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A ‘historic’ truth telling will pave the way for helping the wider community understand intergenerational trauma faced by Indigenous Australians, according to a Victorian indigenous leader.
The Victorian Government on Tuesday announced an Australia-first ‘truth and justice’ inquiry, which will have the powers of a royal commission, to guide the state’s treaty talks.
The five-person, mostly indigenous commission will run independently of the government to investigate how colonialism has caused ongoing setbacks for Aboriginal Victorians.
The announcement was welcomed by the co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, whose family faced tremendous hardship due to brutal, historic treatment towards Aboriginals.
Aunty Geraldine detailed a traumatic personal story in which her brother was jailed for stealing milk, and a second brother was placed in a boy’s home for stealing “two bob” from a teacher during a media appearance on Tuesday.
She said the news had brought up memories of her mother, who raised her 14 children “in a tin shack on a dirt floor” and struggled to keep her family from becoming further victims of the Stolen Generation.
“My other brothers died really young, and that’s my story but there’s numerous stories like that from communities right throughout Victoria,” she said.
“We know it will be traumatic retelling those stories but those truths need to be told.”
Aunty Geraldine said the commission would be tough for her people, but would ultimately lead to positive change.
“Our elders endured genocides, massacres, a whole range of truths that need to be told,” she said.
“It’ll only draw us closer to the wider community, who will finally understand the intergenerational trauma that our young fellas are facing today.”
Victoria will become the first state in Australia to join 30 other countries who have introduced truth and justice commissions, paving the way for a treaty.
The commission will look at issues within the criminal justice system, incarceration rates, poor life expectancy, health issues and school absenteeism among other issues.
Deputy Premier James Merlino said it would take around three years for any recommendations to be handed down, with an interim report due next year.
“This is an important, historic path we must go through – it’s an acknowledgment of historic injustice, but also contemporary injustice in our society,” he said.
“It’s long overdue and is an acknowledgment that the pain of our past is still present in the lives of people right now.”
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