Truth and treaty before an Indigenous Voice: Bandt

Greens leader Adam Bandt has not ruled out opposing a Labor government decision to hold a referendum on enshrining an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the constitution.

Unlike the major parties, the Greens do not support the short-term creation of an Indigenous Voice, which would act as an advisory body to the government on policy and legislation affecting First Nations people.

Greens leader Adam Bandt says truth-telling and treaty-making processes need to happen before an Indigenous Voice is created.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The party instead wants to create a Truth and Justice Commission to oversee a truth-telling process, and then oversee a treaty-making process that would lead to the creation of a Voice.

During his address at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Bandt stood by his party’s stance.

“We need a process of truth-telling in this country because otherwise, we’re going to continue to repeat the mistakes and the violence of the past,” he said.

“If we really want success to happen it's a mistake to do it in any other order, we need to do it in that order where we tell the truth, then strike a treaty, and that will put us in the best position for reforms like the Voice to succeed.”

Should it win the election, the Coalition plans to legislate Voice bodies, starting with 35 local and regional ones across the country, and it put aside $31.8m in the budget next financial year for their creation.

Labor has instead pledged to hold a referendum to enshrine an Indigenous Voice in the constitution.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has said he would like to hold the referendum in his first term as prime minister, but he stopped short of committing to that timeline.

When asked if he would formally oppose any moves by Labor to hold a referendum before a truth-telling or treaty process Bandt avoided committing to a firm decision.

“As we are a party that has 20 per cent First Nations women, with strong representation and connection to the community, putting forward a view that is widely shared, that these are the things that matter and we need to do first,” he said.

“I hope we’d be in a position to have that discussion with the next government. What we committed to is doing it right, making sure that anything that is put to a vote succeeds, and that is what we genuinely think is the best order to make it happen.”

In January, the Greens formally announced its $250 million policy to establish a Truth and Justice Commission if it won the balance of power in next month’s election.

The move would put pressure on a minority Labor government to change its Indigenous affairs policy agenda. Labor has ruled out forming a minority government with the Greens.

The Greens want a treaty process to determine what form a Voice body would take, but costings done by the Parliamentary Budget Office show the party doesn’t expect a treaty to be established until 2032.