Submissions Library

Anita Mobourne is a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, and Gunditjmara and Wotjobaluk woman.

This submission is a transcript of Anita talking about her family’s experiences, her working life and the importance of connection, culture and identity.

Denise Sweet is a Bundjalung Gumbaynggirr woman currently on Wergaia country.

This submission is a transcript of Denise Sweet recounting her family’s experiences of injustice since colonisation.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) represents 251 members who identify as First Peoples in addition to 59 student members in kindergartens, schools, TAFEs, Adult Migrant English, Services, and disability services.

This submission covers past and contemporary educational injustices against First Peoples, the source and breadth of these injustices across the education sector, the causes and consequences of those injustices, ways to improve State accountability to prevent continuance or recurrence, and pathways to remediation.

Reconciliation Victoria is the statewide body promoting reconciliation across Victoria.

This submission covers the following key themes, issues, and ideas:

• Racism – Cultural safety, cultural load, and cultural identity
• Teacher knowledge
• Teacher education training (tertiary sector)
• Teachers’ resources
• Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) in Victorian schools and early learning
  services
• Systemic barriers to teaching First Peoples’ perspectives, histories, and
  truths in schools
• The Victorian cross-curriculum priority: “Learning about Aboriginal and Torres
  Strait Islander Histories and Cultures”
• The Marrung Aboriginal Education Plan 2016-2026 and The Koorie Education
  Workforce

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria is the independent and democratically elected body that represents First Peoples in Victoria in the state’s Treaty process.

This submission:

• provides an overview of the Assembly and the Treaty process
• outlines the inherent rights of First Peoples
• acknowledges the important role of knowledge holders
• identifies the structural reform that is needed through Treaty
• addresses reforms in the education system
• addresses reforms in the health system
• addresses reforms in the housing and homelessness system

Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc (VAEAI) is the peak organisation for Aboriginal education and training in Victoria.

In this submission VAEAI outlines what the legacy of an education system which was explicitly designed to exclude and segregate Australia’s First Nations People has meant for Koorie learners across the state and how this has shaped and influenced their engagement with the education system. VAEAI also outlines how genuine efforts towards reform have been in place for three decades and involve concerted efforts to include local community members in shared decision making.

Victor Couzens’ submission focuses on racism and other issues within the education system. He also makes suggestions to improve the system.

The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) is the lead Aboriginal child and family support organisation in Australia and the largest provider of Aboriginal family violence, justice support and homelessness services in Victoria.

This submission addresses current data trends in education for Aboriginal students, racism and improving cultural safety, the impact of trauma in engaging with education, strengthening school engagement through prevention and early intervention, and meeting the learning needs of Aboriginal students.

The National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition is a not-for-profit that aims to assert Indigenous rights to education through backing and mobilising the agency and voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and young people.

This submission examines the history of excluding First Nations students from school systems across
Australia.

Aunty Jenni Beer is a Wutjubulak woman and speaker of Wergaia.

This submission describes Aunty Jenni’s walk between two worlds, experiences growing up, and her journey to revive and reclaim the Wergaia language.