Dodson appointed NT Treaty Commissioner

THE Territory’s treaty process has taken a step forward with the appointment of Katherine-born Yawuru man Mick Dodson as Treaty Commissioner

The 2018 Australian of the Year Awards ceremony in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Canberra, with the Mick Dodson, Robert de Castella and Dr Tom Calma.

THE first question for newly appointed NT Treaty Commissioner Mick Dodson to determine is whether Aboriginal Territorians want a treaty in the first place.

“If people say ‘no’, if there’s overwhelming support for no, then I’ll report that and it might all be over quicker than we think,” he said.

Professor Dodson, who was born in Katherine and was the 2009 Australian of the Year, was on Monday appointed the Territory’s first Treaty Commissioner, tasked with determining the best model for a potential treaty or treaties with indigenous groups.

He said the move to establish a treaty or treaties was a brave one by the NT.

“One of the very junior polities in the country has taken an initiative that some of the states don’t dare go near and it’s the same at the Commonwealth level,” he said.

“It presents a lot of challenges, not just constitutionally but socially and culturally and economically.

“But that’s no reason not to do it; we can’t just throw our hands up and say ‘it’s all too hard’.”

A federal treaty was first promised more than 30 years ago, by then-prime minister Bob Hawke at the Barunga Festival in 1988.

That push fizzled out.

Prof Dodson said it was time to put to bed the “unfinished business”.

“I think we’re beginning to mature as a people and as a nation. We are gradually acknowledging the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and how devastating that was for First Nations people across the country,” he said.

“It was brutal and bloody. That’s part of our history and we’ve got to stop denying and come to terms with it.”

Prof Dodson acknowledged the challenges of a territory creating a legally meaningful treaty.

“In legal circles, people are fully aware of the constitutional and legal problems for a territory of the Commonwealth trying to enter into some sort of treaty arrangement, particularly when it means the sharing and recognition of what people call sovereignty,” he said.

“I’d encourage people to think of it that It’s not really about sovereignty, it’s about power and how we share that.”

The treaty process would determine if and how to involve the Commonwealth, he said.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s office said $1.26 million had been budgeted towards the Treaty Commission across two years, but Prof Dodson said that funding arrangement would likely be reviewed at the end of the year.

Prof Dodson’s appointment was welcomed by Northern Land Council chief executive Jak Ah Kit, who said he was the “most qualified person” for the job.

Professor Dodson is expected to make his final report in 2022.