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The Treaty Advancement Commission was an independent office launched in January 2018.
Its job was to set up the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria (formerly known as the Aboriginal Representative Body) and continue to build momentum on the journey to treaties.
The Commission was led by Commissioner Jill Gallagher AO a Gunditjmara woman from western Victoria.
The Commission held more than 30 Aboriginal community gatherings across Victoria in 2018. The Commission subsequently revised the Treaty Working Groups proposed model for the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria.
In 2019 the Commission also worked with community members who are in prison to support people to be informed and engaged with the treaty process.
The Commission consulted with Elders across Victoria in 2019 as part of the work to design an Elders Voice in the Treaty process.
The Commission oversaw the 2019 First Peoples Assembly of Victoria election that determined 21 of the Assembly seats. Enrolment opened in May more than 70 candidates nominated and voting took place between September and October.
The Treaty Advancement Commission ceased to exist once the Assembly was set up in late 2019.
The Working Group was set up in 2017 and represented community. It included representatives from Traditional Owners Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and young Aboriginal people.
It was the key voice to government in the process that led to the establishment of the Commission and the Assembly and co-authored the Treaty legislation. It guided government engagement and consultation with community.
When the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission was established the Working Group took on a new role:
These community members were part of the Working Group:
In 2018 The Working Group published a final report outlining its recommendations to set up the Aboriginal Representative Body (now the Assembly) in March 2018.
The Aboriginal Community Assembly involved 31 Aboriginal Victorian community members making important decisions about the design of the First Peoples Assembly / Aboriginal Representative Body in 2017.
These decisions included:
The legal form of the body;
How it would be governed; and
How it would represent the community
In December 2017 the Community Assembly produced a full report to the Aboriginal Treaty Working Group on the issues referred to it.
Click here to access the report.
The Community Assembly finished after the report was completed.
These community members were part of the Community Assembly:
In 2018 the Victorian Parliament passed a law committing the government to the Treaty process.
This means the government is bound by law to work with the Assembly for the purpose of advancing a Treaty process. It means the process is more secure.
