Truth-telling: Yoorrook Justice Commission chairwoman Eleanor Bourke.
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The Yoorrook Justice Commission has released an interim report into its findings and details Elders’ experiences of ongoing pain and harm to Victorian First Peoples at the individual, family, community and state level.
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The report is the first of its kind from Victoria’s — and Australia’s — first truth-telling commission.
“Each of the 200 Elders we spoke to pointed to the ongoing effects of discriminatory policies and racist beliefs, including those that led to the Stolen Generation — policies and beliefs that have not only affected them but continue to affect their children and grandchildren,” commission chair Eleanor Bourke said.
“Yoorrook commissioners have seen a deep heaviness of heart and heard despair at the continuation of injustice.
“Our Elders deserve to see change in their lifetimes.”
The interim report also outlines the foundational work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission in establishing culturally appropriate and trauma-informed processes to ensure participant safety and wellbeing.
A second report will make recommendations for consideration in the process of negotiating Treaty with the state.
“I have requested that the Governor amend the Letters Patent to ensure the delivery of a second report is included in the next phase of Yoorrook’s inquiry,” Ms Bourke said.
“Establishing Australia’s first truth-telling commission is highly complex. Yoorrook’s mandate spans more than 200 years of historic and ongoing injustices.
“Time is needed to ensure the best process, right for community, so that we can create a more complete public record for all.”
The commission wants an extension to the deadline for its final report of another two years, pushing it out to 2026.
Taking steps: First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria co-chairs Marcus Stewart (left) and Aunty Geraldine Atkinson (right) with Victoria’s Treaty and First Peoples Minister Gabrielle Williams.
Marcus Stewart, a Nira illim bulluk man of the Taungurung Nation, which takes in the area around Seymour, hopes the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s interim report is a step along the journey towards justice for First Peoples in Victoria.
Mr Stewart is also a co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, which lobbied for the truth-telling commission, and said the interim report marked the beginning of a process that would inform the shared journey to Treaty.
“Truth-telling is important to community. That’s what we heard loud and clear during our consultations with mob across the state,” he said.
“Our hope is that the evidence Yoorrook has begun to gather can help us find the path towards Treaty and achieve justice for First Peoples in Victoria.”
Assembly co-chair and Bangerang and Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson thanked Elders who had already come forward to share their experiences with the commission.
“It can be very difficult to share the ongoing trauma experienced by our people, but it’s important that we take the time to look back so that we can heal and look to the future,” she said.
“The Yoorrook truth-telling process can help develop a shared understanding of our history.
“That way everyone can work together to right the wrongs of the past and tackle the injustices our people still face.”
"Yoo-rrook" means truth in the Wemba Wemba/Wamba Wamba language spoken in the north-west of Victoria and the commission’s interim report was tabled in state parliament on Monday, July 4.
