The ongoing Treaty journey
A formal Treaty process has been underway in Victoria since 2016, led by negotiations between the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and the State of Victoria under a innovative legal framework. This work reached a major milestone with the conclusion of the first Statewide Treaty between the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and the State in December 2025.
Across Australia, similar Treaty initiatives are progressing in several jurisdictions. We can also learn much from experiences of treaties between Indigenous peoples and settlers overseas.
This webpage brings together resources from the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub and its collaborators, both nationally and internationally, to support deeper understanding of Treaty developments and to assist those contributing to this important work.
Recent News
Treaty Talks
Shining a spotlight on what’s been achieved, what remains to be done, and how the broader community can engage.
Recent Treaty Talks
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Talking Treaty, Truth and Justice
In October, the Hub helped host Talking Treaty, Truth & Justice. Featuring Rueben Berg, Travis Lovett and Dr Crystal McKinnon, and moderated by Professor Nicole Watson, the event landed at a pivotal moment - just after the Treaty Bill cleared the lower house and headed toward becoming law.
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Aunty Jill Gallagher's hopes for Treaty
Aunty Dr Jill Gallagher AO, proud gunditjmara women, is the inaugural Treaty Advancement Commissioner and current Chief Executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation VACCHO, the peak aboriginal health representative in Victoria. This speech was recorded as part of 'All Peoples are Equal: A critique by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on International Law'.
Developments from the First Peoples' Assembly
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Self-Determination Fund: Equal Footing Funding Guidelines
The Equal Footing Funding Guidelines address the Self-Determination Fund’s approach to supporting the first three phases of the Equal Footing priority spending area. This has the purpose of supporting First Peoples to negotiate Traditional Owner Treaties on a more level playing field with the State.
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Moving forward into the Treaty era
In November 2025 Assembly Members gathered to discuss the next steps moving forward into the Treaty era.
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A message from Assembly Co-chairs Rueben Berg & Ngarra Murray
Looking back at the Treaty process in August 2025, assembly co-chairs Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray reflect.
Treaty Thinking
Treaty Processes
Academic Texts on Treaty
This list of scholarship is designed to provide some starting points under key themes in relation to the Treaty process, and an indicator of key voices and texts. It is not an exhaustive list - but some springboards that you might choose as you start to contemplate how you might design a project to bring different theories and traditions of scholarship together with your treaty question. If you have further questions or issues accessing the texts enquire with mls-indigenous@unimelb.edu.au.
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Treaty is so much more than the physical document or the strict terms of an agreement. In the Hub’s New Reading Group, we took the opportunity to delve into a range of works that contemplate Treaty as a way of relating. The conversations that emerged were thoughtful and enriching.
We encourage others to form their own small reading groups to explore these ideas together. Gathering to read, reflect, and discuss can open up new perspectives and create space for meaningful dialogue.
This reading list was thoughtfully put together by Jaynaya Dwyer and Taylor Broadbent.
- Conversation 1 – Foundations
- Irene Watson, 'The Future is our Past: We once were sovereign and we still are' (2012) 8(3) Indigenous Law Bulletin
- Mick Dodson ‘A Treaty is a marriage not a divorce: Treaty-Making in Australia’ (2021) 50 Australian Bar Review 418
- Conversation 2 – Indigenous International Relations
- Mary Graham and Morgan Brigg, Indigenous international relations: old peoples and new pragmatism (2023) 77(6) Australian Journal of International Affairs
- Sheryl Lightfoot and David Macdonald, ‘Treaty relations between Indigenous peoples: Advancing Global Understandings of self-determination' (2017) 19 (2) New Diversities
- Conversation 3 – Some reflections on encounters of law
- Ambelin Kwaymullina and Blaze Kwaymullina, ‘Learning to read the signs: law in an Indigenous reality’ (2010) 34 (2) Journal of Australian Studies
- Conversation 4 – lessons from North America
- Amanda J Cobb, ‘ Understanding Tribal Sovereignty: Definitions, Conceptualizations, and Interpretations' 2005 (46) 3 American Studies
- Wilma Mankiller and Gloria Steinem, ‘Governance: the people and the land’ in ‘Every Day is a good Day: reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women’
- Conversation 5- Special session with Dr Harry Hobbs
- Harry Hobbs, ‘Anticipating and Weathering Challenges to Modern Treaties in Australia’ (2024) 35 Public Law Review 318
- Conversation 6 – Special session with Dr Carwyn Jones
- Carwyn Jones, ‘Māori and State visions of law and peace’ in Mark Hickford and Carwyn Jones (eds) Indigenous Peoples and the State (Routledge, 2018) 26
- Conversation 7 – Lessons from Aotearoa
- Lincoln Dam, ‘Be(Com)Ing an Asian Tangata Tiriti’ (2022) 18(3) Kōtuitui New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online
- Simon Hemopereki, ‘Settler/Invader Identity and belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand: Critiquing ‘Tangata Tiriti’ and Moving towards the collective future’ 2023 (46(3) Ethnic Studies Review
- Conversation 8 – Advices
- Mark Mcmillan, David Foster, Ann Genovese, Shaun McVeigh and Maureen Tehan, ‘Obligations of Conduct: Public Law Treaty Advice ' (2020) 44(2) Melbourne University Law Review
- Janine Gertz, Theresa Petray, Miriam Jorgensen, Alison Vivian, Coralie Achterberg, ‘For the good of the Gugu Badhun people’: Indigenous Nation building, economic development and sharing as sovereignty (2025) Thesis Eleven
- Conversation 1 – Foundations
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- AIATSIS, Treaty: Let’s Get It Right! A Collection of Essays from ATSIC’s Treaty Think Tank and Authors Commissioned by AIATSIS on Treaty Issues (Aboriginal Studies Press, 2003).
- Balayi: Culture, Law, Colonialism (vol 4 and vol 5, 2002).
- Sean Brennan, Larissa Behrendt, Lisa Strelein and George Williams, Treaty (The Federation Press, 2005).
- Megan Davis, ‘Treaty, Yeah? The Utility of a Treaty to Advance Reconciliation in Australia’ (2006) 31(3) Alternative Law Journal.
- Mick Dodson, ‘A Treaty Is a Marriage Not a Divorce: Treaty-Making in Australia’ (2021) 50(3) Australian Bar Review 418.
- Harry Hobbs, Alison Whittaker and Lindon Coombes (eds), Treaty-Making 250 Years Later (The Federation Press, 2021).
- Harry Hobbs and George Williams, Treaty ( The Federation Press, 2nd ed, 2020).
- Michael Mansell, Treaty and Statehood: Aboriginal Self-Determination (Federation Press, 2016).
- Peter Read, Gary Meyers and Bob Reece, What Good Condition? Reflections on an Australian Aboriginal Treaty 1986–2006 (ANU E Press, 2006).
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- Larissa Behrendt, Chris Cunneen, Terri Libesman and Nicole Watson, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Relations ( Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2018).
- Marcia Langton, Maureen Tehan, Lisa Palmer and Kathryn Shain, Honour Among Nations? Treaties and Agreements with Indigenous Peoples (Melbourne University Press, 2004).
- Marcia Langton, Odette Mazel, Lisa Palmer, Kathryn Shain and Maureen Teehan, Settling with Indigenous Peoples: Modern Treaty and Agreement-Making (The Federation Press, 2006).
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- Commissioner Dale Agius, Commissioner for First Nations Voice to the South Australian Parliament Engagement Report (November 2022).
- Commonwealth of Australia, Indigenous Voice Co-Design Process: Final Report to the Australian Government (July 2021).
- Northern Territory Treaty Commission, Final Report (29 June 2022).
- Queensland Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Treaty Advancement Committee Report (October 2021).
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- James Anaya, ‘Indigenous Law and Its Contribution to Global Pluralism’ (2007) 6(1) Indigenous Law Journal 3.
- Kirsten Anker, Declarations of Interdependence: A Legal Pluralist Approach to Indigenous Rights (Taylor & Francis Group, 2014).
- John Borrows, Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism (University of Toronto Press, 2016).
- Gordon Christie, ‘Culture, Self-Determination and Colonialism: Issues Around the Revitalization of Indigenous Legal Traditions’ (2007) 6(13) Indigenous Law Journal.
- Glen Coulthard, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (University of Minnesota Press, 2014).
- Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission of Aotearoa, He Poutama (Study Paper 24). Appendix: Nicole Roughan, ‘Interlegality, Interdependence and Independence: Framing Relations of Tikanga and State Law in Aotearoa New Zealand’.
- Marcia Langton and Aaron Corn, Law: The Way of the Ancestors (First Knowledges Series, Thames & Hudson, 2023).
- Val Napoleon, ‘Thinking About Indigenous Legal Orders’ in René Provost and Colleen Sheppard (eds), Dialogue on Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (Springer, 2012).
- Audra Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States (Duke University Press, 2014).
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- John Borrows and Michael Coyle (eds), The Rights Relationship: Reimagining the Implementation of Historical Treaties (University of Toronto Press, 2017).
- Lincoln Dam, ‘Be(com)ing an Asian Tangata Tiriti’ (2023) 18(3) Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences 213.
- Carwyn Jones, New Treaty, New Tradition: Reconciling New Zealand and Māori Law (Victoria University Press, 2016).
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- Cheryl Saunders ‘Treaty-Making in Australia: The non-Indigenous Party’ in Harry Hobbs, Alison Whittaker and Lindon Coombes (eds), Treaty-Making 250 years later (The Federation Press, 2021) 43.
- Danni Larkin, Harry Hobbs, Dylan Lyno and Amy Maguire, 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, law reform and the return of the states' (2022) 41 (1) University of Queensland Law Journal 35.
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- Miriam Jorgensen (ed), Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development (University of Arizona Press, 2007).
- Lowitja Institute, Indigenous Nation Building and the Political Determinants of Health and Wellbeing (2022).
- Theresa Petray and Janine Gertz, ‘Building an Economy. And Building a Nation: Gugu Badhun Self-Determination as Prefigurative Resistance’ (2022) 16(1) Global Media Journal.
- Daryl Rigney, Damien Bell and Alison Vivian, ‘Talking Treaty: A Conversation on How Indigenous Nations Can Become Treaty Ready’ in Harry Hobbs, Alison Whittaker and Lindon Coombes (eds), Treaty-Making 250 Years Later (The Federation Press, 2021) 17.
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- Debbie Bargallie, Unmasking the Racial Contract: Indigenous Voices on Racism in the Australian Public Service (Aboriginal Studies Press, 2021).
- Nicholas Biddle, Matthew Gray, Ian McAllister and Matt Qvortrup, Detailed Analysis of the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum and Related Social and Political Attitudes (Report, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, 2023).
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- Megan Davis, ‘The Truth About Truth-Telling’ The Monthly (January 2022).
- Ebony Institute, Hear My Heart (Discussion Paper, 2020).
- Eduardo González and Howard Varney (eds), Truth Seeking: Elements of Creating an Effective Truth Commission (Amnesty Commission of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil; International Center for Transitional Justice, 2013).
- Shireen Morris and Harry Hobbs, ‘Imagining a Makarrata Commission’ (2022) 48 Monash Law Review 3, 1–48.
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- Bethany Butchers, Dani Linder and Amy Maguire, ‘Reparations and First Nations’ Legal Rights in Australia’ (2023) 36(3) UNSW Law Journal 791.
- Andrew Erueti, ‘Reparations for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, New Zealand and Australia’ in Damien Short and Corinne Lennox (eds), Handbook of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (Routledge, 2016).
- Maria Giannacopoulos, ‘The Colonial Debtscape’ in Suvendrini Perera and Joseph Pugliese (eds), Mapping Deathscapes: Digital Geographies of Racial and Border Violence (Routledge, 2021).
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- Richard Bartlett, Native Title in Australia (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2020).
- Sean Brennan, Megan Davis, Brendan Edgeworth and Leon Terrill, Native Title from Mabo to Akiba: A Vehicle for Change and Empowerment (Federation Press, 2015).
- Virginia Marshall, Overturning Aqua Nullius: Securing Aboriginal Water Rights (AIATSIS Press, 2017).
International Treaty Expertise
White Noise on Treaty
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White Noise Ep. 2: Reimagining Royal Commissions
with Sue-Anne Hunter, Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman and Deputy Chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
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White Noise Ep. 9: Building treaty relationships
with Professor John Borrows and Michael Johnston, Anishinaabe lawyers and scholars visiting from Canada.
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White Noise Ep. 10: Achieving a cognitive shift
with Sir Justice Joe Williams, of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
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White Noise Ep. 11: Treaty myths
with Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka Law School.
National Treaties Summit Webinars
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), the University of Melbourne and the National Native Title Council (NNTC) collaborated in 2020 to hold a landmark gathering of First Nations leaders, community members, academics, politicians, international speakers and supporters to engage in a dialogue of Treaty and agreement-making.
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What do Politicians say about a National Treaty Process
Senator Patrick Dodson, Senator Lidia Thorpe, Nyunggai Warren Mundine, Eddie Cubillo.
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State of Treaty
Dr Jackie Huggins AO, Mick Gooda, Prof Mick Dodson AM, Ursula Raymond, Reuben Berg, Jamie Lowe.
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Laying the Foundations for Treaty
Professor Pip Nicholson, Professor Marcia Langton AO, Jamie Lowe, and Amanda Porter with an introduction by the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP.
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First Nations Treaties - A Matter of Justice
Appointed Senior Counsel in 2015, Tony McAvoy is this event's keynote speaker.
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Treaty’s global context: towards Treaty in the Northern Territory
Tony McAvoy, Minister Nanaia Mahuta, Justice Joe Williams and Professor John Borrows.
Acknowledgements
Artwork by Carly Donovan (Wiradjuri and Dunghutti) colleague at Murrup Barak.
Developed by Jaynaya Dwyer and James Griew