Victoria's First Peoples' Assembly will be given the power to establish its own educational institute under the forthcoming statewide treaty agreement, the ABC can reveal.
The revelation is one of the first practical outcomes to be detailed following nine months of negotiations between the elected Victorian Aboriginal body and the Victorian government.
A bill to legislate Victoria's nation-leading treaty agreement — which is now in the final stages of drafting — is expected to be introduced into parliament in the coming weeks.
While there has been a number of public updates on the progress of Victoria's treaty negotiations, the full details of the agreement, including what it will cost, remain confidential.
For the first time, the First Peoples' Assembly has outlined it intends to build an Aboriginal-run, education institute that will provide targeted skills and leadership training to First Peoples.
It will be called 'The First Peoples' Institute'.
First treaty expected before the end of this year
The Statewide Treaty Bill will facilitate the legal changes required before the signing of the treaty agreement, which is expected to happen later this year.
While the bill still requires cabinet and parliamentary approval, under treaty, the First Peoples' Assembly expects to be empowered to create Aboriginal-led initiatives like its proposed 'First Peoples' Institute'.
Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg told the ABC that through treaty, the First Peoples' Assembly will build new institutions to support community needs and self-determination.
"Through treaty, we are developing First Peoples'-led organisations to be able to make decisions on First Peoples' matters, hold government accountable and continue ongoing truth-telling and healing," he said.
Mr Berg said the educational institute, which the ABC understands will be built slowly over decades, will help address higher education gaps in the Aboriginal community and boost the existing Aboriginal workforce to "meets the needs of this new treaty era".
The ABC understands it will not be set up as a school or university, but a specialised training provider to work alongside established Aboriginal training organisations and academic institutions.
Elected Aboriginal body to be given new treaty-backed powers
The First Peoples' Assembly is a democratically elected body of Victorian Aboriginal traditional owners, which is responsible for negotiating the first state-wide treaty.
The upcoming treaty agreement is expected to secure an ongoing role and expanded powers for the Assembly — something already publicly backed by Premier Jacinta Allan.
There are still questions about how it will work.
Previous treaty negotiation updates suggest the ongoing Assembly will have accountability, advisory and decision-making roles to be set out in Victorian legislation and through the treaty agreement.
It will not have veto power over government decisions.
But the Assembly's announcement of its proposed new education institute shows it is expecting to receive new treaty-backed powers to create and fund its own projects.
It is unclear how much the proposed education institute will cost, though the ABC understands it will be funded directly by the First Peoples' Assembly, which will in turn be funded through the treaty agreement.
The state Liberals no longer support treaty or any ongoing role for the First Peoples' Assembly, which opposition leader Brad Battin has previously labelled a "Victorian Voice to Parliament".
The federal Voice to Parliament, defeated at the 2023 referendum, was proposed as an advisory body enshrined in the federal constitution.
While the Victorian Peoples' Assembly will have an advisory role, other responsibilities discussed at negotiations include:
- being able to ask questions of government ministers
- monitoring progress made under national Close the Gap agreements
- decision-making on issues like confirmation of Aboriginality
- making some statutory appointments for designated First Peoples’ seats on government boards
- leading ongoing truth-telling, healing and reconciliation initiatives across Victoria
New education institute 'shouldn't be feared'
Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg said the proposal for the First Peoples' Institute followed requests from community members throughout treaty consultations.
"Our peoples have faced racism, discrimination and institutional exclusion, which have kept us from accessing the same educational opportunities as non-Aboriginal people," he said.
Victoria's truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, found First Nations students continue to experience racism within the university system.
It found Aboriginal people were under-represented in the tertiary education system and over-represented among enrolled students who did not complete tertiary education.
Uncle Alan Brown is a Gunditjmara man who sits on the Elders Voice advisory committee to the Assembly.
He said the new institute would be a "safe place" for Aboriginal people and build on the successes of previous Aboriginal-run education programs.
Uncle Alan helped establish Koori Kollij, a training program run by Victoria's Aboriginal Health service in the 1980s.
"There are opportunities for Aboriginal people in other areas of the educational system, but this is important because it becomes our own," he said.
"It shouldn't be feared. It should be embraced."
He said it was commonplace for other groups like religious institutions or industry associations to set up training programs to meet specific needs.
Just as the Koori Kollij helped equip a growing workforce of Aboriginal health workers, he said the new institute would equip First People with relevant skills for the treaty era.
"The strength of our own First Peoples Institute is that the courses will be designed about what we need to build our future ... that will be driven by Victorian Aboriginal people," Uncle Alan said.
Indigenous education academic and Deakin University associate professor Aleryk Fricker said the institute would help address entrenched educational inequality.
He said he did not think it would create unnecessary duplication with existing Aboriginal institutes in mainstream universities and was a stepping stone towards the long-held aspiration for an Indigenous-owned higher education institute.
"This proposal is a long way away from any kind of Indigenous tertiary institution, however it will potentially set a really important precedent for us to have some serious conversations around this reform," Professor Fricker said.
As for whether non-Indigenous people working in the Aboriginal sector might also be invited to study at the proposed institute, Uncle Alan said that detail had not been worked out yet.
"You would think nothing's off the table ... why wouldn't we one day be thinking about what can we do for the rest of Victoria?"
