This treaty engagement report was informed by meetings with Victorian Traditional Owners, and the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations' research and policy development.

The Productivity Commission has been asked to develop a whole-of-government evaluation strategy, to be utilised by all Australian government agencies, for policies and programs affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

While the moral imperative for making the nation’s institutions less exclusionary is unarguable, the political imperative for reform is weak or non-existent.

The aim of this paper is to provide a high level and accessible overview of the policy and political forces which operate in the Indigenous policy domain.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s rejection of the 2017 Statement from the Heart, proposing more meaningful national engagement with Indigenous peoples, has accelerated demands for a treaty process across the country. Victoria and the Northern Territory have both moved ahead on this front.