It has been just over six weeks since the last report, and it’s been a busy start to the year. With many important meetings and engagement opportunities, it’s been great to get out and connect with community. Things have intensified as we find ourselves in the middle of negotiations—an exciting time that also requires important discussions about our priorities and what we are committed to keep fighting for in this Treaty process.

Recently, I shared in a meeting that the yarns we are now having genuinely feel like you’re apart of history. This sentiment is reflected in the depth of conversations we are having as an Assembly and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m very much so feeling the privilege to be able to be part of the yarns and contribute.

We’ve put out a call to all ACCOs across the North-East, inviting them to sit down and have a conversation about Treaty and how the relationship between the ACCO sector and the future Assembly could evolve moving forward. We look forward to meeting with as many organisations as possible in the coming weeks and months.

Personally, I feel optimistic about our current position. There is still much to be done, but the immense effort that has gone into this process—long before this Assembly was elected—has set us up to deliver a Treaty that truly reflects the aspirations of our communities. Ensuring that future generations have a platform to meaningfully participate in the Victorian democratic landscape is at the heart of this work. We are making changes that will create a better system for our people, and that’s something we should all be optimistic about.

Recent highlights

Some key moments from the past month include:

• Statewide forums
• ACCO sector forum (19th February)
• Traditional Owner forum (27th February)
• Statewide Treaty Gathering (18th February – 1st March)

It was fantastic to see communities from across the state come together to discuss Treaty and receive updates on negotiations. Thank you to everyone who took the time to attend, show your support, and educate yourselves on the process. For those who participated, I encourage you to share what you’ve learned with your communities. We know not everyone can make it to these gatherings, so spreading awareness is crucial.

Looking ahead, we will be holding another round of regional forums in the coming months, with details to be announced soon. I’m looking forward to heading back out to the regions to continue these important conversations.

Other key engagements:

• Data Sovereignty Forum with Kaiela Institute (18th February)
• EarthChat radio interview/podcast (4th March) Listen here
• Yapaneyeputj retreat in Healesville (11th February)
• Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative – Close the Gap event guest speaker (20th March)
• Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing partnership forum (25th March)

As we move forward, we remain committed to ensuring this Treaty reflects the voices, priorities, and aspirations of our people. Let’s keep the conversations going and continue building towards meaningful and lasting change together.

Since my last update, North East members had the privilege of hosting the Assembly in Shepparton on Yorta Yorta woka for our final Chamber meeting before we embarked on the commencement of treaty negotiations. It was a truly special morning. Yorta Yorta Nation graciously welcomed us with a Welcome to Country at the Rumbalara Co-operative, a ceremony that deeply connected us to the land and its enduring spirit. Hearing Rumbalara CEO, Felicia Dean, share the significance of Rumbalara for our community was a powerful reminder of the ongoing work and legacy that sustains our people.

Following the Welcome to Country, we visited Kaiela Arts where members participated in a hands-on art activity. This provided a refreshing change of pace, a space for us to engage on a different level outside of the usual treaty business. It was a moment to connect with one another, share stories, and experience culture through creativity.

Another highlight for me was hosting our community dinner at the Rumbalara Football Netball Club which has been a huge part of my personal journey. This gathering allowed the Assembly to share a meal, build relationships, and connect more deeply with the community. The warmth and openness of the evening left a lasting impression.

One of the most meaningful moments of this time was spending three days of Chamber meetings at the Rumbalara Elders Facilities Activity Centre. To conduct treaty business surrounded by our Elders was both humbling and inspiring. Their presence grounded our discussions, reminding us of the long history and responsibility we carry.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Rumbalara Co-operative, Yorta Yorta Nation, Kaiela Arts, and the Rumbalara Football Netball Club for their hospitality and for making these experiences possible.

After completing the Chamber meeting, we shifted our focus to the commencement of treaty negotiations in Naarm. The significance of this milestone speaks for itself, but the pride I felt on that day, surrounded by culture in such a powerful way, is something I will carry with me forever. It was a moment of triumph, not just for us, but for the generations before us who fought for this very opportunity.

I also had the honour of attending the Treaty in the Park event in Werribee, where community members from across the state came together to enjoy music from First Nations artists. It was an event that showcased the vibrancy and resilience of our culture and community.

I was also fortunate to be invited to present at the Victorian Department of Justice’s Aboriginal Staff Network Conference at the Aboriginal Advancement League. There, I had the opportunity to speak about the progress of the Treaty process and the importance of our continued work together.

In a personal moment of reflection, I revisited my old school, Worawa Aboriginal College, to speak with the students about my journey—from my time at Worawa to my current work in the Treaty space. It was a beautiful opportunity to connect with the next generation and share how far we’ve come.

As we approached the holiday season, a significant and painful decision was made by the Greater Shepparton City Council to reinstate Australia Day celebrations. This controversial decision stirred deep hurt in our community. Many gathered in Queens Gardens, Shepparton, for a snap rally to express our concerns, and I had the chance to speak with NITV about the impact of this decision. The full article and interview can be found here.

While the year was winding down, I found myself conflicted. On one hand, I was eager to take a break, but on the other, the momentum of treaty negotiations left me with a strong sense of urgency. We took two weeks to reset and recharge, ensuring that when we returned in the new year, we would be ready to face the challenges ahead with renewed energy and commitment.

Finally, it was a joy to attend the Christmas events hosted by Aldara Yenara’s and Rumbalara Co-ops. These gatherings were a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the year and celebrate the resilience of our community.

I’d also like to highlight a fantastic initiative led by our Assembly staff. Through a fundraising effort, we were able to support those in need during the holiday season. The campaign was a huge success, allowing us to distribute funds across each region. It was especially rewarding to contribute $2,000 to Rumbalara Co-op, which they used to support clients in need over the Christmas period.

As we look ahead, there is much work still to be done, but I feel confident that with the support of our community and the strength of our culture, we are poised to achieve great things in the year to come.

Another chamber meeting, another step closer towards our goal. 

This is history in the making, hopes and dreams edging closer to becoming a reality as we approach the commencement of negotiations.  

I’ve been filled with hope and optimism and am inspired every time I get out to talk to community about their aspirations for the future through Treaty. But now, it’s about action and delivering outcomes that our community wants to see achieved. 

It’s been a busy period as we approach negotiations. We have wanted to ensure community across the region have every opportunity to have their voices heard. We say it all the time, but we can’t do this work without you, whatever the capacity.

Following on from our Shepparton forum, we held forums in Wodonga and Echuca/Moama which were both filled with many great yarns. There has been lots of interest in hearing what the specifics are as part of treaty and what it will look like. So, it was great to share some of the assembly’s ideas which will make up what we call the Treaty negotiation brief. This brief outlines our key priorities which have been guided by the community as we lead into negotiations. Thanks to everyone who took the time to come out and yarn.

I took up an opportunity to speak at Melbourne Uni rural health’s annual Ngar-wu Wanyarra Aboriginal health conference where I was fortunate to speak to a large audience of people who work in the Aboriginal health sector, to give an update about treaty and how it will connect with the health and wellbeing of our communities. It was great to be able to share with the audience the treaty journey, a few of the Assembly’s immediate priorities and how close we are to negotiations.

In my last report I mentioned how much interest has been growing from the broader community, so our engagement team led an initiative partnered with the Shepparton reconciliation action group in bringing allies together across the region to talk all things treaty. It was great to sit down on country to yarn and answer any questions that our allies have about the process. This will ensure that when our allies go out to community to spread the word about treaty that they have the facts. This was a great event that was attended by about 80 to 100 people at Winton wetlands. We look forward to running many more of these engagements.

Other key forums I’ve attended have been our Traditional owner forum and our second ACCO sector forum, both in Naarm. It was amazing to see the wealth of knowledge and experience fill the rooms occasions for a shared purposes of ensuring treaty is being representative of everyone and how we work together into the future. 

Another highlight was a visit to camp Jungai where I was lucky enough to speak to around 80 VACCA staff from all over the state to give a Treaty update and answer any questions. It was interesting to hear perspectives and insights from people who work with our most vulnerable youth.

On a personal note, with the increase in Treaty workload, I had to make the difficult decision in standing down from my full-time role at the Essendon football club as the Indigenous player development manager. For those that know me would know how difficult this decision was to make but one that I’m very content with in ensuring I have my full focus on this treaty process. I’ve always said I don’t take this role lightly and this is an example of what I personally am willing to sacrifice to ensure we get the best possible Treaty outcomes. 

Finally, I just want to acknowledge all our Assembly staff for all your hard work particularly in recent times going above and beyond to ensure us members have been supported to do our roles. It certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. 

Bring on negotiations!

Region: North East
Reserved Seat: No

In my 4 years or so of involvement with the Assembly as a staff member and now an elected Member, I can confidently say that I feel the interest of community around the Treaty process has grown to levels we have not seen before.

At a recent North East community forum I shared my experience of when I started working in community engagement back in late 2019, when we were coming out of lockdowns trying to run community engagement events, we would be lucky to have had a handful of people show up to community yarns. In comparison to our most recent engagement event in Shepparton on the 14th August, where we had in excess of 80+ people from all over the region attend to talk Treaty. It’s an example of not only communities interest but also how far we have come as an Assembly and how we reach community. You could possibly factor in the current Aboriginal affairs landscape post referendum and our community being more driven than ever to mobilise and make sure this is a process that will achieve genuine change for our people and a better future. Maybe it’s from our recent declaration as an Assembly ‘that we are ready’ to negotiate Treaty with the state which made headlines and people taking notice that Treaty is much closer than most probably realise. I think it’s all the above and more…

The interest from the broader community is also growing. To a point I’ve had 3-4 radio interviews and numerous speaking requests in recent weeks from non-Indigenous organisations and community groups to share with everyone what Treaty is about and what we intend to achieve.

This (among other things) tells me there is still a lot of work to do in this space from all parts of our society in Victoria, to educate everyone as we approach negotiations. It’s important that the broader community understands that this is something that will benefit all Victorians. This isn’t just an Assembly responsibility or an Aboriginal responsibility, this is everyone’s responsibility.

Another highlight was our Cummeragunja family day where many of our community braved the cold weather to come together, hear about Treaty, get more people signed up, get the kids having some fun during school Holidays and providing some of our local Aboriginal businesses a space to showcase themselves. It was significant given it was the first Treaty event held at Cummera. I’d like to give our engagement team a massive shout out for the work they all did in pulling this event together. It was a great success, and we hope to run some more events like this in the future.

In recent weeks I have personally taken on an extra responsibility to lead our North East community engagement strategy in ensuring we reach as many community members as possible in the coming months.
With negotiations past approaching, it’s not too late for you as an individual or for Organisation to have input into Treaty. We also have more forums around the region coming up soon so keep your eye out for details. It doesn’t matter how much you know or don’t know about the process so please don’t hesitate to reach out for a yarn.

Nearly one year into our terms, it’s been nothing short of an honour to represent my community in this historical Treaty process. We are in the nitty gritty of significant Treaty discussions and I’m filled with optimism as we prepare to work towards Treaty in the coming months.

As always, guidance and feedback from our community who elect us is crucial. The yarns I have had with groups or individuals over the past few months have me feeling inspired and drives me to make sure we are having the right conversations as an Assembly.

With our Statewide forum in Geelong being a huge success, we quickly shifted our focus on regional forums and we look forward to announcing some exciting events in the North East to yarn all things Treaty and seek feedback on crucial Treaty elements and possible outcomes.

I recently attended the Assembly’s first hearing at the Yoorrook Justice Commission on land injustices. These hearings highlighted many issues, but a key takeaway that stuck with me was hearing about how our communities have been intentionally and systemically excluded from the state’s economic landscape right from the moment that we were dispossessed from our land. We have always known this, but to hear it from the horse’s mouth doesn’t make it any easier. However, it’s a way to put a spotlight on what needs to change. This is the power of Truth telling and we look forward to Yoorook’s land injustice report and recommendations to be handed down in the near future.

As usual, we have been working hard in our Yurpa and Treaty committee meetings. Now we start getting a feel for a new arm of our business in establishing multiple working groups. These working groups will help progress specific topics when it comes to Treaty and the future form of the Assembly. Out of the 5 new working groups, I nominated for 2 working groups where I feel I can make a positive impact. These workgroups are Inherent Rights and Strengthening Culture and Communities.

On top of these commitments, I have also put my hand up to help out in the Youth Voice committee which is an area I’m particularly passionate about: ensuring youth are a part of the Treaty process and it’s not something that will just happen to them.

An initiative I’m interested in launching very soon is a North East Treaty working group made up of enrollees. It will be a semi regular group that comes together to talk all things Treaty. It will be another avenue that will help provide feedback on important Treaty topics. There will be limited spots available so keep an eye out for our promotions and put your expression of interests in if you would like to be a part of this group. More details on this to come soon.

Other community engagement events I’ve participated in:

• Commonground gathering – allies supporting Treaty in Seymour
• Reconciliation week keynote for Macedonia Ranges shire – Kyneton
• Reconciliation week event panelist for Mitchell shire council event – Seymour
• Invitation to hear Aunty Sharon Miller’s PHD presentation on Yorta Yorta language repatriation

I look forward to catching up with community in the coming weeks/months and I encourage anyone to reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss the Treaty process in detail.

In the early stages of our term as members, the NE region have prioritised working closely with our operations team at the Assembly in discussing strategies towards our community engagement and how we continue to bring our community along on the Treaty journey. With the strategy now in place, we are excited to reach to as many community members and organisations throughout the region in 2024 – in what is shaping to be a massive year in preparation for negotiations.

As we were settling into our new roles as members, the nation faced one of the biggest conversations/debates ABOUT our people that we have ever seen. Regardless of the result of the referendum, what I found during this period when talking to community was that many community members became increasingly interested in the work of the First Peoples’ Assembly and how far we have progressed the work of Treaty here in the state. It was a very difficult time for our people, the result wasn’t one that many of us wanted and our community were left to pick up the pieces, but the key message post-referendum was one of optimism for our community. We here in Victoria are in a fortunate position in comparison to the rest of the country and Treaty is our best way forward. Treaty is an opportunity for real systemic change. Post referendum we heard from community that it was a time to heal. 

As an Assembly we had to keep focused on the work ahead of us. In late November our North East engagement team ran a regional gathering at Winton Wetlands where we had an amazing turnout with community from across the region attending from Wodonga, Seymour, Wangaratta, Nagambie, Mansfield and many towns between. 

There were many topics we spoke about but some of the key messages that I took away from the event were things like…

Aboriginal people should have more of a say when it comes to decision making on things that affect our community, particularly around funding programs that we know work and on the flip side where we see funding that gets wasted for a wide range of reasons.

Some of the aspirations that attendees spoke about were things like having cultural healing centres on Country – particularly for our youth, and improving accessibility of Aboriginal services in smaller regional towns. 

All in all, it was a great event, and we look forward to more of these in the near future.

Thank you to everyone who has shown up and been actively participating in the Treaty journey to this point. We can’t do this work without the guidance of our community. I look forward to many more yarns about your Treaty aspirations and I encourage anyone to reach out if you would like to know more about the path to Treaty and how you can get involved, no matter how big or small it may seem.

 Other key engagements:

• Shepparton reconciliation group BBQ discussion, EarthChat radio interview, Latrobe University Treaty/leadership video project, The black shirt podcast, ABC regional radio interview

Assembly working group committees: 

• Minimum standards working group
• Yoorrook committee working group
• Statewide Gathering working group