Victorians have no idea

Marita Punshon I 18 April 2024 I The Spectator Australia

When it comes to Indigenous matters, it seems Victorians and their Members of Parliament, have no idea what is happening in their state.

There is a total void of understanding. A knowledge black hole, so to speak.

Victoria is the frontier state for Indigenous activism and separatism. It leaves others in its legislative wake.

Indigenous activists previously called for inclusivity. Today, they seek exclusivity.

At a recent?statewide Treaty gathering ?in Geelong, the former Treaty Advancement Commissioner, Jill Gallagher, put the Indigenous wish list up in neon lights.

Despite the nation’s revolt over the Voice to Parliament referendum – and its Treaty and Truth components – Victoria’s government is continuing to snub community desires for equality and practical outcomes. It thinks the Indigenous 3 per cent of the population should have a greater say than all the rest.

Yet even that 3 per cent failed to get behind the establishment of the First People’s Assembly – the Indigenous group created to argue the case for Treaty in Victoria.

Just 7 per cent , or less than 2,000 of the state’s 30,000 Indigenous voters, took part in the 2019 vote. South Australia’s recent vote played out similarly.

Worse still, the ‘independent’ Treaty Authority – whose job it is to sit between the bargaining parties comprising the State on one hand, and the First People’s Assembly on the other – is fully comprised of Indigenous people.

The so-called ‘Self-Determination Fund’ established to prepare for Treaty, is a $65 million-dollar evergreen pot of gold. That $65 million is a minimum amount for three years to give the First People’s Assembly ‘equal footing’ with the State. After three years, it will be funded in perpetuity.

The Yoorrook Truth and Justice Commission, and its $45 million costs, is being held to ‘inform’ Treaty. Yoorrook was established as a Royal Commission.

Yet one can barely see the resemblance to such a lofty legal paradigm. There is not one Judge in sight.

There is little examination of the ‘truths’ put to it, unsurprising giving the Commission, again, is led by an almost fully Indigenous panel. The Commission’s own website says all evidence provided to it will be accepted as the truth: ‘your truth-telling’, it says, will be supported and heard by ‘truth receivers’.

It’s a fox-in-the-henhouse kind of inquiry.

Yet this is the background for the comments made in regards to the Treaty.

In the list of Treaty demands, proponents want an exemption for Indigenous people from Land Tax, including stamp duty, and council rates.

A Perpetual Infrastructure Fund.

An ‘Aboriginal specific Productivity Commission in Victoria to hold government and services accountable’.

And Indigenous-designated seats on local councils.

But what Victorians don’t know, is that much of this list is already in place in the most recent Recognition and Settlement Agreement (RSA) in Victoria – the?2022 Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation RSA.

The first RSA, the 2013 Taungurung deal, was signed by the Liberals and Nations. It too, is full of trouble, but the Barengi Gadjin deal goes considerably further.

This deal covers much of Western and Wimmera Victoria.

Already in the document – signed up by the state government – is support for the exemption of the Corporation and its entities from paying local government rates.

And while they don’t want to pay rates themselves, they want a say over each Council’s rating strategy.

The state pays the Aboriginal Corporation’s GST bills.

The RSA already commits the state, by 2027, to ‘consider’ the ‘exemption of Traditional Owner Group Entities from being liable to pay land tax and stamp duty on properties they own’.

They must also consider ‘revenue sharing’ with local councils, and whether the financial deal struck for the 2022 RSA was enough. The negotiator of that deal?told a meeting in Ararat ?in December that Victorians will never know how much the deal is worth because the Land Council doesn’t ‘want (them) to know’. The government accepted that position and signed the divisive document because it holds the view that the Indigenous ‘are different’.

The RSA also requires the State to consider the inclusion of timber, gold, silver, metals, and mineral operations in the definition of ‘natural resources’ that may be taken by the indigenous on land given to them. One wonders how long they will take to undertake cultural heritage assessments on their own projects.

They want sole management of water in the Agreement area.

What all this means is that the requests for Treaty are already alive and well in Western Victoria. No need for shock – save that for the almost total ignorance of Victorians and their Members of Parliament about these matters.

It’s obvious why the Indigenous and their corporations want exemption from land taxes.

The Barengi Gadjin deal alone hands over huge volumes of land to the Aboriginal Corporation: a Grant of Aboriginal Title applies to 12 parcels of land, including the Little Desert National Park and the Black Range State Park.

Under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010,?Aboriginal Title?means a ‘grant of an estate in fee simple’; that is, handing over property ownership in full. In relation to the 12 titles, there are restrictions on what can happen on that land. But there are?another?five parcels of land being granted in ‘fee simple’, full freehold title, with no conditions attached.

And for better or worse, the state has agreed to help the Corporation find more land.

So, given the huge handover of land, it is not surprising that the tax reality has dawned upon Indigenous activists.

While every other Victorian is now subject to a three-fold increase in land tax, the state Labor government is willing not to charge the indigenous. That is apparent in the RSA negotiations.

It’s a case of free land for some, not for others. Taxes for some, not for others. Apartheid anyone?

The financial value of the land being handed over must be boggling – equally so the income the state is willing to forego in this performative kowtow to victimhood and inequality.

The ten local councils in the Agreement area are required to ‘preferentially employ’ Barengi Gadjin peoples and preferential contract deals are also to be signed for procuring goods and services.

As for the request for ‘designated seats on local councils’ for Indigenous people – the Barengi Gadjin deal has also dealt with that, requesting Councils give them ‘equal footing’ around the Council table.

Similarly, the request for a Perpetual Infrastructure Fund is risible given the roughly $50 billion already going into Indigenous corporations and bodies around Australia annually.

Layers of Indigenous separatism are already in Victoria. Treaty will blanket the lot, serving to plug any localised gaps.

If Victorians think the process is ahead of them, they need only to look behind and see that much of the road has already been travelled.

Author: Marita Punshon