Submissions

DB grew up on the Great Ocean Road, on what they only recently learned is Gadubanud land. Their family owned properties on various Aboriginal lands, benefiting financially over generations. They express regret over their colonial ignorance and indifference, hoping for justice to be achieved and economic reparations made.

Rebekha Naim, a white Australian, expresses deep sadness over the rejection of The Voice in 2023 and highlights the ongoing marginalisation and destruction of Aboriginal culture and rights. She advocates for a Treaty for Victoria, urging the recognition and respect of Aboriginal voices and culture.

Joey T discusses their knowledge of the colonisation of Victoria, noting how the British initially thought Victoria’s colonisation was illegal, and authorities were concerned by its violence and speed. They call for creating a shared history in order to shape a better future and a new relationship between First Peoples and all Victorians.

Consumer Action Law Centre is an independent advocacy organisation offering community legal and financial counselling to support people facing vulnerability and disadvantage. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO), provides culturally safe legal services to Aboriginal communities across Victoria.

This report delves into the experiences of First Nations consumers across Victoria, documenting the work of both organisations in providing crucial civil legal and financial counselling support. By integrating client stories and data, it examines intergenerational financial exclusion, housing challenges, and the need for safer systems. The report calls for urgent reforms to break cycles of disadvantage and achieve culturally safe outcomes for First Nations people.

Rob outlines how the injustice for First Nations people lies in the lack of education about their history, culture, and the shameful treatment they received in Australia. He hopes his 3-year-old son and his peers will experience some school education on the true history of Indigenous people to foster empathy and drive reconciliation efforts.

A 70-year-old man acknowledges his ancestors’ role in dispossessing the original inhabitants to the land and believes his generation must help survivors recover, though the appropriate response remains unclear.

Some of the Thomson family descendants make this submission in hope that, it assists to establish the truth of impact on First Nations by early settlers, it will also highlight First Nations resilience and offer a story of allyship that might inspire the people of these lands to shape and be shaped together by a more equitable and shared future.

This submission is from a takatāpui (LGBTQIA+ Māori) rōpū (group) based in Narrm. They make this submission in the hopes it contributes to the healing of the wounds of colonial violence.

The submission covers:

1. background regarding their whakapapa as a rōpū;
2. the kaupapa of their submission & rōpū experiences;
3. their expression of support for Aboriginal kaupapa as Indigenous manuhiri in Victoria;
4. and further acknowledgements

It also includes a waiata (song) described as a “a love song to Aboriginal land and peoples”.

The “Roads to Reconciliation: Activating Multicultural Victoria” project, led by multicultural and First Nations leaders, aims to activate multicultural communities across Victoria to engage with, understand, and address the systemic injustices that First Nations peoples have faced since colonisation.