Victoria passed Australia’s first treaty bill a year ago to start formal negotiations to reach a deal on the final version of a treaty with its Aboriginal people.
The state's Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gavin Jennings, told SBS News it is a challenging process because there are some within the Aboriginal community yet to be convinced of the treaty’s potential benefits in overcoming 200 years of unjust outcomes.
“People actually are anxious about how far their aspirations may be reached so there is a tentative engagement by many members of the Aboriginal community,” said Jennings.
The Victorian government says a treaty would improve the lives of Aboriginal Victorians.
Victorian Treaty Advancement Commissioner Jill Gallagher told NITV's The Point the purpose of the treaty is to recognise the Aboriginal community as the original people of the land. She thinks the biggest challenge is to bring everyone along because there are people with different points of view.
“That's fine, that's okay, that's what it's all about, as long as everyone gets an opportunity to be heard," said Gallagher.
Lawyer Michael Mansell also told The Point a Treaty Commission would ensure the deal works and hopes the nation is mature enough to establish a national treaty in the future.
The first step of a treaty, says Mansell, would be a land settlement and to hand back Crown lands to the Aboriginal people after a history of Aboriginal dispossession.
“The second thing it would do would be a share of power,” he says. “Is that designated seats [in parliament] or giving local government authority to discrete Aboriginal groups? That's a debate.
“The third component you would expect is a guaranteed resource or a revenue base."
Minister Jennings agrees land justice, health outcomes, education, employment, cultural heritage and language protection are all areas open for discussion in Victoria. He says there could also be more than one or even dozens of treaties negotiated, and he's not sure if other states will follow Victoria in establishing their own process, as he hasn’t received many requests from other states.
“Recently I met with the incoming Federal Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt and we talked about the way in which we could try to perhaps find a new level of collaboration across the country,” Jennings said. “He made it clear this is not a priority for the Federal Government."
However, Ken Wyatt told NITV that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreements are taking place across Australia. For example, he says the Noongar people’s South West Native Title Settlement in Western Australia is effectively a treaty.
"Victoria is doing some front-end work,” Wyatt said. “So I think we will see this evolve… It would be harder for the Commonwealth because there are certain responsibilities that sit with the Commonwealth but the majority sit with states and territories"
The next step for Victoria will be setting up an independent arbiter, known as the Treaty Authority, to mediate negotiations.
Voting will take place in August 2019 for the First People's Assembly of Victoria, an elected voice for Indigenous people which will develop a framework for future treaty negotiations.