Koorie Youth Council Executive Officer Indi Clarke shares his views on the need for voice and presence of Aboriginal youth in the Victorian Treaty process.
As candidate nominations for the First People's Assembly of Victoria continue to be submitted and processed, a critical question that needs to be answered is: "Where is the voice of youth?"
While the voice of youth has been present within the Treaty Working Group in the form of direct Koorie Youth Council (KYC) representation, is this enough? To gauge this, Balit Dhumba spoke to KYC Executive Officer, Mr Indi Clarke.
In his current role and as the KYC representative on the Treaty Working Group, Mr. Clarke has strong opinions on the need for the voice of youth to be heard and present within the treaty processes going forward.
"It is absolutely essential that if young people don't stand as candidates [for the Assembly] then we need to look at what type of structure we need to put in place that embeds youth voice in the process."
Mr. Clarke believes that the current model for the Assembly and the Treaty process presents definite opportunities for young people to have influence.
"There's nothing but opportunity in what's happening right now; and it's whether we want to grab it as communities, as individuals, as young people, as Elders...its's what we want to do with that."
To explore those opportunities and better understand the what Treaty means for Aboriginal youth, KYC is conducting a Yarning Treaty event on Friday the 28th of June at the Aborigines Advancement League. For more information on the event and KYC, contact the Council on (03) 9278 3707.
Important Notes: Information on voting, enrolment and candidate nominations can be found on the First People's Assembly of Victoria website at: www.firstpeoplesvic.org