| Election Name: | 2023 Victorian First Peoples' Assembly election |
| Country: | Victoria |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2019 Victorian First Peoples' Assembly election |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Next Election: | ???? |
| Next Year: | Next |
| Registered: | 7000+ |
| Turnout: | ~4200 (~60% of enrollment, ~10% of voting age population) |
| Seats For Election: | 22 seats elected 10 seats appointed |
The 2023 Victorian First Peoples' Assembly election, advertised as the 2023 Treaty election, was held June 2023 to elect 22 members to the First Peoples' Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. The election filled 22 of 32 seats to the body, which was charged with the responsibility of negotiating a treaty between the state's government and its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
Only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Victoria and at least 16 years of age were eligible to enroll to vote in the election - a population around 45,000.[1] Compared to the previous election in 2019, enrollments more than tripled from ~2000 to ~7000.[2] Between the 2019 and 2023 elections, there was 2 by-elections held to fill vacant seats after 2 resignations.
The election had 75 candidates across 22 regional seats. 10 from the metropolitan region (where most of Victoria's population lives), and 3 each from the Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast regions. A further 11 reserved seats were appointed by local Registered Aboriginal Parties within Victoria. 90% of eligible voters did not participate in the election.
Aside from making a treaty with the Victorian Government on behalf of the First Peoples of Victoria, other priorities of the Assembly will be advocating for reform to Victoria's bail laws and raising the age of criminal responsibility in the state.[3]
If the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum was successful, the Assembly might be a point of contact between Victorian First Peoples and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, and might elect the Victorian representatives to the national body. The Assembly could shift its role in the future and act as a Voice in Victoria, giving advice to state Parliament on the basis that 10% of the eligible population and 0.07% of the general Victorian population voted for it to do so. According to The Assembly website the Assembly will also take a lead role in administration of the Self Determination Fund provided by the Victorian (Labor) Government. Up to $200,000 is available to successful applicants to assist in negotiations, what role the Assembly plays in approving and monitoring the distributions is unclear, presumably strong conflict of interest rules will be applied in dispensing taxpayer provided funds.
Of the 22 elected members, 11 were elected for the first time, the remainder were re-elected.
The 2 outgoing co-chairs (Aunty Geraldine Atkinson (Elected North East Area 2019) and Marcus Stewart - (Appointed not Elected in 2019)) did not re-contest their roles, so new co-chairs were elected. Rueben Berg (Appointed) and Ngarra Murray (Elected - Metro Area, Elected to the Metro-Area in 2019) were chosen as new co-chairs. This would be their 2nd term in the Assembly (having been re-elected or appointed in 2023), and first as co-chairs.[4]
Winners of the 2023 election were reported on the Assembly's website.[5] In a stark contrast with the South Australian Voice election and a departure from democratic norms numerical results were not declared to the public or electors.