All Indigenous Victorians will be able to share their stories of racism and injustice as the state's truth-telling inquiry expands submissions.
Australia's first formal truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice Commission is launching an online submissions portal on Tuesday open to all of Victoria's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Indigenous Elders led off the commission's public hearings in April to ground the process in their experiences, but the inquiry now wants to hear other voices.
Submissions can relate to any kind of systemic injustice, forced removal from home and land, massacres, forced labour, cultural loss, intergenerational trauma, economic disadvantage or stolen wealth.
They can take the form of audio or video recordings, artwork, filmed song or dance performances, or a written statement.
"Sharing these truths will help Yoorrook hold the government, state and other entities to account for past and ongoing injustice and, recommend real changes to the systems and laws affecting First Nations people," the commission's chair Eleanor Bourke said.
Yoorrook has been tasked with creating a public record of colonisation's impacts on First Nations people in Victoria.
The inquiry released its interim report in June, calling for a two-year extension of the deadline for its final report to 2026.
It was set up as part of Victoria's commitment to truth and treaty elements from the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, with negotiations on a statewide treaty set to begin next year.
Marcus Stewart, Co-Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria during a public hearing of the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Melbourne, Thursday, May 5, 2022. Source: AAP / JOEL CARRETT/AAPIMAGE
