The country's first 'truth-telling' commission has launched in Melbourne with a ceremonial hearing, or wurrek tyerrang.
In a formal process, the Yoorrook Justice Commission will investigate the injustices visited against Aboriginal people since colonisation.
Commissioners, counsel assisting and Elders from across Victoria were in attendance for today's hearing, opened with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony by Wurundjeri WoiWurrung Elder Uncle Colin Hunter.
While no evidence was heard today, the scope of the commission was outlined, as well as the 'Yoorrook Guidelines and Practice Directions on Truth-Telling'.
Commission Chair Professor Eleanor Bourke spoke of the significance of the commission's launch.
"This day is a significant step forward, not just for First Peoples, but for every Victorian," the Wergaia Wamba Wamba Elder said.
"The stories of Victoria's First Peoples must be told. In telling their stories, all Victorians can share the history and help create a better future – based on truth."
Today's hearing is the second of five distinct phases of the process, which includes a series of informal and formal truth-telling yarning circles and formal sittings which will document historical and ongoing injustices.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission ceremonial heraring was attended by commissioners, counsel assisting Yoorrook and elders from across Victoria Source: Supplied
These may include matters such as cultural violations, massacres, policing and criminal justice, child protection and welfare.
The Yoorrook Commission, which has the authority to subpoena documents and past officials, was given $44 million as part of the state government's 2021/22 budget and will welcome all forms of truth-telling including art, cultural artefacts, written submissions and other forms of expression.
This will be amassed into Yoorrook's interim report, due on June 30, 2022, which aims to establish an official public record of experiences of First Nations people since colonisation, and determining the causes and consequences of systemic injustices to assist in recommendations towards a Victorian treaty process.
Speaking to media at today's gathering, Senior Counsel Tony McAvoy said that the public have seen commissions of inquiry before, Deaths in Custody commission, but that they had not been actioned systemically with the same 'spirit and extent' this process aims to achieve.
"The way in which we Assisting Counsel intend to go about ensuring that the messages... and the recommendations become embedded is by doing the very best that we can to expose where those problems lie," McAvoy said.
"And it is my observation that whilst we might have many expressions of political will, of good conscious, the difficulty largely lies in the bureaucracy."
The Yoorrook Commission outline states that Victoria is 'the first and only jurisdiction to have taken action on the Truth and Treaty elements of the Uluru Statement from The Heart.'
