00:00Inching closer to the end of a multi-generational journey. While the exact details and price tag of Victoria's first treaty agreement remains confidential, the agreement's entering its final stages of drafting.
00:18That is our hope that all of this is completed by the end of the year so we can start making a powerful difference.
00:23We are very close to being the first jurisdiction in this country to sign a treaty with First Nations people.
00:29While it's yet to go to Parliament, the ABC can reveal, the First Peoples Assembly is expected to be granted new powers to establish its own institutions, proposing a new educational institute.
00:42The First Peoples Institute will be a way that we as First Peoples can make sure we're building on the existing skills and capability of our community to fill all the key leadership roles that are going to exist in the treaty era.
00:53The next year takes inspiration from successes of the past. In the 1980s, the Koorie College Program trained the next generation of Aboriginal health workers.
01:02Some went on to become CEOs of Aboriginal Health Services. The important part of the learning is that they built the confidence and felt the capacity to be able to go back home and to be able to make changes.
01:14Uncle Alan Brown helped run the Koorie College Program and is part of a group of Elders who advise the First Peoples Assembly.
01:23We can design and build to meet our own needs and that shouldn't be feared. I mean that should, we would hope that through the treaty that that's embraced.
01:32The proposed institute is not expected to be a school or a university, but a unique higher education program built gradually to address entrenched educational inequality.
01:44I think this is a fantastic move. I think that this is going to be something that is going to have the potential to really positively impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait outcomes across Victoria.
01:55While treaty continues to be opposed by the state coalition, the Labor government is pushing ahead with its plan.
02:01The statewide treaty bill, which will legislate the proposed agreement, is expected to be introduced into parliament in coming weeks.
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