Treaty Signed, Cell Doors Slammed, Same Pen

MELBOURNE, VIC – The Victorian Government has confirmed its commitment to Treaty by signing one, and then declining to fund any of the things Treaty was meant to deliver – a position officials described as “a balanced approach”.

The state’s Aboriginal legal service said this week’s budget had ignored self-determined justice solutions despite the state having signed the country’s first Treaty less than six months ago. New sentencing laws introduced last year will see some young people face life imprisonment, with the government previously acknowledging the changes would drive up Indigenous incarceration rates.

A senior departmental spokesperson said the apparent contradiction between Treaty and sentencing was “very much in line with the government’s two-pillar approach” of saying nice things at signings and locking up Treaty partners on weekdays.

“Treaty addresses past harm” the spokesperson said. “These laws address future harm. Both are important.”

A senior advocacy spokesperson described the budget as a targeted denial of service and noted that signing a Treaty did not mean signing away the problems the government had created in the first place. The spokesperson added that “unintended consequences” was no longer an accurate phrase when the consequences had been forecast in writing by the people who voted for them.

The state Coalition has separately pledged to abolish Treaty altogether if it wins the November election, while the government has pledged to keep Treaty and the laws that contradict it. Under both options, mob keep going to prison.

A senior Treasury official confirmed Treaty was a “long-term investment” and youth detention a “short-term operational requirement” – though both were funded from the same budget and at the expense of the same people.