Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission has launched – marking Australia’s first formal truth-telling process for injustices experienced by First Nations people.
Prof Eleanor Bourke, the commission chair, hailed the inquiry’s launch on Thursday as a “momentous” occasion for Australia, Victoria and all First Nations people.
She said other states and territories were closely watching Victoria’s truth-telling process.
“We are setting the example … they are watching us, our brothers and sisters elsewhere. It’s even been said to me, ‘Don’t muck it up,” Bourke told the launch event.
The commission’s commencement comes after decades of calls – including in the Uluru Statement of the Heart – for Australia to commit to a formal truth-telling process. It will investigate past and ongoing systemic injustices experienced by Victoria’s First Nations people in the state from colonisation to the present day.
The formal launch was held at the Stolen Generations Marker in Fitzroy – a permanent tribute to Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families – in recognition of the types of wrongdoings Yoorrook will place under its microscope.
The commission is named after “Yoo-rrook”, which means “truth” in the Wemba-Wemba/Wamba Wamba language spoken around north-western Victoria.
Yoorrook is independent from the Victorian government and the First Peoples’ Assembly – the body elected by the state’s Indigenous people to help develop a treaty.
What will the commission do?
The commission has a mandate to investigative and document past and present injustices against Victoria’s First Nations people, including by the state and non-government bodies.
Its wide-ranging scope means it will probe historical massacres, genocide and cultural violations as well as ongoing injustices in healthcare, policing, criminal justice and child protection. Its investigations will help determine both the cause and consequences of the systemic injustices.
The commission will hold state-wide hearings, including public panels and group and private sessions. Beyond hearings, it will also accept artwork, artefacts, audio, written and oral submissions.
The truth-telling process aims to educate Victorians and the wider public about the social, political and economic injustices committed against the state’s Indigenous population since colonisation, the impacts of intergenerational trauma and how this relates to the inequalities which persist today.
While separate to the state’s treaty process, the commission’s findings and recommendations may be referred to the First Peoples’ Assembly, which is developing the agreement’s framework.
At the conclusion of its hearings, it will make recommendations to the state government for redress and reform.
In doing so, the commission hopes its work can help prevent the recurrence of injustices against Indigenous people.
What powers does the commission have?
The commission has the same powers of a royal commission, allowing it to subpoena documents and summon witnesses.
The commission does not exercise judicial power, but it can refer information about alleged crimes to law enforcement authorities.
Why is a commission needed?
The commissioners believe the inquiry is an opportunity for Victorians to consider how truth-telling forms an integral part of the healing and unifying process.
The inquiry is centred on the presumption that to move forward Victoria must first face past and ongoing wrongdoings, and understand how they have shaped the state.
Bourke, the chair of the commission, said the inquiry would correct the public record about Terra Nullius – the legal concept meaning land belonging to no one used by the British to justify the colonisation of Australia.
“This was not an empty land and the Mabo decision finally found that,” she said.
Hunter, deputy chair of the commission, said the healing process would involve “the coming together of both histories” and allow Indigenous people to be “truly heard”.
“The history of Victoria has been told by the side of the oppressor. And when you only have one side of the story, it’s always an imbalance,” she said.
“When you’re not heard you become depressed – and I feel like telling the truth is a form of healing and it will be evidence and it won’t be cross-examined.”
Victoria’s Aboriginal affairs minister, Gabrielle Williams, said only when Victoria had reconciled with its path could it achieve a “fairer, more just future” for its First Nations community.
“Without truth, there can be no treaty, and without treaty, there can be no justice,” she said.
Who is on the commission?
Five commissioners are leading Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission:
Prof Eleanor Bourke – chair;
Sue-Anne Hunter – deputy chair;
Senior elder Dr Wayne Atkinson;
Kevin Bell, QC;
Distinguished prof Maggie Walter.
The commissioners were chosen following an open selection process that began after the announcement of the commission in March 2021.
There are also two senior counsels-assisting the commission:
Tony McAvoy SC – a Wirdi man appointed the first Australian First Peoples Senior Counsel in 2015
Fiona McLeod SC – a human rights barrister.
What happens after the launch?
The commission will lead a yarning circle with Elders on Country in regional Victoria from 28 March until 22 April to ensure their insights feed directly into the investigative process to consider what issues are most important for the inquiry to focus on.
Commissioners will also visit sites of cultural and historical significance. From 26 April, elders’ truth-telling will begin – marking the first formal hearings of the process.
Hunter said some of the inquiry’s work would take place near the NSW-Victorian border.
“If that’s where the truth takes us of what’s happened to our people, that’s where we’ll go,” she said.
An interim report is due on 30 June. The commission’s final report is due in June 2024.
