Granting of Royal Assent for the Statewide Treaty Bill

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which this House stands – the Wurundjeri and Bunurong people of the Eastern Kulin Nation – and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.

I particularly acknowledge the Elders with us today.

This is an historic moment.

Let me begin with a statement about what has happened in this moment.

We have just witnessed the Premier, the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, and the Co-Chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria sign the Statewide Treaty.

The first Statewide Treaty for Victoria; the first in Australia and the first for the First Peoples in Victoria.

Also, on this Thursday, 13th November 2025, I provided the Royal Assent to the Statewide Treaty Bill – a process in accordance with the powers conferred on me as the 30th Governor of Victoria by His Majesty, King Charles III, under our Victorian Constitution – to make this Bill a law of the State of Victoria.

The Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 is now an Act of the Parliament of Victoria.

The Statewide Treaty Act 2025 is an outcome of the Treaty negotiations between the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the Government of Victoria.

It provides the legal framework for an ongoing representative body for First Peoples, named Gellung Warl, to provide advice to the Victorian Government about matters affecting First Peoples in Victoria, and to continue in good faith the Treaty process.

This Act marks the beginning of a new relationship between First Peoples and Government in Victoria.

This Act gives legal expression

to the Voice of First Peoples in Victoria;

to how Truth-telling will be considered;

and to how Treaty will be put into practice.

What does this Treaty mean for the people of Victoria?

The First Peoples’ Assembly representatives will speak to its meaning for First Peoples.

The Premier and the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples will speak to its meaning for the Government of Victoria.

Let me speak to its meaning as an Act of Parliament in the State of Victoria.

The law has been made on a journey with many steps, where many people in this room have walked every step.

In 2016 the Victorian Government began consultations.

In 2018, the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act became law.

In 2019, the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria was elected.

In 2021, Australia’s first Truth-telling commission – Yoorrook Justice Commission– was established in Victoria.

In 2022, the Treaty Authority and Treaty Negotiation Framework were both established.

In November 2024, Statewide Treaty Negotiations started.

In June and July 2025, the final reports of the Yoorrook Justice Commission were delivered to me as Governor and tabled in Parliament by the Premier.

On September 9, 2025, the Statewide Treaty Bill was introduced to Parliament and passed the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council on October 16 and October 30 respectively.

The Statewide Treaty Act is the expression of the democratic will of the people of Victoria made law.

This law from the people, and by the people’s democratic representatives, follows more than a decade of peaceful consultation and negotiation.

It is a profoundly democratic and practical expression from the people of Victoria.

This day we mark an historic achievement of modern parliamentary democracy –

an achievement from which people of good faith can build a future which addresses the circumstances from which we have come and those we wish to create together.

We, the people of Victoria, have come from many lands to this place whose State boundaries are from the Murray River in the north to the sea in the south, and from the 141st meridian of longitude in the west to the Great Dividing Range in the east – land occupied for many thousands of years by First Peoples, who called these places by other names.

We have created, and continue to develop, this parliamentary democracy which welds us together as a people.

With this Statewide Treaty Act, we have committed to learning how to walk together across our two worlds.