I am a proud Latji Latji woman from the North West of Victoria, and I carry this role as Reserved Seat Holder with responsibility to my Ancestors, our Elders, our young people and future generations.

Over the past few months, my focus has been on strengthening our membership and keeping our people informed and involved in the Treaty journey.

We attended two statewide forums with the over 30 participants from our corporation.

Taking our members to major Treaty gatherings has been a priority, so they can see, hear and feel the process firsthand.

Our community attended the Treaty signing events at AAL and the John Cain Centre — moments where our youth and Elders were deeply moved and proud to be part of history.

We successfully secured Self-Determination Funding (SDF).

We engaged with the Treaty Authority twice, and each time our members gained valuable knowledge and confidence about the process.

Our North West communities want the Assembly and the Treaty process to be more visible in our region, not only in Bendigo or metropolitan areas.

Many major events are held off-Country, and the cost of travel and accommodation for our members is significant. Even so, our people still show up because they care deeply about the future. That commitment should be met with greater presence and accessibility in our region.

The Self-Determination Fund gives our corporation the opportunity to have real discussions and make informed decisions about Treaty — including whether and how we move forward. This must be led by our people, not decided for them.

Our youth are key to this movement. Bringing them along now ensures knowledge transfer, confidence and strong future leadership.

In the coming months we will:

• Hold more member gatherings using SDF
• Create safe spaces for learning and discussion
• Strengthen youth engagement
• Keep our Elders at the centre of decision-making

To my corporation and the North West region:

This journey is about truth, voice and self-determination. It is about making sure our children and grandchildren inherit strength, not silence.

Every gathering, every conversation, every step we take is for the future of our people and our Country.

I will continue to stand up, speak up and make sure our region is not left behind.

We walk this journey together.

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My name is Melissa Jones and my mobs are Latje Latje and Jupagulk. I represent the North West Region as the Reserved Seat holder of First People of the Millewa Mallee Aboriginal Corporation.

My main focus has been to get Treaty out there to Mob. I have been doing this by working on the self-determination fund with Millewa Mallee and my membership through the committee working group that started in Jan. I have also been working hard with talking and engaging with youth specifically but also the broader community to have conversations around Treaty and the work we are doing. Treaty Day Out was an event that helped me with engagement.

Our North West Forums that were planned to happen with community were put on hold and we are just waiting to these to go ahead again. I have also been working with my membership with First People of the Millewa Mallee Aboriginal Corporation. I’m hoping to continue working with organisations to strengthen community and Treaty relationships specifically wanting to continue targeting Youth to engage for Treaty.

The Community feedback I have heard is around the Mob having to travel all the time and long distances. They also expressed not hearing enough about Treaty within the Northwest and community would like to have more engagement From Treaty throughout the Northwest Region.

I believe that having smaller and more personable gatherings for community will help with mob signing up with Treaty. Other activities that i think would benefit engagement could be a big cultural day in the Northwest and Youth Specific activities as well as activities for everyone to be included.

I would like to continue progressing with trying to organise a cultural day. I’m currently working on setting up the Self Determination Fund with Millewa Mallee. I would hope that this can be a tool of bring groups together to talk about Treaty and what that means for the future. I would hope that it would extend to including organisations together to help.

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