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Welcome to the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

We’re the state-wide body fighting for the rights and interests of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations while progressing wider social, economic, environmental and cultural objectives.

About

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land we work on as the First Peoples of this Country.

Country

Healthy Country means healthy communities. Our work recognises Traditional Owners’ rights and responsibilities to care and make decisions for Country.

Traditional Owner groups have knowledge, rights and responsibilities, stemming from 65,000 years of experience on Country. The Federation works in the following areas to embed Traditional Owner voices in management of Country.

View our work for Country

Community

Community wellbeing means strong culture, people and place.

The Federation’s work recognises Traditional Owner Corporations as authoritative and representative decision-makers with rights and power. Our advocacy and services support Traditional Owners to get on with the business of caring for Country, culture and community.

View our work for community

Economy

Strong and independent economies sustain Traditional Owner communities and enable self-determination.

The Federation’s research, grant administration, knowledge-sharing and advocacy promote rights-based economic development for Traditional Owner Corporations.

View our work for economy

Impact

The Federation’s advocacy shapes the landscape in which Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations do their important work.

We have put cultural fire and cultural water on the agenda for government, sought greater protections for Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, fought for a fair place in the expanding native foods and botanicals industry, championed treaty and self-determination, supported a drastic reconsideration of how our cultural heritage is approached at both state and national levels, and worked to have Traditional Owners’ economic development considered as more than just small business grants.

See our impact

About

The Federation is the Victorian state-wide body that convenes and advocates for the rights and interests of Traditional Owner groups while progressing wider social, economic, environmental and cultural objectives.

Founded in 2013 by Traditional Owner Corporations who recognised they could be stronger together, we are by and for Traditional Owners: their advocacy body, helping to enhance their authority on behalf of their communities.

Our strategy

Resources

Discussion papers
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Information sheets
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Publications
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Happy Tuesday! Heres what some of our teams up to this week.

📧 Daniel’s lining up speakers for the Traditional Owner Treaty Forum we’re co-convening at the end of this month (the invitation’s in your CEO’s inbox!).
 
✍🏼 Sophie’s drafting our monthly newsletter – if you work for a TOC and have news, a job, or a story to share, please send it our way.
 
💎 The next TOC Caucus meeting is a fortnight away, and we’re busily preparing papers: expect information on a partnership and decision-making model, the financial support Resources Victoria will give Traditional Owner groups to participate in critical minerals mining, and a portal we’re proposing to streamline the Caucus’ information-sharing, plus more.
 
🔥 It’s Cultural Fire Leadership Group meeting time, and Lisa and Kurt are ready for tomorrow’s full session – agenda highlights include our analysis of funding opportunities for cultural fire, the draft terms of reference for a proposed policy working group with DEECA, and a strategic risk assessment from DEECA under the EPBC Act.
 
📚 Steph’s finalised a draft report of feedback and key recommendations from the cultural heritage management system workshop we convened last month, which has been circulated to TOCs for review and invitation to comment before submission to First Peoples – State Relations.
 
🔑 Ken’s dotting the Is and crossing the Ts of our office move – we have stands for our laptops and lanyards for our new keys, and the unnamed staff member who got lost in the building this morning now understands the way out. 
 
🌞 And our lovely HR manager Riette was in today, for a run-through of our psychosocial hazard log and a quick game of Timeguessr before lunch in the sun.

Happy Tuesday! Here's what some of our team's up to this week.

📧 Daniel’s lining up speakers for the Traditional Owner Treaty Forum we’re co-convening at the end of this month (the invitation’s in your CEO’s inbox!).

✍🏼 Sophie’s drafting our monthly newsletter – if you work for a TOC and have news, a job, or a story to share, please send it our way.

💎 The next TOC Caucus meeting is a fortnight away, and we’re busily preparing papers: expect information on a partnership and decision-making model, the financial support Resources Victoria will give Traditional Owner groups to participate in critical minerals mining, and a portal we’re proposing to streamline the Caucus’ information-sharing, plus more.

🔥 It’s Cultural Fire Leadership Group meeting time, and Lisa and Kurt are ready for tomorrow’s full session – agenda highlights include our analysis of funding opportunities for cultural fire, the draft terms of reference for a proposed policy working group with DEECA, and a strategic risk assessment from DEECA under the EPBC Act.

📚 Steph’s finalised a draft report of feedback and key recommendations from the cultural heritage management system workshop we convened last month, which has been circulated to TOCs for review and invitation to comment before submission to First Peoples – State Relations.

🔑 Ken’s dotting the Is and crossing the Ts of our office move – we have stands for our laptops and lanyards for our new keys, and the unnamed staff member who got lost in the building this morning now understands the way out.

🌞 And our lovely HR manager Riette was in today, for a run-through of our psychosocial hazard log and a quick game of Timeguessr before lunch in the sun.
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Having a job is really important for addressing individual disadvantage, but one job alone won’t break a cycle of inequality.

Instead, we need big, bold, system-level action.

Introducing: the First Nations economy.

The engine room for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prosperity in this country. 

Read more 👉🏾 bit.ly/3y03FIj

Having a job is really important for addressing individual disadvantage, but one job alone won’t break a cycle of inequality.

Instead, we need big, bold, system-level action.

Introducing: the First Nations economy.

The engine room for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prosperity in this country.

Read more 👉🏾 bit.ly/3y03FIj
... See MoreSee Less

Photos from Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations's post ... See MoreSee Less

Tell Victoria’s environmental regulator how Country should be cared for in a two-day forum for Traditional Owners. 

The Environment Protection Authority Victoria is the state agency responsible for protecting against harm caused by pollution. Established in 1971, it’s one of the world’s oldest environmental regulators – but, of course, those 55 years are a drop in the ocean of Traditional Owners’ experience protecting Country. This opportunity for knowledge-sharing and collaboration is a long time coming, and very welcome.

The EPA will cover accommodation and catering costs, and its focus includes:

🟡 Traditional Owners telling EPA’s leadership about their priorities for protecting Country
🟡 Feedback on a policy guiding how the EPA incorporates cultural values into its work
🟡 Knowledge-exchange between Traditional Owners and the EPA

Registrations close today. More information 👉🏾 bit.ly/3PjBmMZ

Tell Victoria’s environmental regulator how Country should be cared for in a two-day forum for Traditional Owners.

The Environment Protection Authority Victoria is the state agency responsible for protecting against harm caused by pollution. Established in 1971, it’s one of the world’s oldest environmental regulators – but, of course, those 55 years are a drop in the ocean of Traditional Owners’ experience protecting Country. This opportunity for knowledge-sharing and collaboration is a long time coming, and very welcome.

The EPA will cover accommodation and catering costs, and its focus includes:

🟡 Traditional Owners telling EPA’s leadership about their priorities for protecting Country
🟡 Feedback on a policy guiding how the EPA incorporates cultural values into its work
🟡 Knowledge-exchange between Traditional Owners and the EPA

Registrations close today. More information 👉🏾 bit.ly/3PjBmMZ
... See MoreSee Less

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