Women’s Legal Service Victoria stands with First Peoples on the journey to Treaty

Women’s Legal Service Victoria (Women’s Legal) proudly supports the Treaty process being led by the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and Traditional Owner Groups. We stand with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in their decades-long fight for justice, truth and self-determination.

Treaty is a historic opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and build a better future together. It is a chance to walk alongside First Nations people and support them to shape the laws and rules that directly affect them.  

As a specialist, trauma-informed, state-wide organisation working with women and non-binary people experiencing family and sexual violence, we know that individuals and communities thrive when they can set their own course in life. Women's Legal CEO Claudia Fatone said:

Self-determination is not just a principle—it’s the foundation for solving the core issues we work on every day. Our casework demonstrates the disproportionate levels of family violence, sexual violence and systemic discrimination used by non-Aboriginal people against Aboriginal women.

Women’s Legal echoes the findings of the Productivity Commission’s final report on Closing the Gap: self-determination is the best way to achieve better outcomes. The First Peoples Assembly has been representing communities since 2019 and is a powerful example of participatory democracy in action. It ensures that Aboriginal people—not government—are the experts and decision-makers when it comes to their communities, customs, culture and lands. 

Treaty is not symbolic—it is structural reform. It will improve how the justice system and services are delivered for Aboriginal people, ensuring their voices are not only heard but embedded in our shared future. International precedents show that when Indigenous people have the freedom and power to make decisions for their own people, the whole of society also benefits.  

“This is an Australian-first. We invite every member of Parliament to walk alongside the oldest living civilisation in the world and strengthen our collective relationship with the First Peoples of Victoria.”

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