A Bendigo Aboriginal elder has compared the state government to “colonisers” that failed to recognise traditional landowners.Premier Ted Baillieu yesterday confirmed that it was no longer mandatory for ministers and public servants to recognise the traditional landowners at official events.“It is like Captain Cook again,” Dja Dja Wurrung elder Brenda Kerr said.“We don’t have to be recognised again.“Aboriginals in Australia are like Third World citizens.”Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jeanette Powell said acknowledgment of country should never be mandated.“We believe such acknowledgements may be diminished if they become tokenistic,” she said.But Ms Kerr said it was crucial people recognised traditional landowners.She said she hoped the government would change its stance and return to mandatory recognition from its ministers at official events.“They are not supporting the traditional owners like the Labor government did,” Ms Kerr said.“People are up in arms about it.”MP for Northern Victoria Damian Drum said the former government’s policy led to the recognition being “gratuitous” and made in “inappropriate settings”.“It is something that I will use where appropriate,” Mr Drum said.“I have always had a sense in the back of my mind that it has taken away the significant contribution made by all the other immigrants that have made our region what it is today.“But that in no way takes away from the contribution of Aboriginal elders.”