Victorian justice department workers will be forced to take a cultural awareness course that includes ‘white privilege’ training as the state forges ahead with plans for a treaty with Indigenous people.
Department of Justice and Community Safety staff must take part in a mandatory cultural awareness course, though Premier Jacinta Allan said the white privilege module within it was voluntary.
‘It’s a bit rough to call out this one module, one training program, that’s optional for those workers,’ Ms Allan told reporters at state parliament on Tuesday.
‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with efforts being made to make workplaces safe and respectful for everyone.’
The taxpayer-funded training reportedly will not be rolled out across other state agencies or departments.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan (pictured) says her government is fully committed to implementing a Treaty in the state
Negotiations on Australia’s first treaty with Aboriginal people were slated to begin between the Victorian government and First Peoples’ Assembly in November
Corrections and Youth Justice Minister Enver Erdogan backed the training module, but conceded the term ‘white privilege’ was highly charged.
‘(It) probably could have been rebranded,’ he said.
‘People have different perspectives on life and different backgrounds and I think that’s important to understand in multicultural society.’
Opposition justice spokesman Brad Battin slammed the use of taxpayers’ money on race-based training.
‘Victorians don’t pay tax to cover Labor’s woke agenda’ he told AAP.
Negotiations on Australia’s first treaty with Aboriginal people were slated to begin between the Victorian government and First Peoples’ Assembly in November.
The opposition withdrew its support for treaty in January after the public voted against The Voice referendum which would have set up a parallel Aboriginal governing body that would have had a say in government policy.
