The council will drive Aboriginal policy in Victoria, which community leaders said flipped the usual top-down bureaucratic model where policies that affect Aborigines are largely decided by non-Aborigines.
It will influence government decision-making on issues such as education, health care and housing and help to develop a plan to support Aboriginal self-determination.
Esme Bamblett, chief executive of the Aborigines Advancement League, said the new council would give Victorian Aborigines a bigger say in policies that affect them.
“The executive council will enable what we are saying to be heard and put into practice,” Dr Bamblett said.
