Truth-telling inquiry hits pause after ‘strong advice’ from premier

The news

Queensland’s landmark First Nations Truth-Telling Inquiry will be put on hold after “strong advice” to do so from new LNP premier David Crisafulli.

Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer confirmed the move, despite not having received formal contact from the new government – the first cabinet of which will be sworn in on Friday.

Queensland Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry board members Ivan Ingram, Vonda Malone, chairperson Joshua Creamer, Cheryl Buchanan, and Roslyn Atkinson AO.Credit: Matt Dennien

Crisafulli told journalists on Thursday “we won’t be allowing” inquiry events planned for early December to go ahead. He said the Path to Treaty laws, which underpin the inquiry, would be repealed this year.

“We haven’t been able to meet as a parliament yet, but my strong advice to people running that process is the new government has been very clear that we are not embarking on that process,” he said.

The comments came as Crisafulli and Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie gave an update on their work to prepare government for incoming ministers.

Why it matters

In opposition, Crisafulli walked back his emphatic support for the state’s truth-telling and treaty process following, and citing, the failed federal Voice referendum.

The three-year inquiry – an effort, which has been decades in the making, to create “the authoritative record” of European colonisation, in the past and present – held its first hearings in September.

It was set up to help lay the groundwork for state-based treaties with First Nations communities, and had been described by Creamer as maybe “the only occasion” for Queensland to do so.

What they said

With the inquiry planning to hold information sessions this weekend on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), and two truth-telling sessions in coming weeks, Crisafulli said these would come to a stop.

“We won’t be allowing those to go ahead, but it will be done with respect and decency,” he told journalists, saying priority should be given to ideas to lift education and housing standards.

Crisafulli said while parliament may not meet until after some of those scheduled events, he did not think “anyone [was] under any illusions about the fact that we’re not continuing that process”.

“I don’t want this to be some sort of divisive issue where I seek to amplify our decision. We’ve made a decision. It’s the right decision, and we stand by it. But I don’t want to cause angst to people.

“We don’t believe embarking on that process will be one that unites the community, but we do believe we can do so much more – and we must do so much more.

On Thursday afternoon, Creamer said in a statement the inquiry had not heard directly from the new government, but would “pause its current work plan” until more information was available.

The community-led information sessions on Minjerribah will continue this weekend without the inquiry’s involvement.

By Friday morning, after legal advice, Creamer described the move as an unprecedented attack on an independent inquiry for political reasons.

His team was “taken by surprise” because closing the inquiry was not included in the government’s first 100-day plan.

“The protests of division are inaccurate and inconsistent with the terms of reference of [the] inquiry which calls for reconciliation,” Creamer said.

“It became evident in the government truth-telling session in September that government has failed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for 165 years.

“This inquiry would provide a practical road map for government and the community on how to change that outcome. However, we are now left with a decision that continues the legacy of that failure.”

What you need to know

After Crisafulli’s cabinet is established on Friday, all MPs will be sworn in, and a Speaker elected for parliament on November 26 ahead of its official opening the following day.

November 28 will be the first official sitting day, with a further three-day sitting from December 10, by which time the LNP’s youth crime laws will have been considered by a committee and passed by the parliament as a priority.

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