Assembly elections launched for next stage of Treaty process

By Murray Silby

May 16, 2023

**Election bound:** Members of the inaugural First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria in Parliament House for the introduction of the Treaty Authority bill, one of the Treaty milestones it negotiated with the Victorian Government. An election for the second assembly will run until June 3.

The first votes have been cast in the second First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria election.

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Voting opened on Saturday, May 13, with outgoing co-chair and Bangerang and Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson among the first to vote at Wurun senior campus Collingwood in Fitzroy North.

A smoking ceremony and Mother’s Day event marked the occasion.

The election runs for three weeks, closing June 3.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from and in Victoria are eligible to vote for candidates for the 32-seat assembly, although candidates must be Traditional Owners of country in the state.

Of the 32 seats, 21 are elected across five regions — metropolitan, south-west, north-west, north-east and south-east.

The remaining seats are for representatives appointed by the state’s 11 recognised Traditional Owner groups, although the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, based in Shepparton, has not taken up the option of its reserved seat, the only group not to.

The next assembly will represent First Nations people living in Victoria in Treaty negotiations with the Victorian Government for a statewide Treaty.

Aunty Geraldine was an inaugural member of the assembly in the north-east region and members elected to the next assembly would play a vital role in the history of the state.

“Today we begin the next big step towards Treaty with First Peoples right across the state starting to cast their votes in the assembly elections,” she said.

“But what issues Treaty covers, how strong it will be, depends on mob getting involved in these elections.

“These elections are our opportunity to choose who will be sitting across from government when Treaty negotiations begin later this year.”

Seventy-four Traditional Owners of Country in Victoria are standing as candidates, 12 of them vying for a seat in the north-east region, which includes Echuca, Cobram, Yarrawonga, Wodonga, Benalla, Wangaratta, Mansfield, Seymour, Shepparton, Kyabram and part of Rochester.

Those candidates include:

Lisa Thorpe (Gunnai, Gunditjmara;
Wemba Wemba, Boonwurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung);
Nicole Atkinson (Bangerang, Gunditjmara);
Shelley Drake (Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri);
Leanne Miller AM (Dhulanyagen Ulupna of the Yorta Yorta people);
Levi Power (Yorta Yorta);
Neil Morris (Yorta Yorta, Ngurai Illum Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung);
Douglas Briggs (Yorta Yorta);
Travis Morgan (Yorta Yorta, Wemba Wemba);
Dixon Patten (Yorta Yorta, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Dhudhuroa);
Isobel Paipadjerook Morphy-Walsh (Taun Wurrung);
Belinda Briggs (Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Wurundjeri and Ngiyampaa); and
Lyn Thorpe (Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri, Wemba Wamba, Barapa Barapa).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be able to vote in the elections in person, online or through via mail.

The final day of voting in the elections on June 3 will be celebrated with Treaty Day Out Naarm, a concert in Burnley Circus Park in Melbourne, featuring a line-up of all First Nations artists, including Yothu Yindi, Jessica Mauboy and Thelma Plum.

To learn more about local candidates, to enrol and vote in the assembly elections go to TreatyElections.org