Breaking: The CEO of the country’s first truth-telling commission on the impacts of colonialism and injustice on Indigenous Victorians has resigned amid infighting between administrators and commissioners | auspol Indigenous Yoorrook LatimoreJack
The CEO of the country’s first truth-telling commission on the impacts of colonialism and injustice on Indigenous Victorians has resigned amid infighting between administrators and commissioners.
The resignations raise questions about whether the commission will be forced to make further delays, with the most recent proposal for the start of public hearings proposed for the end of March or early April this year, almost 12 months after it was established. The deadline for its interim report is June.
The commission was set up in partnership between the First People’s Assembly and the Andrews government and announced in March last year, with an allocation of $58 million in that year’s state budget. The first dedicated truth-telling and justice commission of its kind in Australia, it is tasked with examining systemic injustice experienced by Aboriginal communities in Victoria since European colonisation and is considered integral to the state’s treaty process.
“We’ve been clear all along that without truth there can’t be treaty. Now it is time to deliver truth which is a critical step forward in the treaty process.” The Victorian Traditional Owners Land Justice Group, which represents a number of First Nations groups, has called for a transparent investigation into the commission.that questions needed to be answered about the circumstances leading to the resignations of the CEO and a key director only seven months after they were appointed.Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Gabrielle Williams said the commission was expected to continue its work to “shine a light” on injustice.