Background
Inaugural Elected Members of The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria (the Assembly) held their final chamber meeting on the 16 March 2023 having served a 3 year term on the Assembly.
Over the first three years of the Assembly’s formation they have achieved;
- – Progressing truth telling through establishment of The Yoorrook Justice Commission
- – Historically addressed the Victorian Parliament
- – Progressed the Stolen Generations reparations scheme
- – Agreeing the Treaty Authority architecture as an independent third party to oversee negotiations.
- – Established a dispute resolution process that applies to negotiations of the treaty elements.
- – Established a Treaty Negotiation Framework, setting out the rules and process for future treaty negotiations.
- – Progressed a Self-determination Fund, to provide Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Victorians with an independent financial resource that empowers Traditional Owners and Aboriginal
- – Victorians to build capacity, wealth and prosperity.
EMAC is reserved one seat on the Assembly and are now required to undertake a process of selecting our next Reserved Assembly Member to represent and assert our collective communities interests at the Assembly table.
Process of Appointment and Eligibility
This will be our second round of electing our Reserved Member to the Assembly and like the first round we will follow an Expression of Interest Process to appoint our next Assembly Member.
The EOI is open to any Eastern Maar citizen who meets the flowing eligibility requirements:
- – 18 years or over
- – Not disqualified from acting as a director under the corporations Act
- – Not in prison, on bail or parole
- – Able to comply the rights and responsibilities of being Member set out in the Assembly’s Constitution and Members’ Charter
Our next Treaty Reserved member will be elected by our Family Groups at a scheduled Full Group Meeting
(FGM) in accordance with our longstanding decision making process of one vote per family group.
Prospective Treaty Reserved Candidates are required to complete and answer all sections of the EOI to be considered for the Treaty Reserved Seat.
The EOI will be supplied as a paper based, word document and online survey.
The EOI’s of each prospective candidate will be made available to the Eastern Maar Full Group attendees to aid and assist them in deciding which candidate to vote for as their Treaty Reserved Seat member.
In addition, each prospective Treaty Reserved Candidate is required to present to the Eastern Maar Full Group meeting organised to elect our next Treaty Reserved member (details of this meeting can be found below under the heading ‘Timing’). This will provide Treaty Reserved Candidates a platform to talk through their EOI and articulate to the group their key skills, experiences, and qualifications and what sets them apart from other candidates.
Submission of Completed EOI’s are to be sent to Katie Clark, EMACs Administration Officer, admin@easternmaar.com.au.
Link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CQCZC7P
Timing
The aim is to align the appointment of our Reserved Member with the general Treaty election process which will be completed BEFORE THE END OF JUNE 2023. To meet this deadline we must ensure that our Reserved Member is admitted to the membership of the Assembly at the same time as General Members, immediately following the Election.
Therefore, our timelines will consist of the following:
| Item | Date |
| EOI opens | Wednesday 12th April 2023 |
| EOI closes | Wednesday 10th May 2023 |
| Applications provided to attendees at FGM upon request and copies available at FGM meeting. Please email Katie admin@easternmaar.com.au |
Monday 17th May 2023 |
| Full Group Meeting held for election – including applicant campaign for election and citizen vote. |
Thursday 25th May 2023 |
Assistance or Further Information
EMAC are here to assist prospective candidates through the application process please call EMACs
Administration Officer, Katie, on 0427 271 937 if you require help, have any questions or require more
information.
