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Radical history overhaul coming to classrooms · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, September ten, twenty twenty five. Is the COP
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  Speaker 1: thirty one Climate Summit too big for Australia to handle?
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  Speaker 1: Tender documents show the United Nations talkfest could attract more
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  Speaker 1: than fifty thousand people to Adelaide. If Australia wins its
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  Speaker 1: bid to host first, we have to fight off Turkey,
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  Speaker 1: who also wants to host. Snowy Hydro workers will get
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  Speaker 1: a pay rise worth twenty six point five percent over
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  Speaker 1: four years to bring the twelve billion dollar renewable energy
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  Speaker 1: project to life. That includes increased hourly productivity allowances and
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  Speaker 1: comes after a hard headed union campaign for increased pay.
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  Speaker 1: That story is live now at be Australian dot com
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: dot au. Dispossession and systemic racism, those ideas will be
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  Speaker 1: sent to an overhaul of the Victorian curriculum for kids
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  Speaker 1: in the earliest years of school. It's all part of
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  Speaker 1: the Labour government's bid to move towards a treaty with
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  Speaker 1: Indigenous people and a permanent elected representative body similar to
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  Speaker 1: the mooted Voice to Parliament Today, Indigenous Affairs Editor Page
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  Speaker 1: Taylor on history's delicate balance. The school curriculum when most
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  Speaker 1: of us were in the classroom didn't really do Australian
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  Speaker 1: history justice. There was a lot of drawing lines on
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  Speaker 1: maps and human hovel and the gold Rush when I
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  Speaker 1: was a kid. In fact, our history is rich with drama, romance,
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  Speaker 1: tragedy and heroism, vicious colonial power struggles, guerrilla resistance warriors
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  Speaker 1: like pemel woyan Jandamarra. The incredible seagoing adventures of navigational
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  Speaker 1: genius is James Cook and William Bligh.
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  Speaker 2: God damn your blood, darn with myns, God, damn your blackness.
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  Speaker 3: Room, Christian cab that.
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  Speaker 1: If you haven't heard it is a movie, you've got
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  Speaker 1: to check out The Bounty from nineteen eighty four, Anthony
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  Speaker 1: Hopkins as Bly and Mel Gibson as Mutiny Fletcher Christian.
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  Speaker 1: It's got an incredible cast. The supporting actors include a
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  Speaker 1: very young leam Nieson, Daniel Day Lewis and even Laurence Olivier.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't do a subject called history at all.
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  Speaker 1: Page Taylor is The Australian's Indigenous Affairs editor.
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  Speaker 2: When I was in high school, there was a subject
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  Speaker 2: called social studies, and I remember we learned a little
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  Speaker 2: bit about contemporary Australia. We were taught about a debate
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  Speaker 2: that was going on in public at the time about
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  Speaker 2: whether or not it should be legal to be a
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  Speaker 2: gay person.
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  Speaker 4: In Western Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Where I went to school, there was zero about Indigenous
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  Speaker 2: history or the Frontier Wars.
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  Speaker 1: It's a shame, isn't it, because it's actually quite exciting history.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Americans have lent in to the study of
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  Speaker 1: the wild West, as we used to call it. It
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  Speaker 1: can be taught in a way that acknowledges both sides, really,
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  Speaker 1: can't it, I think so.
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  Speaker 2: I remember choosing Kings in Grass Castles for my book
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  Speaker 2: club not that long ago, and feeling really embarrassed that
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  Speaker 2: it had taken me so long to find that book
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  Speaker 2: is a gripping story about white settlers making their way
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  Speaker 2: across the country, a crocodile attack, these encounters with Aboriginal people.
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  Speaker 2: It was a fascinating book and it made me a
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  Speaker 2: bit sorry that I hadn't learnt it at school.
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  Speaker 1: Australian history has been a hotly contested topic, and the
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  Speaker 1: latest battle is unfolding in Victoria, where there are plans
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  Speaker 1: for a dramatic rethink of how our history is taught
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  Speaker 1: from the earliest years of formal education.
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  Speaker 3: We walk on stolen land, a truth etched into the soil,
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  Speaker 3: in the rivers that have carried stories of a people
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  Speaker 3: for my Lenia, and in the skies that have witnessed
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  Speaker 3: it all.
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  Speaker 1: This is a voice actor reading from a document that's
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  Speaker 1: now to become a guiding force in Victorian education.
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  Speaker 3: The scars of colonial invasion, its massacres, violence, and relentless
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  Speaker 3: erasia are not confined to the past. They reside in
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  Speaker 3: the present, shaping the lives of first peoples in Victoria today.
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  Speaker 1: It's from a report by the Yuruk Justice Commission, the
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  Speaker 1: Victorian Royal Commission that was created by Labor Premier Daniel
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  Speaker 1: Andrews in twenty twenty one to create an official public
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  Speaker 1: record of first people's experience of what the report calls
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  Speaker 1: systemic injustice. Since the start of colonization.
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  Speaker 3: Colonial systems have shape shifted, but never relinquished their grip.
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  Speaker 3: From the first footsteps of invaders to the halls of
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  Speaker 3: contemporary power, the machinery of dispossession persists.
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  Speaker 2: The europe report doesn't pull any punches it's very direct language.
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  Speaker 2: So for example, at one point, the Commission says that
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  Speaker 2: across its extensive body of work, which went from twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty two to twenty twenty four, York has consistently found
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  Speaker 2: that the injustice is faced by First People's in Victoria,
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  Speaker 2: and they're talking about modern day injustices flow directly from colonization.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a view that I think is quite contentious
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  Speaker 2: with many Australians. They're talking about the things we see
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  Speaker 2: in the closing the Gut Report, over representation.
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  Speaker 4: In jails, low birth weights, the fact.
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  Speaker 2: That children aren't as ready for year one as they
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  Speaker 2: ought to be, the suicide rates. York Reports links this
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  Speaker 2: all directly to colonization and it's ongoing impact.
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  Speaker 1: How do you think it will be infused into the
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  Speaker 1: Victorian curriculum.
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  Speaker 2: I think we're going to be a long time waiting
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  Speaker 2: to find out the answer to that, because in the
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  Speaker 2: document before the Victorian Parliament, in the bill, it says
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  Speaker 2: that this is yet to be worked out between the
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  Speaker 2: representative body, the First People's Body called Galongwill and the
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  Speaker 2: various departments that have a say in this. So it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be what they call code designed. I know
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  Speaker 2: people's eyes glaze over when they hear the word code design.
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  Speaker 2: It's become a little bit of a nothing word. But
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  Speaker 2: what it basically means is they're going to sort it
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  Speaker 2: out together and it's subject to the powers of the minister.
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  Speaker 4: The Minister of the day.
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  Speaker 2: Has the authority to say, actually, I don't like this
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  Speaker 2: at all, try again, or yep, love it, let's go Paige.
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  Speaker 1: In Victoria, like in the rest of Australia, we've seen
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  Speaker 1: a reconsideration of history in the past few years, particularly
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  Speaker 1: about some of the former superstars of history. For example,
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  Speaker 1: there's a statue of Captain Cook in central Melbourne that's
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  Speaker 1: been vandalized a number of times at Cook's cottage. They've
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  Speaker 1: had to remove the statue for its own safety at times.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think the Victorian education system is capable of
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  Speaker 1: getting some kind of balance in the curriculum, so there
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  Speaker 1: is an acknowledgment of the subtleties of our history of
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  Speaker 1: looking fairly at the intentions of people like Captain Cook
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  Speaker 1: and Arthur Phillip, for example, I think.
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  Speaker 2: They need to and I suspect they know they need to,
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  Speaker 2: because that's going to create a legitimacy for the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the curriculum. I'm not a curriculum expert, but I
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  Speaker 2: imagine there are going to be some pretty robust discussions
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  Speaker 2: when this thing is co designed. There's nothing I've seen
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  Speaker 2: in the bill which suggests a complete takeover of the
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  Speaker 2: history curriculum, but how it's inserted and the context is
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  Speaker 2: going to be crucial. I think what the government and
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  Speaker 2: the Education Department will be keen to avoid is a
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  Speaker 2: situation where parents are upset about what their children are learning.
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  Speaker 2: They need to bring the parents with them so that
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  Speaker 2: they can properly explain that this is adding to the
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  Speaker 2: children's knowledge.
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  Speaker 4: It needs to be understood that they're not replacing the
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  Speaker 4: entire curriculum with.
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  Speaker 2: A narrative about squatters and their insociable hunger for land
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  Speaker 2: and how that displaced people and staffed them. Those things
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  Speaker 2: did happen, but other things happened too. This Nation Leading
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  Speaker 2: bill and the treaty process as a whole, shows what
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  Speaker 2: we can achieve when we listen to first people's and
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  Speaker 2: work together for better outcomes.
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  Speaker 1: Victoria's still got a labor government now. The premier is
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  Speaker 1: just into Allen and she's shipping in a big reform
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  Speaker 1: program about Indigenous Affairs. It starts with a new body
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  Speaker 1: called gellung Wil.
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  Speaker 2: This is a body like nothing we've ever seen in Australia.
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  Speaker 2: I'm quite sure this is unique, and that's because it
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  Speaker 2: took so long to organize. This is a ten year
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  Speaker 2: process and the traditional owners of Victoria got together with
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  Speaker 2: the various aboriginal organizations and they've really thought about this
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  Speaker 2: over a long period of time and it's all been
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  Speaker 2: done in consultation with the Victorian government.
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  Speaker 4: Until last year.
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  Speaker 2: The opposition was on board too. I think the Victorian
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  Speaker 2: government had a really they've got an interest in getting
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  Speaker 2: this right, not only because they think it's the right
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  Speaker 2: thing to do, but because I'm told repeatedly by people
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  Speaker 2: in government that they want to get policy right. They
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  Speaker 2: want to make informed decisions about where to put money.
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  Speaker 2: They want to know what's working and what's not working.
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  Speaker 4: But they don't know who to talk to.
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  Speaker 2: It's an ad hoc system where people who are highly motivated,
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  Speaker 2: highly mobile and with agency go to Parliament and say,
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  Speaker 2: look what I'm doing. It's so good, but what about
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  Speaker 2: the people who don't have, for one of a better word,
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  Speaker 2: a voice. This is a representative body that is the
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  Speaker 2: most comprehensive attempt at capturing every I think the government
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  Speaker 2: sees it as a one stop shop on indigenous policy.
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  Speaker 2: I think they believe it's going to make their job
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  Speaker 2: a lot easier. I think they believe it's going to
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  Speaker 2: save them a lot of money.
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  Speaker 1: Victoria already has something called the First People's Assembly, which
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  Speaker 1: is an elected body which already consults with government. What
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  Speaker 1: will be the difference between that and Gellung While.
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  Speaker 4: It's basically the same but expanded.
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  Speaker 2: So the First People's Assembly was created specifically to do
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  Speaker 2: this bill. It was put together for the purposes of
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  Speaker 2: working out the treaty. And so what we're going to
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  Speaker 2: see if this bill passes is a version of the
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  Speaker 2: First People's Assembly, but it will have authority. It's going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to make rules about who can and
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  Speaker 2: cannot claim to be Aboriginal. It's going to have a
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  Speaker 2: room in Parliament, access to Parliament. It's going to have
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  Speaker 2: an accountability arm, so a commission off to the side
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  Speaker 2: that can audit government departments. And this could be revolutionary
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  Speaker 2: in some ways if this accountability mechanism get stuck into
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  Speaker 2: underperforming bureaucrats and government agencies that are wasting money that
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  Speaker 2: could be amazing page.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about that idea of who is identifying as
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  Speaker 1: Indigenous now. Between twenty sixteen and twenty twenty one, the
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  Speaker 1: census showed a big jump in the number of people
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  Speaker 1: identifying as Aboriginal. There's been contention about why that was happening.
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  Speaker 1: Some people have said it's because there was less shame
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  Speaker 1: attached to having Aboriginal heritage. People more and more proud
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  Speaker 1: of that and were more willing to put it in
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  Speaker 1: the census. Other people have suggested different motives for people
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  Speaker 1: identifying as Indigenous, like perhaps being able to apply for
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  Speaker 1: jobs that they might not be able to get if
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  Speaker 1: they weren't. How hot is this as an issue within
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  Speaker 1: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and why would
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  Speaker 1: it be something that the government would want this new
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  Speaker 1: body to take a look out?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think Aboriginal people understand that the government has
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  Speaker 2: these dedicated positions. Sometimes, you know, they want to hire
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  Speaker 2: an Indigenous person for a particular job.
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  Speaker 4: They can do that. The Commonwealth has the.
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  Speaker 2: Power to do that and you can see those jobs
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  Speaker 2: advertised sometimes. But the government doesn't want to be giving
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  Speaker 2: these jobs to people who aren't recognized by their community
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  Speaker 2: as Indigenous. In my round in Indigenous affairs, I'm quite
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  Speaker 2: often fielding calls and emails and correspondents from Aboriginal people
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  Speaker 2: who are pretty concerned that someone is in a position
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  Speaker 2: where their aboriginality matters. It's part of their career, and
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  Speaker 2: there are people in the community who aren't even sure
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  Speaker 2: if this person is Indigenous or not. And this organization,
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  Speaker 2: gallong While is going to have the authority to create
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  Speaker 2: a uniform guideline rule standard, and that's going to make
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  Speaker 2: I think some of the criticism damp and down about
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  Speaker 2: whether or not someone's in a position that they shouldn't
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  Speaker 2: be in if the test is standard.
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  Speaker 4: Coming up.
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  Speaker 1: What would a treaty actually look like? What would a
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  Speaker 1: treaty mean in Victoria?
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  Speaker 2: The treaty Bill we've seen in the Parliament this week
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  Speaker 2: is not your traditional treaty where an amount of money
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  Speaker 2: and some land is exchanged and that's the end of it.
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  Speaker 2: It's an ongoing arrangement to do things in partnership. And
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  Speaker 2: I think there are some romantic ideas around about what
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  Speaker 2: a treaty is, but the modern treaty, constitutional experts tell me,
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  Speaker 2: is just so different to the kinds of treaties that
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  Speaker 2: were made in North America. When those treaties were made
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  Speaker 2: in the early days of the settlement of North America,
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  Speaker 2: it was two people who were trying to work out
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  Speaker 2: how they can get the most out of their arrangement
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  Speaker 2: with each other, and there was no government structure over
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  Speaker 2: the top of it. You know, this has all had
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  Speaker 2: to be done within the laws that have existed for
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  Speaker 2: a long time in this country.
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  Speaker 1: There's been a shift in the political landscape over the
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  Speaker 1: past ten years when it comes to these issues. The
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  Speaker 1: Victorian Liberals previously supported the idea of progress towards a
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  Speaker 1: treaty and a first People's Assembly. Now they don't support it.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, there was a national referendum in the past
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  Speaker 1: couple of years about creating a federal voice to Parliament
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  Speaker 1: and that was rejected. So what do you think of
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  Speaker 1: the prospects of this actually coming to life and how
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  Speaker 1: do you think Victorians are going to receive it.
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  Speaker 2: I think there are people in the state opposition in
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  Speaker 2: Victoria who are pragmatic about this. They knew for a
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  Speaker 2: long time that there was something very good about having
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  Speaker 2: a representative body that they could go to on indigenous policy,
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  Speaker 2: and they did when they were in opposition. They relied
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  Speaker 2: on the First People's Assembly for advice and guidance and
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  Speaker 2: I think they got a lot out of it, or.
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  Speaker 4: They told me they did.
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  Speaker 2: But this got very hot during the referendum campaign. The
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  Speaker 2: First People's Assembly, the body put together to do this treaty,
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  Speaker 2: began to look a lot like a voice, not a
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  Speaker 2: constitutionally enshrined one, but a voice nonetheless, and it was
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  Speaker 2: pretty inconvenient for the Victorian opposition to be backing it,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what I saw play out. I think the
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  Speaker 2: state opposition may very well vote against it, but I
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't be surprised if they use it the next time
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  Speaker 2: they're in government.
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  Speaker 1: H Taylor is The Australian's Indigenous Affairs editor. You can
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  Speaker 1: read all about this story right now at the Australian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot a