Australia's first Indigenous senior counsel, Tony McAvoy says Treaty is not a "silver bullet" with a poor colonial government track record, but remains the best avenue for pursuing greater outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Speaking at the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria's statewide Treaty Gathering on Sunday, Mr McAvoy said prior to colonisation, First Nations people were "wealthy in all respects that mattered to us…spiritually, physically and culturally wealthy…tied to our lands and waters with our identity".

"If treaties are to be of any value, the truth of our loss must be known and the government must do everything that is reasonably possible to put us in a position we ought to have been in, if they had acted lawfully, and with humanity, and dignity, he said.

"That's what I'm talking about there, is putting us into the modern-day position that we ought to have been in if they had done the right thing."

Mr McAvoy warned that from his experience, he's seen colonial governments "cannot share power properly" but can be held to account with strong public support behind treaties.

"Governments are in the habit of trying to undo them, break them down, and intend to breach them," he told National Indigenous Times.

"The Westminster system allows any subsequent parliament to amend any previous law and so they can undo anything that they like.

"And it's in that context that we need to make sure that we have plenty of friends that that the treaty notion is embedded in society as something that's good for everybody that the government has the social licence to continue it and doesn't have the social licence to discontinue."

It followed Aotearoa's first Māori Supreme Court justice Joe Williams who canvassed the failures of his nation's Treaty of Waitangi, which became properly addressed with settlement processes in the 1990s speaking on Saturday.

"The problem was, it (Treaty of Waitangi) was never enforced...you had terra nullius, we had Treaty-nullius," Justice Williams said.

With the tale of a modern ocean navigator recreating his ancestor's journey to arriving at Aotearoa, he said Indigenous leaders must visualist their 'island'; the representation of what they want to achieve.

Earlier on Sunday, Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg forecast a future where Indigenous affairs-related decision-making is taken out of government hands, left solely with an independent First Peoples body.

Mr McAvoy formerly held the role of Northern Territory Treaty Commissioner before the jurisdiction "effectively abandoned" the ambition in late 2022 and "had done nothing since".

He attended both the NT's Treaty Symposium and the Assembly's gathering in Geelong within a couple of days, making the trip south to speak as a supporter of the efforts in Victoria.

Despite the roadblock in the Top End, Mr McAvoy said he was "certain" Treaty would reinvigorate in the Territory.

On Sunday he said while he holds an "open eyed" view to Treaty, he remains an advocate for it being the best path forward.

"It's the only path that we've got. I think that we have to pursue it, but I'm approaching it with open eyes. We will have to continue to fight government," Mr McAvoy said.

Mr McAvoy said First Peoples all around the country "take great pride in watching your progress here in Victoria".