FESTIVAL organisers were busy laying the groundwork on Friday for the Treaty Day Out as an Indigenous leader told an audience her group was "at the pointy end" of talks over ground rules.
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The day of music kicks off from 2pm Saturday and will feature headliners like Dan Sultan and Briggs.
Treaty Day Out is among the major events thrown by the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and is expected to be a rallying cry for work on the state's Treaty.
The stage was being set up right as co-chair Aunty Geraldine Atkinson told an Adelaide crowd the assembly and government was close to locking in the framework guiding eventual negotiations with the government.
"We can confirm that we'll have multiple Treaties," she said, meaning there would be both a statewide negotiation as well as smaller ones for specific groups.
The assembly should negotiate the statewide Treaty, Aunty Geraldine said.
"It is our ambition that we will see Treaty-making commence next year," she said.
The Assembly would like to start negotiations start after its elections. They are currently expected in the first half of 2023.
The Assembly is also still to finish setting up a "self determination fund" to help bankroll what could be complex negotiations with the government, Aunty Geraldine said.
It is also still to launch an Elders' Voice council to help guide the Treaty process
"Aboriginal community members have been clear that the road to Treaty must benefit from the cultural wisdom, authority, guidance, and oversight of Elders," Aunty Geraldine said.
"Currently we have interim Elders' Voice with senior assembly members as co-chairs."
The work ahead did not daunt Aunty Geraldine.
"You can see that Treaty is very much within our reach," she told the Adelaide crowd.
"We just need to dot the i's and cross the t's on the framework and make sure the government meets us in the moment and isn't stingy when it comes to the self determination fund.
"That would be a great disappointment for our community and I'd hate to see thing stall or stumble over it."
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