No trick, here is the treat: The Victorian government has passed its treaty bill. Soon, it will sign the 34-page treaty agreement — making it the first formal treaty with Indigenous traditional owners in the country.

Australia is the only Commonwealth country to have never signed a treaty with Indigenous peoples. For context, the British colony of New Zealand signed a treaty with Māori leaders in 1840. To say we are behind is the understatement. 

How did we get here?

This bill is the result of more than a decade of work by Indigenous leaders in Victoria.
A very quick recap: In 2016, the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria (originally Aboriginal Representative Body) was formed, with its (elected) members designing the process for negotiating a treaty with the Victorian government.

In 2020, the First Peoples’ Assembly worked with the government to establish the Yoorrook Justice Commission, an Indigenous-led commission to investigate and formally recognise the historical and ongoing injustices committed by the government against Aboriginal people. In July 2025, the Yoorrook commission delivered its final report — a powerful documentation of the brutality of colonisation in Victoria. You can read an explainer on the final report here.

The Yoorrook report made 46 recommendations to the government, including some specific to the treaty-making process. 

In September 2025, Labor Premier Jacinta Allan introduced the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 to the lower house (Legislative Assembly). It passed 54 to 27. Labor, the Greens, and independents supported the bill, while the Coalition voted against it.

On 30 October, the bill was debated in the upper house (Legislative Council). It passed without amendment, 21 to 16. Labor, Greens, Legalise Cannabis and Animal Justice supported the bill. The Coalition, One Nation, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, and Libertarian councillors voted against it.

A public celebration to mark the treaty will be held at Federation Square on December 12.

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What does the treaty do?

The treaty will establish and protect Gellung Warl, a new body of democratically-elected representatives to consulted on laws and policies that affect Indigenous communities.

Gellung Warl will be comprised of three functions — the existing First Peoples’ Assembly; Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, to continue to the work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission; and Nginma Ngainga Wara, an ‘Outcomes and Justice Commission’ that will be able to question ministers, hold inquiries and committees to make sure that government bodies and programs are doing what they are supposed to.

By signing the treaty the government also commits to including truth-telling in school curriculums, giving a formal apology to Indigenous people (expected to be given in parliament in the coming weeks) and more widespread use of traditional placenames.

The Victorian Coalition says it's going to try to overturn the treaty bill if they are elected to government, which is utterly unsurprising. The next election is not until November 2026 and and the previous election was not close at all, so while this does seem like mostly theatrics it’s always just worth keeping an eye on their fuckery. Moving on…

There is an important lesson on defeatism here.

After the failure of the Voice referendum, it did seem like a lot of progressives and well-meaning people felt despair and hopelessness. But that was never the only pathway (or even the best route) to self-determination for First Nations peoples. Its failure was never “the end”. 

The Uluru Statement put forward the process of Voice > Treaty > Truth. That was always quite contested — while Lidia Thorpe was still a member of the Australian Greens, she and the party advocated for a Truth > Treaty > Voice process. While the Greens went on to support the “Yes” campaign during the Voice referendum, Thorpe maintained her position as part of the Blak Sovereign “No” campaign.

The argument for Truth > Treaty > Voice makes sense to me: a treaty must come before a voice to formally acknowledge that both parties (the First Nations ‘voice’ and the government) are on equal footing and to make the relationship between them clear. A treaty lends weight to the advice of the voice. 

So, although the federal Voice failed, Victoria carried on its pathway and succeeded. It has a statement of truth on the record, it has a treaty, and it will soon have a voice.

A big loss or set back doesn’t mean all efforts have stopped. Fights for progress, equity and justice take part on many fronts — there is always another place to push.

– Crystal
Founder & Chief of Everything at Zee Feed
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Smart stuff on the Internet 💭

All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:

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News Corp wants to ‘protect’ kids. It’s also happy to bully them for its readers on Crikey
I wrote this. I feel very passionately about it. “News Corp Australia is one of the biggest organisational supporters and lobbyists for the teen social media ban, citing the dangers to children’s mental health as the reason we need these laws. That doesn’t stop it from bullying primary-school aged children in negative stories which it blasts to millions of people online, making these kids targets for abuse and harassment — despite the subjects being too young to hold social media accounts in their own right.”

The Blurred Truths of Sora on WIRED
“Many will assume that Sora represents a new era of social media, but that’s wrong. All it does is reanimate our current one. It’s trying to hold on to something people have a diminishing use for … The uptick in artificial social networks, Fraser tells me, is being driven by the same tech egoists who have eroded public trust and inflamed social isolation through “divisive” algorithms. ‘[They] are now profiting on that isolation by creating spaces where folks can surround themselves with sycophantic bots.’”

Melbourne Fashion Week, brought to you by property developers on Bianca O’Neill’s substack
Bianca’s recap of MFW caused quite a stir this week! “The wife of the MD from the developer group was the sole speaker after the runway (not the designer, not a fashion commentator, not a representative from fashion week), and pointed out her ‘fellow developers’ in the room, encouraging them to ‘invest’ in the arts community by providing them with unused spaces awaiting corporate tenancies. I mean, I guess it’s a nice sentiment from half a room of millionaires speaking to half a room of creatives who can barely pay their rent? Hmm.”

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