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The tight timeframes of the Yoorrook Justice Commission will test Premier Daniel Andrews\u2019 reputation as a reformer, pressuring him to pick up the pace in areas where the government wants to tread cautiously.<\/p>\n
Victoria has made a commitment to put change in the hands of First Peoples; however, the schedule laid out by the truth-telling inquiry will chafe against the slow pace that comes naturally to government decision-making.<\/p>\n
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Premier Daniel Andrews will now consider the Yoorrook Justice Commission\u2019s first report.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n Aboriginal Victorians will argue many of the significant changes proposed by the truth-telling inquiry have long been discussed, are urgently needed or are already underway.<\/p>\n But the state government will be tempted to kick trickier measures down the road for further consultation, and Yoorrook\u2019s commissioners are alive to this in setting a 12-month deadline.<\/p>\n When Victoria\u2019s Mental Health Royal Commission was taking place, Andrews pledged to implement every recommendation that would come out of it.<\/p>\n He has vowed to support Yoorrook\u2019s independent work, but is yet to make a similar commitment while considering the politically challenging task of reforming the state\u2019s justice system.<\/p>\n Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes gave evidence to the inquiry.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Chris Hopkins<\/cite><\/p>\n One of the commission\u2019s recommendations, immediately raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14, already conflicts with Victoria\u2019s policy to do so by 2027, a much slower pace.<\/p>\n Another key issue for Aboriginal Victorians, removing the public drunkenness offence, had to be pushed back by a year because the government hadn\u2019t had time to test how its new system would work.<\/p>\n A careful approach in this space is not unreasonable, after the Andrews government\u2019s disastrous bail laws from 2018 created a mess they are still trying to clean up today.<\/p>\n No one wants policy on the run, but advocates will say they have waited long enough and the timing of the report, during a Voice to Parliament referendum and ahead of Victorian Treaty negotiations, puts a political imperative on Andrews to show he can back up the state\u2019s rhetoric.<\/p>\n Some of the report\u2019s most significant reforms, such as independent justice and child protection systems for Victoria\u2019s First Peoples, will be at the centrepiece of Treaty negotiations.<\/p>\n However, Yoorrook\u2019s commissioners were clear in their report that they did not want Treaty to become a tool that could buy the government more time.<\/p>\n \u201cThis must not be used as an excuse for delay, given the evidence Yoorrook has presented,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cYoorrook also notes that the treaty framework allows the negotiation of interim agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n A smoking ceremony was held before the Yoorrook Justice Commission released its first report.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jason South<\/cite><\/p>\n The commission is well aware of drawn-out processes from the state government because they\u2019ve experienced them firsthand.<\/p>\n In March, lawyers for the state were hauled before the inquiry and apologised over failures to provide hundreds of key documents in time.<\/p>\n This delayed the interviews of government ministers and staff and ultimately pushed back the release of multiple Yoorrook reports.<\/p>\n At that time, Yoorrook chair, Professor Eleanor Bourke, said the government\u2019s response was \u201cmore business as usual\u201d and showed \u201ca fundamental misunderstanding of the truth-telling process\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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