In short:
Indigenous Victorians are urging the opposition to reconsider its plan to scrap Treaty legislation if it wins the election.
asserted
it → urge → election
The Coalition is committed to replacing the self-determining model of Treaty with a government department.
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Coalition → commit → department
Victorians will head to the polls to choose the next state government on November 28.
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Victorians → head → November
Victorian Indigenous leaders have accused Opposition Leader Jess Wilson of using Treaty as a "political football", warning decades of progress could be lost if the historic agreement is scrapped.
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agreement → accuse → progress
Last year, the Victorian government became the first state or territory in Australia's history to sign a modern treaty agreement with its First Peoples, which was hailed nationally and internationally as an historic step for all Australians.
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which → become → Australians
Ms Wilson has vowed to scrap the state's Treaty along with its elected First Peoples' body, Gellung Warl, if the Coalition wins the November 28 election.
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Coalition → vow → election
Last month she reaffirmed that promise, telling ABC Radio Melbourne she had had "constructive conversations with those involved in the Treaty process".
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she → reaffirm → process
"We don't see a bureaucracy as a way to deliver outcomes for Indigenous Victorians," she said.
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she → see → Victorians
"We want to make sure we are investing directly into the programs and we are doing some work right now around what that looks like in health care, education and our justice system."
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that → want → care
The Coalition has proposed what it calls a "community-led" strategy that would replace the independent Gellung Warl with a government department overseen by a minister.
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that → propose → minister
Ms Wilson said the department, which would be called First Nations Victoria, would be responsible for meeting and reporting on Closing the Gap targets.
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which → say → targets
One Nation has also vowed to abolish the body and scrap Treaty.
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Nation → vow → Treaty
The Gunditjmara woman said the Coalition's strategy amounted to a return to the advisory committees that had failed First Nations people for decades.
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that → say → decades
"We haven't closed that gap because we don't have a body, a voice, that can actually talk to governments, that can actually set up processes to hold not only mainstream organisations accountable, but Aboriginal community controlled organisations," she said.
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she → close → processes
"The Treaty is about not accepting the status quo, because those advisory committees haven't worked."
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committees → accept → quo
Aunty Jill said Indigenous Victorians were only just beginning to get a "glimpse" of the positive outcomes Gellung Warl could achieve.
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Warl → say → outcomes
"If it was ripped away and we go back to those advisory committees … we're going to go backwards," she said.
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she → rip → committees
"It's really hard to put in words and articulate, but for me it'd be like sending us back 200 years ago, in my opinion, as to where we are today as Aboriginal people, as the first peoples of this country.
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we → put → country
It took us 200 years to get to a Treaty.
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It → take → Treaty
Victoria is the first state in this country to ever achieve Treaty.
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Victoria → achieve → Treaty
And it will set us back."
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it → set → us
Historic agreements, like the Treaty of Waitangi, are not generally viewed as something that can be repealed.
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that → view → something
Victoria's unique modern agreement is underpinned by legislation which can be repealed.
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which → underpin → legislation
However, some, including the chair of the Treaty Authority, have suggested the actual Treaty agreement, which received cultural assent under Aboriginal law, cannot be "severed unilaterally" by one party.
"It may not be honoured by a particular party … but the Treaty would still exist," Treaty Authority chair Jidah Clarke said in an interview with The Age last month.
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Clarke → include → Age
Power at stake
The fight for Treaty has ramped up across Melbourne.
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fight → ramp → Melbourne
In Opposition Leader Jess Wilson's seat of Kew, campaigners from First Nations advocacy group Common Threads have been doorknocking hundreds of homes to raise awareness about the Coalition's plans.
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campaigners → doorknocke → plans
Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta campaigner Tarneen Onus Browne said they had joined the fight for their elders, including their Nan whose only access to culturally safe aged care was away from Country, where she had lived her whole life.
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she → say → Country
"I just find it really sad that she lived on my own Country for a really long time and she wanted to die there but she's not going to get the chance to because the aged care facilities there aren't culturally safe," Onus Browne said.
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Browne → find → chance
"I want to be able to die on my country if I want to, and should also have that right."
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I → want → right
Onus Browne said a self-determined Treaty was in the interests of all Victorians.
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Treaty → say → Victorians
"I think that's really important for non-Aboriginal people to know — that if you want a better way forward, then it does affect you," they said.
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they → think → you
It's about putting First Nations people in the driver's seat and for First Nations people to make decisions about our own lives.
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people → put → lives
At a statewide level, Treaty serves as the underpinning for Gellung Warl to have a seat at the table of Parliament — to advise, inform and engage with the government and the parliament on policies that impact the lives of First Peoples.
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that → serve → Peoples
It is controlled by the First Peoples' Assembly and also has powers to hold the state to account.
First Peoples' Assembly
Elected by Victorian Aboriginal communities to advocate to government.
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It → control → government
First Peoples' Assembly was one of the first treaty bodies established, and is made up of 34 members.
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Assembly → establish → members
Of those, 22 are voted for in general elections open to members of Victoria's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
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22 → vote → communities
The other 12 are elected by the state's formally recognised traditional owner groups, who hold reserved seats.
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who → elect → seats
For the past few years, the assembly's work has focused on developing the systems and frameworks that are now in place as part of the treaty.
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that → focus → treaty
From here, its role under treaty laws is to advocate for the interests of First Peoples, represent them in treaty negotiations and build capacity in the state's First Peoples, including through awarding grants from funds it controls.
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it → advocate → funds
Tasked with helping Victorians learn about the past and the impact of colonisation.
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Victorians → task → colonisation
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia