Aboriginal Secretary of State Gabrielle Williams invited all state lawmakers to a briefing on the bill on Thursday, but only two of the 37 members of the Coalition, Walsh and equality spokesman James Newbury, attended throughout the briefing.
Williams told The Age that the legislation was “beyond politics” and encouraged the opposition to support the bill.
Liberal MP Tim Smith said he did not support the treaty process. Credit: Paul Jeffers
The split in the opposition comes just weeks after the Liberal Party lost three central seats in federal elections, prompting accusations of abandoning the more moderate voters who often support progressive social policies.
Former shadow Attorney General Tim Smith, who remains a member of the opposition but will leave politics in November after a drunk driving incident, said he did not support Victoria in principle in treaty negotiations.
“You enter into treaties with foreign governments not with your own people,” Smith said. “It’s a fundamental principle that I will not abandon.”
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The Age spoke with a third opposition MP on condition of anonymity, saying he also had “deep concerns” about the authority, which will be made up of First Nations people and will sit down. out of government and will not report to a minister.
“In principle, I am in favor of dealing with the disadvantage, but that does not,” the subsequent MP said.
Another MP, who did not want to be appointed, said he supported the idea of a treaty, but could not support a government-appointed body that “sits outside the government and does not depend on a minister. “.
By contrast, coalition MPs who supported the bill agreed that support for the treaty process showed respect for Victorian Indians and was part of a broader process to deal with intergenerational trauma.
The bill has strong support from some more moderate leaders, many of whom are scheduled to speak in support of the bill during Monday’s shadow cabinet meeting.
Victoria is currently the only jurisdiction in Australia to advance both the treaty and the truth of the Uluru Declaration from the heart of 2017. Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania have also committed to deliver treaties with the peoples of the First Nations in these jurisdictions.
First People’s Assembly Co-Chair Geraldine Atkinson, an elder from Bangerang and Wiradjuri, said the treaty process was an opportunity “to create new institutions that harness and celebrate the strength and wisdom of the world’s oldest living culture. world “.
“Our community has thought a lot and a lot about how we create a treaty arbitrator that we can have faith in,” Atkinson said.
“My message to all politicians is not to get in our way, not to endure the shared efforts to correct the mistakes of the past, instead of continuing to walk with us on this journey.”
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Fearing a collision course with dissatisfied MPs, the opposition refused to publicly confirm whether it would support the bill when The Age asked on Friday. Shadow Treasurer David Davis said the opposition “will examine the legislation next week.”
He said the shadow cabinet would examine whether there was a need for a treaty authority or whether it had been “better delivered by some other mechanism that does not create a completely new bureaucracy”.
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