The Hon. John Brumby

Premier of Victoria

Level 1, 1 Treasury Place

Melbourne VIC 3002

Dear Premier Brumby,

I am dismayed to learn that the funding status of our only state-wide reconciliation organisation, Reconciliation Victoria, remains unclear.

On 14 May, Reconciliation Victoria were informed that funding was to cease on 30 June, 2009. Yet only four days later the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that funding for the next two years would be provided through the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, but reduced and eventually "merged" with Stolen Generations Victoria.

This 'solution' is unacceptable. Neither Reconciliation Victoria nor Stolen Generations Victoria were consulted about this proposed 'merger' and funding should not be diverted from monies set aside for services and programs to the Aboriginal community.

To take money from the Aboriginal Affairs budget would imply that Reconciliation is "blackfella business," for Aboriginal people only. Reconciliation concerns all Victorians, and must be funded outside the Aboriginal Affairs area. Money should not be siphoned away from Aboriginal programs and services, such as Stolen Generations Victoria, which desperately need government support.

Support for Reconciliation as a matter for the whole of State Government has long been Victorian ALP policy. In a 2000 statement, the Bracks Government wrote that it viewed: "reconciliation as an ongoing responsibility of Government that needs leadership and support to ensure that the process of reconciliation and its key themes of respect, understanding and addressing the past are embraced by the whole Victorian community"

And on 19 August, last year you signed a Statement of Intent to "Close the Gap" between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy. You committed to "working collectively to systematically address the social determinants that impact on achieving health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".

These social determinants include racism, stereotyping and cultural misunderstanding, factors which Reconciliation Victoria is uniquely positioned to address.

What has changed to make your Government now desire to close the doors on the State's peak reconciliation body? Successive Federal and State Government reports have called for state-based reconciliation groups, and the imperative for greater understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is greater than ever.

For the past eight years, Reconciliation Victoria's staff, council and countless volunteers have worked tirelessly for reconciliation in this state. Through organising events, as well as its referral service, school visits, education conferences, public awareness campaigns and its acknowledged role as a key player in negotiations between key stakeholders, Reconciliation Victoria plays an integral role in bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians together.

I strongly urge you to intervene to return Reconciliation Victoria's funding to its previous three-year period. Also, the funding level must be consistent with the volume and variety of work Reconciliation Victoria undertakes.

Your personal intervention to ensure funding through the Department of Premier and Cabinet would send the clear message that you and your government are sincere about reconciliation in Victoria.

Yours sincerely,