Traditional Owner engagement

The Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) is committed to better engagement with Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Victorians, consistent with the processes and resourcing of these communities. These engagement processes should be integrated into the PSP 2.0 process and its existing timeframes to allow for a meaningful and efficient engagement process that establishes meaningful partnerships.

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s (DELWP) Traditional Owner and Aboriginal Community Engagement Framework (the Framework) (2019) establishes mechanisms, opportunities and protocols for meaningful engagement with Traditional Owners. This approach represents best practice and should be the long-term goal for engaging with Traditional Owners and the Aboriginal community.

At the core of the framework are the eight principles of engagement, which are critical to successfully engaging with Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities: 

1. Self-determination 
2. Traditional Owners as partners 
3. Place-based or whole-of-Country approach 
4. Respect for decision-making processes 
5. Aboriginal people set their own priorities 
6. Free, prior and informed consent 
7. Acknowledge past injustices and structural inequality. 

As the original custodians of Victoria’s land and waters, Traditional Owners have a unique ability to care for Country and have a deep spiritual connection to it. 

The VPA acknowledges the continuation of culture and traditional practices and seeks to maintain spiritual and cultural practices of Traditional Owners and their broader aspirations for the places we plan. 

The VPA aims to ‘lift the bar’ on understanding the cultural significance of PSP areas and reflecting this in our plans, and in turn the places that are built. By engaging with Traditional Owners early in the PSP-preparation process, we can plan to build the cultural significance of each place into the very foundations of Victoria’s new communities.