“Telling the truth plays a vital role on the road to the treaty. We need to make sure we spend the time to do it right and do it in a way that the community has confidence in.”
Assembly sources not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said the letter was emailed to commissioners on June 16. He advised the commissioners to delay the submission of the report until the additional work had been completed.
“In our view, the interim report will benefit from more consultations given its critical role in creating a new public narrative about Victoria’s early peoples and in informing Victoria’s reform agenda,” the letter.
“These are not shortcomings that can be addressed with minor drafting amendments. However, with more time and consultation, the interim report could be reshaped to better reflect the views and aspirations of Victoria’s early peoples and provide a platform solid for treaty reform “.
The commission has suffered delays and criticism since it was set up in May last year. The commissioner, Dr. Wayne Atkinson, dropped the investigation a fortnight ago, and in January, its inaugural general manager, Josh Smith, and its chief of staff, Alexandra Krummel, abruptly left.
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The departure of Atkinson, an elderly elder and traditional owner of Yorta Yorta-Dja Dja Wurrung, was attributed to personal reasons. Atkinson has not commented.
Sources claimed that there was a rift between the individual commissioners and the operational staff of the investigation.
The $ 45.5 million commission has been repeatedly thwarted in its attempts to initiate the consultation due to Victoria’s prolonged COVID-19 blockades.
Concerns in the community about slow progress were first expressed in The Age in January, when top community leaders asked if the commissioners were up to the task of delivering the commission’s patent letters.
Finally, the commission embarked on a series of about 35 consultations with elderly and large traditional landowners in Victoria in late April. The meetings, known as Elders’ Yarns, initially repressed skepticism about the commission’s progress.
But unauthorized sources to speak to the media claimed that participation in many of the meetings was insubstantial. The largest of the meetings, held at the northwest end of the state, saw between 18 and 25 seniors and traditional homeowners. Most of the threads involved less than five seniors, community sources told The Age.
Three elders showed up at the last Elders’ Yarn to join two commissioners and about 25 staff members, according to an elder who attended the meeting.
The commission has also been criticized within parts of the community for its appointment in May of Hugh De Kretser, a non-indigenous man, as the new CEO. The role begins next week. De Kretser was formally the executive director of the Human Rights Law Center.
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The former CEO and the interim CEOs of the committee have been identified as Indigenous. The commission’s patent letters state that it must prioritize the occupation of the aborigines and islanders of the Torres Strait.
The commission did not respond to questions about complaints from seniors ’threads or the priority of First Nations people for employment.
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