Yoorrook Justice Commission
26th February 2025
President, thank you for the opportunity to speak on this Bill today.
I want to thank the work of the Commission.
I also want to thank Lauren Scott, from my office, for their work in compiling some thoughts for me today.
Lauren is a young person from the (Arabana and Southern Arr-Ahn-Da land) and I know from them how much this Bill will make a difference.
The Yoorook Justice Commission was established with the principle of truth-telling.
But it is to be done on, and with, the Indigenous community in Victoria, so Indigenous people in Victoria can determine how their information is reported on and used.
This commitment to Indigenous Data Sovereignty and protection is crucial to understanding the challenges Indigenous communities across Victoria face today.
The Commission has empowered Indigenous peoples across the state to have unwavering rights over their data, giving them ownership, control, access, and total possession over their data.
It has also adhered to a governance framework which supports Indigenous decision-making on how data is controlled, collected, interpreted, accessed, stored, and used.
I make a point to highlight these pillars to show how seriously the Allan Labor Government is taking our state’s efforts to push for self-determination.
This is important for many reasons.
It is very important to build that trust and respect among our communities, and this Bill is part of that.
If we want to have positive outcomes for Indigenous peoples in Victoria, it’s important that we discuss these matters on their terms, and upholding data sovereignty and guarantees for these communities does just that.
President, the Commission has done incredible work over the past few years.
Since beginning their work in July of 2020, they have done a lot of work – and many of you in this place will be quite familiar with some of it.
First, the Commission delivered an interim report in June 2022, critical issues report in August 2023 and are now preparing to deliver their final report in 2025.
Prior to the release of the completed two reports, the Commission engaged in an extensive multi-phase process to draft their Terms of Reference
And to gain clarity on what First Nations peoples expected from the Commission in terms of forms of reporting, available information on the Commission itself, and how their information would be managed including expectations of confidentiality.
With a focus on cultural safety.
With much of this preliminary work occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, I would like to commend the Commission for their innovative and comprehensive work throughout that time.
The Commission’s hard work over the past five years will be vital in allowing for the establishment of Treaty in Victoria that acknowledges and addresses the historical injustices that First Peoples have faced since colonisation.
The Commission already provides participants with significant support in engaging with reporting in a culturally and legally safe manner.
Providing support in making submissions and attending hearings, wellbeing support, and legal support through promoting organisations independent from the commission itself, namely Lotjpa Independent Legal Service.
It is critical for the Allan Labor Government to support and engage in these efforts, and to continue upholding the principles of Indigenous data sovereignty and governance, as set out by the Commission.
The creation of this bill has been in collaboration with several stakeholders, including the Commission, the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, PROV, the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner and government departments.
And it was also due to the hard work of the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples in the other place for bringing this Bill to Parliament in the first place to amend the Inquiries Act 2014.
The bill primarily provides for the Yoorrook Justice Commission to make orders to close or restrict access to certain records once the Commission ceases to exist and makes amendments in relation to the treatment of the records of a Royal Commission, Board of Inquiry or Formal Review that has ceased to exist.
The bill would additionally amend the Public Records Act 1973 to give effect to orders made by the Yoorrook Justice Commission to close or restrict access to certain records.
By nature of the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s purpose of truth-telling, there will be instances where they must gather data on culturally sensitive matters.
In some instances, these practices might be what we would consider “closed.”
That refers principally to cultural practices or Dreaming stories that outsiders to the culture cannot partake in or have knowledge of.
That can also include historical artifacts that might similarly depict these.
This is where, as I previously mentioned, Indigenous Data Sovereignty is critical to the empowerment and self-determination of First Nations people.
Indigenous Data Sovereignty is the right of Indigenous peoples to govern the collection, ownership and application of data about Indigenous communities, peoples, lands, and resources.
Its enactment mechanism Indigenous data governance is built around two central premises.
1) the rights of Indigenous nations over data about them, regardless of where it is held and by whom.
2) and the right to the data that Indigenous peoples require to support nation re-building.
Upholding these two premises requires us to respect the sensitive nature of closed practices, and as such the crux of this Bill is the empowerment of the Commission to restrict access to these data record upon conclusion of its work later this year.
The Commission will report on the lived experience of First Nations people in Victoria over many generations.
We know that lived experience requires care and consideration in identifying individuals and groups.
These are difficult experiences to recall on both an individual and intergenerational level.
And we must consider legislation in a way to not retraumatise anyone participating in the Commission’s activities.
This Bill aims to achieve that.
Many Indigenous cultures have provisions regarding the textual, auditory, or visual representations of deceased individuals.
It is vital that the Commission can address and report on matters of import without violating cultural protocol.
And to achieve this, the commission employs the social and emotional wellbeing model.
This model is broadly accepted by ACCOs as the most effective methodology that supports the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of a person.
It also acknowledges the community's connection to land, sea, culture, spirituality, family and community.
And as a result, the data collection can remain confidential or restricted as determined necessary by First Peoples at the conclusion of the Commission.
This is in line with the two central premises of Indigenous data governance.
President...
This legislation will help the Allan Labor Government meet the Priority Reform One’s target of formal partnership arrangements to support Closing the Gap to be in place in each state and territory.
That means, formal partnerships, between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and governments in place, in every state and territory.
This cements agreed joint decision-making roles and responsibilities where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have chosen their own representatives.
This is why this Bill is crucial.
Ensuring the Allan Labor Government can deliver on our commitment to reconciliation and providing frameworks for Indigenous self-determination.
In the September 2020 to May 2021 period, per the report to the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission from the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria:
The Commission had reached a significant level of engagement, including 457 people joining general community meetings, 103 detailed feedback responses, 190 Traditional Owners reached from eight Victorian Nations groups, and 170 people reached who were incarcerated in prison or correctional facilities.
It’s taken some years, but the Commission has been determined that they get this right, owing to how crucial their work is to the Treaty process going forward.
The report is set to be delivered later this year, a cumulation of all their hard work in discussion and collaboration with all communities and peoples reached in these engagement efforts.
President, the Act in question currently requires that Royal Commissions must upon conclusion transfer reports to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Under the current arrangements, reports of this nature are then available for public access, unless an order is made under the Public Records Act 1973 or an exemption applies under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Therefore, the public availability of records and reports are subject entirely to government discretion.
A core issue in this arrangement as it stands is that no necessary consideration is given to the wishes of Indigenous people and families in Victoria.
The decision rests on the discretion of the government, and the government alone.
If we want to get serious about data sovereignty for Indigenous peoples in this state, the current arrangement cannot stand when it comes to the Yoorook Justice Commission.
We must include provisions for the protection of Indigenous peoples rights and ensure culturally safe mechanisms for data retention and protection.
This is where more of these amendments come in.
These amendments are designed to specifically allow for provisions enabling the Yoorook Justice Commission to redact or to not provide sensitive information publicly.
Empowering specifically the Yoorook Justice Commission to restrict or close off access to records after the conclusion of its work provides for the cultural sensitivity Indigenous peoples need.
It should not be up to the discretion of the government of the day to restrict or publicise information provided within the confines of this Commission, when First Nations peoples were given the assurance and guarantee of privacy.
Many practices are not to be viewed publicly or by people outside the cultures partaking in these practices.
By providing the authority to the Yoorook Justice Commission to restrict access to these records, it becomes not a matter for the Government of the day, but the Commission itself.
President, Indigenous data sovereignty has precedence in government and department policy across the world.
For example, the Canadian government funded the First Nations Information Governance Centre to release the inaugural First Nations Data Governance Strategy in 2020.
This is both a necessary and narrow in scope amendment to legislation that addresses two recommendations from the Yoorrook Justice Commission on the handling of evidence.
Namely, these are recommendation 2 of the Yoorrook with Purpose report 2022 and recommendation 45 of the Yoorrook for Justice report 2023.
And these changes are in line with the Allan Labor Government’s commitment to First Peoples’ self-determination in Victoria.
In hearings held last year across 27 days for the Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems, 84 people including international witnesses gave evidence to the Commission.
This gives us an indication of the scale in which the Commission is operating and engaging in.
This included evidence from the Attorney-General, Minister for Police, Minister for Corrections, Youth Justice and Victim Support and the Minister for Child Protection and Family Services.
Senior government officials including departmental Secretaries, Associate Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries also gave evidence along with the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police.
The Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, Corrections Commissioner and the Youth Justice Commissioner also gave evidence.
Yoorrook issued 29 Notices to Produce to the State and received 4100 documents in response.
Twelve roundtables were held by the Commission across the state between December 2022 and February 2023 to inform findings of the report.
At Bangerang Aboriginal Corporation in Shepparton.
Barengi Gadjin Land Council and Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative in Horsham.
Dardi Munwurro at Preston, Reservoir and Mernda.
And Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation, Dhauwurd Wurrung Elderly & Community Health Service in Portland.
As well as organising prison and youth justice centre visits in February 2023 at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre, Barwon Prison, and Marngoneet Correctional Centre.
And submissions received were compiled of 33 from organisations and experts in response to Issues Papers, as well as 88 from individuals in the 2022-23 period, where over three quarters of these referenced issues about the child protection or criminal justice systems.
Together, these all informed the findings of the Commission in their first full report on child protection legislation and policy, ACCO proportional funding targets, and achievement for different front end service types.
That includes the criminal justice legislation for both adults and youth, criminal justice complaints mechanisms and oversight bodies, the Department of Justice and Community Safety’s community-based diversion programs for Aboriginal people, Aboriginal specific programs delivered in Victorian prisons, and much more key information to address injustices in the system.
Simply put, the Commission has done incredible work in gathering evidence and creating these reports, and by the time they have concluded their final report, it is critical that we have this legislation amended to support self-determination in reporting.
The Commission is expected to deliver its report later this year and in preparation, to continue our commitment to the core principals and premises of data sovereignty and governance for Indigenous peoples, we mus pass the necessary amendments to the Public Record Acts to adhere to culturally sensitive matters.
The Commission closed submissions from the general public in November, and now we await the release of the final report.
The Allan Labor Government has continued its strong and unwavering commitment to reconciliation in this state, by pressing on with Treaty negotiations.
These negotiations, along with the outcomes and actions we take from the Commission’s final report, will be pivotal.
But as I have already said, but can not understate, there must be a commitment from the Government of the day, if we want to continue to see strong engagement with our First Nations communities, to respect culturally sensitive matters and adhere to their sovereignty.
It is absolutely crucial, and a cornerstone of our discussion going forward as the State presses on with Treaty.
I am eagerly anticipating these reforms which will empower First Nations people in recordkeeping and data sovereignty.
And I sincerely thank the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples in the other place for her hard work in delivering these legislative reforms.
They are critical to the maintenance and adherence to the principles of data sovereignty and governance, as enshrined and stated by the Yoorook Justice Commision.
And as such, it is crucial that this chamber passes the necessary amendments to the Public Records Act and other related bills in a timely manner, ahead of the Commission’s publication of its final report, as to continue to protect the privacy and sensitivity of submissions involved.
We have an obligation in this Chamber to continue the hard work that has gone towards this, and to not break the trust and breach the privacy of all those who put their heart and souls into this truth-telling process.
Ensuring that the Commission has the power to restrict this information going forward is key, and for that, I commend the Bill to the Chamber.