The Victorian Premier has told the historic truth-telling inquiry in Naarm she is prepared to apologise to First Nations people for the injustices suffered due to government policies.

Appearing at the Yoorrook Justice Hearings into land injustices on Monday, Jacinta Allan became the first government leader to appear in front of an Indigenous truth-telling commission in Australia.

In a witness statement tendered to the commission, Ms Allan said she was prepared to apologise on behalf of the state at the conclusion of the inquiry.

"I am prepared to make a formal apology at an appropriate time in the future following the

conclusion of the Commission's truth and fact-finding mandate," she said.

Any apology would come at the conclusion of the hearings, and the release of the final report in 2025, as well through negotiations with the First Peoples' Assembly, who will consult with the Victorian Aboriginal community on this form of apology, Ms Allan said.

"To move forward as a society, and to mend wrongs and heal wounds, the state needs to publicly reckon with its role in perpetrating injustice," the statement reads.

"It takes more than just admitting the historical facts, though they are important."

She said apologising "provides space for healing and creates hope that together, the State and First Peoples can reconcile with their past."

"It provides the opportunity to transform the relationship and rebuild it in the service to all Victorians."

In 1997, then Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett apologised to Aboriginal people on behalf of the parliament and all Victorians for the past policies that led to Aboriginal children being removed from their families and communities.

During the hearings into the criminal justice system last year, Police Commissioner Shane Patton apologised on behalf of the Victorian police for their systemic racism, racist attitudes, and discriminatory actions towards Aboriginal people in Victoria.

On Monday, the Premier acknowledged government policies had directly contributed to the disparity that continues to exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Victoria.

"I want to acknowledge there is an unbroken line between the dispossession and violence of the past and the lives of today," Ms Allan said.

"I also want to acknowledge...that from the beginning until today the policies and practice of government have created the gap that exists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Victorians."

She told the inquiry: "Whether ignorance or deliberate intent, we have driven that disparity."

"And, as the commission has noted, that disparity continues to play out in the lives and life outcomes for Aboriginal people."

Ms Allan observed these hearings played a key role in education, arguing: "The process of truth-telling is a refusal to submit to that silence."

"Truth is about listening to First Peoples' experience of injustice and Treaty must be about listening, genuinely listening so this can be addressed," she said.

"This process is not about making any one individual feel guilt or shame, instead it's about reckoning with our past, being honest about our present and reaching for a better and fairer future for First Peoples.

"That begins with listening."

Her statement came as Commissioner Chair Eleanor Bourke argued that "acknowledgments and apologies mean little" if not backed up with actions.

"Truth-telling is about including our voices about the history of these lands on the public record," she said.

"By knowing and understanding the truth the great silence can be ended. We can build a shared understanding about the injustice that has occurred."

Professor Bourke urged the Premier to "live up to your words and actions," arguing she didn't want the failures of Yoorrook to be talked about in 30 years' time.

"First Peoples have faced a long history of being let down by successive governments and their leaders," Professor Bourke said.

"Broken promises, unfulfilled commitments and apologies followed by inertia."

Commissioner Travis Lovett told the hearing: "Elders and community have had to fight."

"Let us not leave it to future generations to make right the wrongs."

During her appearance, the premier discussed the outcomes of colonisation and the future of Treaty, which will begin negotiations earlier this year.

She said self-determination was about making sure a "transfer and sharing of power and resources, making sure that that is embedded in the work we do," arguing Treaty was going to "hold government to account."

"We are endeavouring to address through Treaty..the fact that sovereignty was never ceded, that land dispossession has contributed to ongoing injustice and how the pathway of treaty will address that and make change into the future," Ms Allan said.

Of the dramatic and horrific impacts of colonisation on First Peoples, Ms Allan was definitive: "White settlers came with a particular view, that the possession of land brought with it wealth.'

"What we have also seen conversely [is] that the dispossession of that land and the loss of that intergenerational connection to land hasn't just had an impact on First Peoples' culture and connection to country, it is also had that inter-generational impact of economic disadvantage that comes from not being connected to your land."

She acknowledged the government had a role to play in educating the wider community about the state's history, and the injustices experienced by First Nations people.

Counsel Assisting Tony McAvoy put to the Premier: The State of Victoria has received many, many times over the benefits of that process of dispossession, has it not?"

"Yes, it has," she replied.

The hearings have previously heard of the vast disparity in the wealth received from the land, taken from Indigenous people during colonisation - including billions of land and water revenue - which has benefitted the state but not been passed onto Traditional Owners.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission will deliver their final report next year.

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