Parliament erupts as ‘disgusting’ LNP blasted for binning Path to Treaty
The state government has torn up a landmark Path to Treaty process without consultation and instead informed the inquiry chair of the decision over email.
QLD Politics
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The state government has torn up Queensland’s landmark Path to Treaty process without consultation in a move Labor skewered as “disgusting”.
In stunning scenes on the first day of parliament, the state government included voting to repeal the treaty and truth-telling process as part of a wider vote to amend Olympic and Paralympic Games and Workplace Health and Safety legislation.
Axing Path to Treaty was an election commitment of the LNP government, but it was done without consultation with Truth Telling Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer.
Premier David Crisafulli earlier this month said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Minister Fiona Simpson would meet with Mr Creamer, however it has not occurred.
Mr Creamer received an email informing him of the government’s plan to repeal Path to Treaty laws and axe the Truth Telling inquiry at the same time it was announced in parliament.
Mr Creamer said the move would set back the relationship between government and indigenous communities “for a very long time”.
He is yet to receive a phone call from Premier David Crisafulli, Minister Simpson, or department heads.
“Obviously, this was well planned on their behalf,” Mr Creamer said.
“They strung us along, suggesting that they were undertaking getting advice and that we were going to meet after they received that advice, but they introduced this bill, they sneaked it through the back door.
“I haven’t received a phone call, I’ve received an email correspondence from the minister after the Act was introduced, and I received two emails from the director general, very short time later.”
Ms Simpson, via email, has requested a meeting with Mr Creamer on Friday however, he is under the assumption he will be terminated by the end of today and will assess whether he attends.
Mr Creamer said the government had lost significant trust from the Aboriginal and Torres Stegith Islander community.
“We’ve seen here today really is an attack on an important institution as an inquiry,” he said.
“They think by removing an inquiry as significant of this, and perhaps offering some low level, community storytelling is an easy substitute.
“We deserve better.”
The Premier, when announcing his intentions to scrap Treaty laws and the inquiry, preached that his government would treat Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with respect and dignity.
Mr Creamer said he and Mr Crisafulli had different views on what respect and dignity is.
“I would have thought at least, on a very limited basis, a phone call and a meeting,” he said.
“I wasn’t asking for much, just certainty, timeline.
“The way that this has been done today, no forewarning to the inquiry and simultaneous letters dropping at the time that the bill was introduced, it’s really disappointing.”
Mr Creamer confirmed the Truth Telling Inquiry could have gone ahead under separate legislation if the government had solely repealed Path to Treaty laws.
He said the decision to axe both had shown that “there’s not any room in the government to listen to voices opposed to them”.
“And there is certainly not any room in this government to listen to the voices of strong Indigenous leadership.”
The state government’s move to dismantle the truth-telling inquiry happened on the same day about 60 young Indigenous Queenslanders were in parliament for an annual leadership program.
Seleena Blackley, 21, the youngest person involved in the Interim Truth and Treaty Body that would become the truth-telling inquiry said its dismantling was devastating.
“I didn’t know that it was going to be today, on a day when we had brought over 60 First Nations Indigenous people to parliament to deliver speeches about a dream that they hope for Queensland,” she said.
“The vision that they see for Queensland that includes us, First Nations people, sitting at the table consulting on matters that discuss us.
“To be in this space and to be delivered that news was quite a kick in the guts to be completely honest.”
Ms Blackley said the actions of the government would trigger the First Nations young people to “use our voices to fight… because our Elders are not going to be around forever”.
“And “were going to have to take up that battle, take up that fight,” she said.
The vote to repeal Path to Treaty without consultation prompted an outcry from Labor, with frontbencher Grace Grace slamming it as “disgusting”.
Leader of the House Christian Rowan said the state government had a “clear mandate” after the October 26 election.
Labor’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spokeswoman and Quandamooka woman Leeanne Enoch shouted at Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie as he announced the government would repeal the Bill.
“You should be ashamed... you are a shame on the people of Queensland,” she said.
Manager of Opposition Business Mick de Brenni argued Mr Crisafulli broke his promise to govern with “decency and respect”.
“On his first opportunity, he is determined by his own actions to ignore the views of Queenslanders, to give them no right to have their say,” he said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Minister Fiona Simpson did not meet with Mr Creamer before the government moved to repeal the Bill.
She told The Courier-Mail her office has “written to Mr Creamer offering him a meeting”.
“He asked some quite complex questions seeking further advice and I advised we would get that advice for him and I have offered to meet with him,” she said.
“Our commitment is to the people of Queensland ... we are keeping our election promise.”
Ms Simpson said the government would reallocate some $300m into projects and programs that improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland.
“The Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry was never supposed to be a legalistic venture, yet in just four months, $1.45m was spent on member remuneration, legal counsel, legal staff, and other legal costs,” she said.
“Forty-eight per cent of the total expenditure from its establishment to date was spent on legal costs, which is money that should be invested in local communities, not lawyers in Brisbane.”
Ms Enoch slammed the government’s decision to “ram through” the law repeal.
“It is unprecedented, given the number of items that they have pulled together and as an Aboriginal woman who was so proud when we had bipartisan support and passed this legislation to see it treated with no respect and no decency, is absolutely heart wrenching,” she said.
“I honestly wonder…are they hoping that we will just disappear out, that we all be silenced?”
Ms Enoch sprayed Ms Simpson for refusing to meet with or respond to inquiry members including chair Mr Creamer.
“She backed out of a meeting that she had scheduled and has not responded to them since,” she said.
“That is not a demonstration of respect and decency.
“The fact that she sat there today and allowed this repealing of the legislation to be tacked on to another bill speaks volumes about where she sits on respect and decency for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, and for the legislation that she herself voted in favour for last year.”
Ms Enoch said it was incorrect to conflate the results of the Voice Referendum with Queenslander perceptions on truth telling and path to treaty.
She said the government would now “spin wheels” on important issues impacting Indigenous Queenslanders.
“If the LNP are serious about closing the gap, they have to be serious about the true history of our state,” she said.
“By ramming this through with no processes whatsoever, they are losing the opportunity.”
Greens Member for Maiwar Michael Berkman accused the LNP of “unwinding any progress we’ve made towards First Nations justice in Queensland”.
“The LNP has absolutely no plan for improving the lives of First Nations people in Queensland, and they’ve shown themselves to be completely unwilling to even listen to those people who do have a plan,” Mr Berkman said.
“We’re going to be given, I think, at best, about four hours to even debate this bill without the benefit of committee scrutiny. It makes an absolute farce of any pretense of democracy in Queensland.”
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