Victorian premier delivers formal apology to Australia’s First Peoples for ‘rapid and violent’ colonisation

2025-12-09 05:18

The Victorian government has apologised for past injustices inflicted on Aboriginal people since the time of colonisation through the “actions and inactions of the state, and the colony that came before it”.

In a formal statement issued before the parliament, the premier, Jacinta Allan, said decisions made in that building over its history “have long denied the First Peoples of this land their rights and their self-determination”.

“We acknowledge the harm inflicted on generations of First Peoples – and mark the beginning of a new era, one that embraces truth, honours justice and creates space for a shared future built in full view of the past,” Allan said.

Allan said the colonisation of Victoria was “rapid and violent” and that Aboriginal people were stripped of their lands, waters, languages, culture and children “not by accident but by design”.

The apology arose from the treaty negotiation process and Allan said “many” Victorians did not know about the extent of the harm done to Aboriginal people “until the work of the truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission”.

“Now that we have a statewide treaty – a negotiated agreement between equals – we can begin to say what should have been said long ago,” she said. “To ensure that the wrongs of the past are never repeated, we say sorry. To all the First Peoples in the gallery today, and to every community across this state – we say sorry.”

The former Victorian treaty commissioner Jill Gallagher was among a handful of First Nations people watching from the public gallery. Many more packed in to watch on a big screen set up in the Queen’s Hall adjacent to the legislative assembly, with elders seated in the front row.

Gallagher said the wrongs inflicted upon Aboriginal Australians were “not a figment of our imagination” and said the apology was the first step in the process to a better future for her people.

“[I was] very emotional in the parliament just before, sitting in the chamber,’ she told Guardian Australia.

“It means a lot. It means our people here in Victoria can start the healing process, to acknowledge all those bad things that happened to our communities.

“But to see the state government put that in action in parliament today was so amazing to witness.”

Gallagher said the apology was a significant moment for all Victorians, not just Aboriginal people.

Also watching was Gunditjmara elder Uncle Mark Rose, who said he had sat through government apologies before but this was different because “they talked about the promise that is attached to the apology. It’s not just saying sorry, it’s about doing something about it.”

He added: “The words of Jacinta Allan said there’s a promise behind it and we’re relying on that promise.”

More than 300 First Nations people gathered on the steps of parliament on Tuesday morning before the apology for a smoking ceremony and the welcome to the country was conducted by Wurundjeri and Woi-wurrung elder Uncle Andrew Gardiner.

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At a press conference earlier in the day, Labor MP Sheena Watt, the first Indigenous woman in Victorian parliament, said she was “full of pride and sorrow”.

Watt has now sat in on five apologies by an Australian parliament to Indigenous peoples, including the 2008 apology to the stolen generations, but said this apology went further in recognising “a lifetime of struggle”.

“I am a representative of a thriving community and every time I walk down my street I hear someone proudly speak their language, proudly talk to their kids in the language of their ancestors,” she said.

“I can’t do that. Today is about recognising that decisions made by this parliament all those years ago mean that I can’t do that. I can’t talk to my family in my language.”

The apology was opposed by the Victorian Liberal party because the wording referenced the treaty process, which they also oppose and have vowed to scrap within the first 100 days if they are elected to government in 2026.

They called for a division on the apology motion on Tuesday, which passed the lower house 56 votes to 27.

Speaking on the motion in parliament, the opposition leader, Jess Wilson, acknowledged previous government’s have “authored policies that have hurt and caused injustice and disadvantage to Aboriginal Victorians”.

“For that, we say sorry,” she said.

Gallagher said the Coalition’s actions showed Aboriginal people were “still seen as a political football” by some in parliament.

Travis Lovett, the deputy chair of the Yoorrook commission, said the Coalition was “trying to take away from the moment”, which he said was “highly disrespectful and incredibly disappointing”.