AUSTRALIAN Churches have been accused of a “shattering silence” concerning redress to Indigenous people for past injustices.

At a Melbourne hearing of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, a Victorian truth-telling inquiry into the effects of colonisation, Commissioner Tony North KC told representatives of the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Uniting Churches that he accepted their genuine acceptance of the past hurt. “Despite these good feelings”, however, he could see that they had “no effective ways of addressing them”.

Commissioner North said that he was “hoping against hope” that the Commission, which will report next year, would spur “organisations like yours who have the leadership of the conscience of our community at heart” to seek ways of “tangibly addressing” redress.

The Bishop of Gippsland, Dr Richard Treloar, told the Commission that the diocese had a policy of directing 1.5 per cent of the money that it retained from land sales to its Aboriginal ministry. He admitted, however, that this was a “woefully inadequate figure”. He hoped that this figure would increase, he said, and acknowledged that “land injustice causes systemic disadvantage and legacy trauma.” He said the diocese “lamented” that its colonial history included “atrocities committed against First Peoples”.

Churches received large-scale state grants of land in the 19th century, without concern for Indigenous sovereignty. Those in charge of many church buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, now publicly acknowledge that they are built on Indigenous sovereign land that was “taken, not ceded”.