After more than four years and over 1,300 submissions, Australia's first Indigenous-led truth-telling inquiry has handed down its final report.
It has found the First Peoples of Victoria have endured crimes against humanity and genocide since the beginning of colonisation in Victoria — and they are still being impacted by systemic injustice today as a result.
The report has outlined 100 recommendations aimed at redressing these injustices.
Here are some of the key takeaways.
What did Yoorrook find?
The commission concluded that colonisation in Victoria involved widespread massacres, cultural destruction, forced child removals and economic exclusion.
"Yoorrook found that the decimation of the First Peoples population in Victoria … was the result of a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups," it said.
"This was genocide."
The inquiry also found the legacy of colonisation lived on and was being experienced by Aboriginal Victorians first-hand.
"First Peoples in Victoria have been consistently excluded from opportunities to generate wealth," the report says.
"Colonial systems prevented First Peoples from participating in economic life and wealth creation, including through education, employment opportunities and owning property."
It says these current economic disparities and barriers to First Peoples' prosperity are a direct legacy of "colonial practices and state-sanctioned exclusion".
What are the key recommendations?
The report called on the Victorian government to implement major reforms to redress ongoing systemic injustices.
Here are just a few of the big ones:
Education and schools
The recommendations call for a major overhaul of education systems in Victoria in order to build First Peoples' perspectives into the curriculum.
It recommended embedding Aboriginal-authored content across the school curriculum, mandatory truth-telling and anti-racism training for educators, and reforms to discipline policies that disproportionately impact Aboriginal students.
At a university level, it urged the inclusion of First Peoples-led subjects on history, along with increased employment and leadership of staff in higher education and a tertiary oversight body to ensure better outcomes.
Health
The report outlined a need for better resourcing and funding for Indigenous health services.
It recommended:
- Expanding Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs), and increasing funding to allow the delivery of more accessible and culturally safe funeral and burial services.
- Significantly investing in health-led responses in the event of a mental health crisis and divesting from Victoria Police.
- Funding culturally safe, trauma-informed mental health care.
- Transferring First Peoples' prison health care from the Department of Justice and Community Safety to the Department of Health.
- Increasing the number of Aboriginal staff and leaders across the system.
"Racism is endemic across the Victorian health system. Yoorrook received a significant body of evidence outlining the extent of racism in the sector, the different forms of racism and the significant harms experienced by First Peoples as a result," the report said.
Land rights
The Commissioners recommend the state government "guarantee, uphold and enhance First Peoples' inherent rights to Country through a self-determined, empowering and healing model."
It recommends a formal apology and redress for the Soldier Settlement Scheme — which excluded First Nations soldiers from receiving land parcels after fighting for Australia in World War I and World War II.
It also urges the government to review land gifted to institutions like churches and universities which was "acquired for little or no consideration, or reserved by the Crown" and return it to Traditional Owners.
The report also suggests implementing tax exemptions on natural resources.
Representation
The report calls for a permanent First Peoples' assembly to be embedded as a representative body with decision-making powers over policies that affect them.
"The Victorian Government's lack of accountability in relation to First Peoples' affairs is a theme that cuts across every area of Yoorrook's inquiry," the report said.
"This pattern of unfulfilled promises, lack of transparency and chronic underfunding perpetuates inequity and undermines trust between First Peoples and the government.
"Yoorrook heard that establishing a First Peoples-led accountability mechanism to hold government to account is essential to create change and engender trust and confidence in government systems and processes."
It also recommends reinstating Indigenous place names across Victoria, prioritising "prominent public spaces and significant parks, reserves and waterways, and road names".
"Place names should be determined by relevant Traditional Owner groups and the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria should authorise and coordinate this process at the Statewide level," the report said.
What has been the government response so far?
This is not the first time Yoorrook has asked the Victorian government for major reform.
In 2023, Yoorrook released an interim report that found evidence of gross human rights abuses in Victoria's criminal justice and child protection systems.
It issued 46 recommendations, which included a call for the government to stop jailing children under 16 and to create an independent watchdog for police complaints.
But many of Yoorrook's proposals from that interim report remain in limbo, with the government fully supporting just six of the inquiry's interim recommendations.
Yoorrook's recommendations that have been rejected or are still "under consideration" include bigger picture changes such as bail reform, which the government has fully rejected, instead opting to rush through tougher bail laws in response to rising crime rates.
The recommendations supported and acted upon by the government so far include rolling out human-rights and cultural-competency training for child protection workers.
On Monday, Premier Jacinta Allan indicated she would support making the First Peoples' assembly a permanent advisory body and welcomed the release of the findings.
"When you listen to people, you get better outcomes, and that's what treaty is all about. I reckon we're up for that as a state," she said.
"Thank you to the commission for these historic reports — they shine a light on hard truths and lay the foundations for a better future for all Victorians."
On Tuesday, Ms Allan said the government would "take time to consider the depth of the recommendations" and encouraged Victorians to take a look at the report.
"I'm focused on getting better outcomes, because when you improve outcomes for Indigenous kids in schools, Indigenous kids in family settings, Indigenous men and women getting access to the health care that they need, that's better for all of us."
What are the other responses?
On Tuesday evening, commissioner Travis Lovett said he was "extremely proud" of his work leading the inquiry alongside the other commissioners.
Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter described it as "the privilege of my life".
"This official public record has the power to change forever how people learn about the true history of this state," she said.
Jill Gallagher, a Gunditjmara woman and the CEO of VACCHO, gave formal evidence to Yoorrook and said the report's findings of genocide were "indisputable".
"We don't blame anyone alive today for these atrocities, but it is the responsibility of those of us alive today to accept that truth — and all Victorians today must accept, recognise and reconcile with these factual findings," she said.
Former co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and Taungurung man Marcus Stewart described the report as "heavy".
"The act of genocide did occur on our shores and in particular did significantly impact First Nations people here in Victoria," he told ABC News on Tuesday.
"When you start piecing together the evidence of how this occurred — the systemic nature in which it was, I think it's important for Victorians and Australians more broadly to understand this is part of our history."
Chair of the First Nations Foundation and Yorta Yorta man Ian Hamm said the report was "a formal acknowledgement of what Aboriginal Victorians already knew".
"To see [that] as evidence and factual and undisputed brings you a feeling of, I won't say relief, but it brings a sense of, 'Finally, at last our story is being told,'" he said.
"Look at it with a spirit of generosity, look at it with a spirit of hope, look at it with a spirit that this will ultimately make Aboriginal people have a better future and make a greater and better contribution to Victoria as a whole."
Federation of Victorian Traditional Owners interim chief executive Kaley Nicholson said the Victorian government needed to "commit to respectful and resourced partnership with Traditional Owners of Country to support our communities to set the directions of a more just future”.
Independent Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe said the findings presented an "opportunity for justice, accountability, healing and a chance to build something better for everyone".
Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell urged the government to adopt the recommendations in full.
"The Greens stand ready to work with the Victorian government to deliver the solutions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are calling for," she said.
"I urge the premier to finally walk the talk and adopt all the Yoorrook recommendations in full instead of ignoring or rejecting them like Labor has done in the past."
Opposition leader Brad Battin said his government would not support a treaty or a permanent First People's Assembly, which he described as a "Victorian Voice to Parliament".
"We're focused on the fact that Victorians are battling rising crime, a cost-of-living crisis, and a health system pushed to breaking point," he said.
He said members of his team were reviewing the report in detail before it was considered in shadow cabinet.
Posted , updated
