage, and I commit to never letting their histories and their stories that so closely echo my own, be forgotten.

In the name of those who came before us I am here today with a message to those fellow stolen generation survivors and their descendants, those of us driven by a fierce determination to not let the atrocities of the past ever happen again.

 

To you, I say, this: Parliament will from today, hear you, it will hear your stories, your truths and your dreams. It is upon all of us here in these red and green seats to forever honour the promise of Treaty.

 

President, throughout this process, I have been reflecting on my unique position as the only Aboriginal member of the Victorian Parliament.

 

It is not lost on me that I stand before you today, speaking about the meaning and significance of Treaty and of self-determination and justice, in the very place that has historically excluded and contributed to the inequalities experienced by Aboriginal Victorians.

 

As I stand in this chamber, it isn’t lost on me that this place voted on inflicting pain, hurt and irrevocable damage to our communities. The removal of our children, dispossession and separation from country, kin and culture happened because of decisions made right here.

 

For too long, our lives were at the mercy of people speaking for us, never held accountable for their historic failures to change our lives for the better.

 

It was this Labor Government led by Daniel Andrews and now Jacinta Allan that believed in the ambition of a Treaty, in committing to self-determination in principles, policy and practice, calling on us all to live true to our values.

 

To our Premiers, current and former, I give my thanks.

 

Yet I’m convinced that it is Natalie Hutchins that deserves recognition for her persistent impatience, for seeing and absolutely rejecting the institutional procrastination towards First Peoples progress. Natalie came to the portfolio in 2014 entirely committed to listening and acting on the views of the very people who would be impacted by the decisions she made as Minister. She set up this government with a momentum and hunger for change that she shared with Gavin Jennings and Gabrielle Williams, who with equal parts determination and solidarity proudly continued us on the long walk to Treaty.

 

And thank you to Chris Couzens for your quiet dignity and grace fuelled by a love of family, community and culture.

 

And now, back in the hands of Natalie, with the urgency that last week became abundantly clear, we have this bill before us. So to you Natalie, thank you, thank you for setting a new standard for determination and for so thoroughly rejecting the status quo.

 

For over 200 years in this place and many other halls of power like it, laws and policies have been made about my people without us.

 

But today, we change that.

 

Today, we create a new status quo, recognising that where past governments have tried and failed time and time again, it is time to try something new.

 

We know that giving people a say on the issues that impact them leads to better outcomes - for health and wellbeing, for housing security, for education and for so much more.

 

For First Peoples, this is no different.

 

We know from decades of failed policies and ineffective commissions and bodies that the best way to make a difference in the lives of First Nations Victorians is by giving us the tools to take ownership over our own lives.

 

That’s how we close the gap.

 

That’s how we end the ongoing harm and inequalities faced by our people.

 

That’s what Treaty, at its core, is all about.

 

It’s about giving Aboriginal Victorians a say in processes of law and policymaking so that we can have the same opportunities and the same chance to thrive and succeed as any other Victorian.

 

It’s about acknowledging the scars of colonisation, of the Stolen Generation, of the past and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations Victorians and committing to doing better.

 

It’s about justice, self-determination and creating a better future for all Victorians, one built on respect, truth and mutual understanding.

 

But Treaty isn’t just a promise for a better tomorrow, it’s also an invitation - an olive branch extended from my Elders to the Victorian community, asking you to join us in righting the wrongs of the past.

 

It's an opportunity to meet the moment, to walk beside us.

 

Shamefully, it is an invitation that those Opposite have turned their backs on in the other place.

 

I urge the members opposite not to make that same mistake in here this place

 

On our side, we have accepted this generous offering from our First Peoples, because we don’t shy away from change.

 

Treaty is not just words on a page - it’s action.

 

It’s how we face the truth of our past and turn it into a shared strength.

 

It’s not about division, but about coming together as equals, as partners in a shared future.

 

I’ve said before that today is a day that will go down in the history books and that will be remembered for generations to come.

 

I ask this chamber: How do you want history to remember you? Do you want to have apologise in years to come?

 

For Treaty is here. Treaty is now.

 

I invite everyone in this place and beyond to Walk with us - together, hand in hand.

 

Let’s make history. I commend the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 to the House."