The Yoorrook Justice Commission was set up in 2021 as Australia’s first formal truth-telling process and was tasked with examining the impact of colonisation on the indigenous First Peoples in what is now Victoria.

Its third and final interim report details mass killings, disease, sexual violence, exclusion, linguicide, cultural erasure, environmental degradation, child removal, absorption and assimilation which took place from 1834 onwards.

The decimation of the First Peoples population in Victoria, which was reduced to between one per cent and five per cent of the pre-colonisation population by 1901, was deliberate genocide, it states.

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria is currently negotiating with the Victorian government on what it hopes will be Australia’s first statewide treaty with indigenous people.

The Yoorrook report says these treaties “must provide redress for injustice which has occurred during and as a result of the colonial invasion and occupation of First Peoples’ territories and all consequent damage and loss, including economic and non-economic loss for genocide, crimes against humanity and denial of freedoms”.

This redress should include “restitution of traditional lands, waters and natural resources ownership rights to First Peoples” as well as monetary compensation and tax relief, it says.

Rueben Berg, a Gunditjmara man and co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, said: “Truth and Treaty go hand-in-hand — Treaty will acknowledge our shared history and be an agreement between First Peoples and the Victorian government on how we move forward together to help right past wrongs.

“Victorians know that we can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

“When it comes to issues facing First Peoples, we need a different approach, one that draws on the expertise of First Peoples to design and deliver practical solutions to local challenges. That’s what Treaty is all about.”

He added: “Negotiations on the first statewide treaty have focussed on First Peoples’ ongoing representation in Victoria and mechanisms an evolved Assembly will have to keep the government accountable to positive outcomes for First Peoples, including on Yoorrook’s recommendations.

“While Yoorrook has wrapped up, truth-telling is an ongoing process and our negotiations have also included how the Assembly will make sure our peoples can continue to have our truths heard, recorded and shared.”