Vic Premier to face Indigenous truth-telling inquiry

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is set to give evidence at Australia’s first truth-telling inquiry to investigate injustices against Aboriginal people.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission will hold three weeks of public hearings from Tuesday after a ceremonial hearing near Portland, where the state was first colonised.

Ms Allan will give evidence on April 29 on land that was previously part of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission near Healesville.

It is the first time the premier will appear as a witness at the commission.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan will appear before the commission during hearings near Healesville. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

Ms Allan’s predecessor Daniel Andrews wrote a letter to the commission in April 2023.

Water Minister Harriet Shing is set to appear before the commission in Robinvale, on the Murray River, on April 24.

Yoorrook is Australia’s first truth-telling inquiry to investigate injustices against Aboriginal people.

Formal truth-telling processes have been held in more than 30 other countries including Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Commissioner Travis Lovett, who is leading Yoorrook’s inquiry, said it would focus on Indigenous people’s experiences in Australia since colonisation.

“We will hear evidence about how European colonisers illegally and forcibly took First Peoples’ land, water and resources and enforced strategic policies depriving them of the ability to practice language, culture and traditions,” he said.

“Tens of thousands of years of unbroken connection and deep love for this land almost wiped out seemingly in a blink of the eye.”

Commission chair Eleanor Bourke said the hearings were a chance for Victorians to reflect on the past.

“Yoorrook’s inquiry into the land, sky and waters goes back to the beginning of colonisation,” Professor Bourke said.

“It is an opportunity for all Victorians to learn the truth of Victoria’s shared history, as well as the diversity, strength and resistance of First Peoples.”

Yoorrook aims to establish an official public record of Indigenous experiences since the start of colonisation and recommend reform and redress.

Its work will also help guide the state’s treaty negotiations.

The commission will also implement cutting-edge data sovereignty rules so witnesses can control how and where their evidence is used in the future.

Establishing a process to facilitate truth-telling in Australia was one of the recommendations from the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.