We acknowledge Aboriginal1 people as the first peoples and Traditional Owners and custodians of the land and waterways on which we live.
We honour and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise all Aboriginal peoples and their strength and resilience despite the ongoing impacts of colonisation and dispossession. Aboriginal peoples represent the world’s oldest living culture. We celebrate and respect this continuing culture.
We recognise that we have a long way to go in understanding and addressing the intersections of ableism, racism and the ongoing effects of dispossession and colonisation. We are committed to working in partnership with Aboriginal communities to see what additional actions the Victorian Government needs to take to address inequality for Aboriginal people with disability.
We also acknowledge the significant role that Aboriginal families and communities play as carers for people with disability in Victoria.
Treaty and truth in Victoria
We acknowledge the impact of colonisation to this day and seek ways to rectify past wrongs, including through truth-telling and the development of treaty.
We are deeply committed to Aboriginal self-determination and to supporting Victoria’s treaty and truth-telling processes. We acknowledge that treaty will have wide-ranging impacts for the way we work with Aboriginal Victorians. We seek to create respectful and collaborative partnerships and develop policies and programs that respect Aboriginal self-determination and align with treaty aspirations.
We acknowledge that Victoria’s treaty process will provide a framework for the transfer of decision-making power and resources to support self-determining Aboriginal communities to take control of matters that affect their lives. We commit to working proactively to support this work in line with the aspirations of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
Footnote
[1] We recognise the diversity of Aboriginal people living throughout Victoria. While the terms ‘Koorie’ or ‘Koori’ are commonly used by Aboriginal people to describe Aboriginal people in southeast Australia, we have used the term ‘Aboriginal’ to include all people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who are living in Victoria.
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