Victoria's truth-telling commission needs more time before delivering its final report in another two years, says a leader of the state's elected First Nations body.
First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria co-chair Marcus Stewart wants the Victorian government to extend the time frame for the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
"Conversations amongst our elected members are that it needed to run longer," he told the inquiry on Thursday.
Yoorrook has been tasked establishing an official public record of Indigenous experiences since the start of colonisation and began public hearings with Indigenous elders last week.
It will recommend reform and redress by June 2024, with the findings to guide Victoria's Treaty negotiations.
However, Mr Stewart believes it should run between five and 10 years, similar to processes in Canada and South Africa.
Counsel assisting Tony McAvoy SC asked whether further reports to inform the path to treaty would be needed if the inquiry, which has the powers of a royal commission, were to run longer.
"How, in a three-year period, do you unpack 200-plus years of colonisation and its contemporary affects that it's still having today, and will have tomorrow," Mr Stewart replied.
"I struggle to understand how that is possible, and I think the treaty journey will continue for a number of years."
There will be no treaty without truth, he said, and the commission is helping lift the "collective amnesia or denial about what is actually happening in the state of Victoria".
Victoria's Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams is scheduled to front the commission on Friday.
