Australia’s first truth-telling inquiry has found the British committed genocide of the Aboriginal people in Victoria during their colonisation of the country.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s final report, tabled in the parliament on Tuesday, detailed atrocities like “mass killings, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption, assimilation”.
The “decimation of the First Peoples population in Victoria”, the report said, “was the result of a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups”.
“This was genocide.”
The report recommended that the Victorian First Peoples be compensated, including financially, and asked the government to use a treaty framework to “provide redress for injustice which has occurred during and as a result of the colonial invasion and occupation of First Peoples’ territories”.
This would entail redress for “all consequent damage and loss, including economic and non-economic loss for genocide, crimes against humanity and denial of freedoms” plus interest. The redress could also include initiatives like tax relief.
The arrival of British ships in 1788 marked the start of colonisation, which led to genocide and lasting harm to the Aboriginal people, the report said. Today, as a direct legacy of that colonial violence, they face shorter life expectancy, poorer education outcomes and higher incarceration rates.
“First Peoples in Victoria have been consistently excluded from opportunities to generate wealth,” the report stated.
“Colonial systems prevented First Peoples from participating in economic life and wealth creation, including through education, employment opportunities and owning property,” it said, adding the economic disparities and obstacles to prosperity faced by the Aboriginal people stemmed directly from “colonial practices and state-sanctioned exclusion”.
In all, the inquiry made 100 recommendations after four years of investigating past and ongoing impacts of colonisation in Victoria.
It called for the First Peoples’ Assembly to become a permanent decision-making body and urged truth-telling initiatives in education, health and memorialisation.
The assembly, an elected body established in Victoria in 2018, is currently leading negotiations for a statewide treaty with the government.
“For the first time, we as Aboriginal people have held the pen and told our truths, in our words. This official public record has the power to change forever how people learn about the true history of this state,” Yoorrook commissioner Travis Lovett said in a social media post.
A spokesperson for the assembly told ABC that “every commissioner supported all the Yoorrook recommendations and findings, and 14,000 Victorians voted with their feet on the Walk for Truth in support of truth-telling and Treaty”.
Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg said the Yoorrook report made the case for change. “Victorians know we cannot keep doing the same thing and expecting different results,” the Gunditjmara man said. “When it comes to issues facing First Peoples, we need a different approach, one that draws on the expertise of First Peoples to design and deliver practical solutions to local challenges. That’s what Treaty is all about.”
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan welcomed the report and said her government would consider its findings.
“Victoria’s truth-telling process is a historic opportunity to hear the stories of our past that have been buried,” Ms Allan said in a statement. “These are stories that all Victorians need to hear”.
“When you listen to people, you get better outcomes and that’s what Treaty is all about. I reckon we’re up for that as a state,” she added.
“I am focused on getting better outcomes, because when you improve outcomes for Indigenous kids in schools, Indigenous kids in family settings, Indigenous men and women getting access to the healthcare that they need, that’s better for all of us.”
Gunditjmara woman Jill Gallagher, CEO of Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, said that the report’s finding of genocide was “indisputable”.
“We don’t blame anyone alive today for these atrocities, but it is the responsibility of those of us alive today to accept that truth – and all Victorians today must accept, recognise and reconcile with these factual findings,” she said.
Taungurung man Marcus Stewart, former co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, said the report was “heavy”. “The act of genocide did occur on our shores and in particular did significantly impact First Nations people here in Victoria,” he said.
Victoria’s Liberal opposition said that it would not support making the First Peoples’ Assembly permanent. The party had already withdrawn support for the state’s treaty process last year.
The Independent has contacted the UK authorities for comment.
