New Deputy Premier Gabrielle Williams has been appointed Victoria's Minister for First Peoples, becoming the third person to hold the portfolio in less than nine months.
On Tuesday, Ms Williams, who previously served as Minister for Treaty and First Peoples between June 2022 and October 2023, was reappointed to the role during a swearing-in ceremony at Government House following the appointment of new Premier Ben Carroll last week.
As Deputy Premier, Ms Williams, a senior member of Labor's Socialist Left faction, was able to select her portfolios by convention. In addition to First Peoples, she will oversee Education, Women and Gender Equality, and Skills and Training.
Whilst some reports mentioned the possible elevation of Sheena Watt, Labor's first Aboriginal representative in state Parliament, and currently the only Indigenous MP in Victoria, was overlooked for a ministry role.
The appointment comes less than a year after Natalie Hutchins, who oversaw the First Peoples portfolio while the state government negotiated the nation's first Treaty with the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria, announced her retirement from Parliament. Ros Spence assumed the portfolio earlier this year and will now retain Community Sport while adding Youth Justice, Corrections and Victims Support.
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Victoria's historic Treaty signing last year was championed by the Labor government, first under Daniel Andrews and later under Jacinta Allan.
The elected body of Traditional Owners, the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, will oversee the delivery of Treaty outcomes through a new governance structure known as Gellung Warl, meaning "tip of the spear" in Gunaikurnai.
Under the framework, the Assembly, alongside a permanent truth-telling body and an accountability commission, will oversee policies aimed at closing the gap in Victoria.
However, the body faces an uncertain future, with polling indicating Labor faces an uphill battle to win office for a fourth consecutive time at November's state election. Both the Liberals and One Nation have pledged to dismantle Gellung Warl if they form government.
The Labor government has also faced criticism in recent days over its response to the recommendations of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia's first formal truth-telling body. Last year, the Commission released its final report, which Ms Hutchins described as a "powerful record" of the state's history from the perspective of Aboriginal communities.
Alongside the report, which contained 100 recommendations, the Commission released Yoorrook Truth Be Told, a public record documenting Victoria's history since colonisation and the major milestones of the Commission's four-year inquiry.
In a statement last week, Commissioner Travis Lovett, who this year walked from Melbourne to Canberra to call for a national truth-telling body, said more than a year after the report's release, people were "still waiting to see a clear commitment from the Victorian Government to fully implement the Commission's recommendations".
Congratulating Mr Carroll on his elevation to Premier, Mr Lovett noted he had been part of the truth-telling "journey," having been handed a spear after giving evidence at Yoorrook and later receiving a message stick from community.
"When he accepted that message stick, he was reminded that it came with expectations that the truth that had been shared would be met with action," Mr Lovett said.
"As Premier, now is the time to turn those expectations into action. The Victorian Government must commit to implementing, in full, the recommendations put forward by the Yoorrook Justice Commission."
