A few short weeks ago I published a commentary piece in these pages condemning Anthony Albanese for saying he would respect the wishes of the Australian people on referendum night and then proceeding to do the opposite by, among other things, allowing the continuation of state and territory-level treaty and truth-telling developments.
Since that piece, the David Crisafulli-led Liberal National Party formed majority government in Queensland.
This week it began the process of repealing the Path to Treaty Act and bringing an end to the associated truth-telling inquiry.
The Prime Minister should look carefully at the newly elected Queensland government; in power for less than two weeks and already doing what he apparently couldn’t in more than 12 months.
In October last year the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party committed to not proceeding with the Labor government’s plan to establish a treaty in the Territory. However the recent actions of the LNP is a first for treaty and truth-telling negotiations being wound back in Australia.
Albanese must heed the clear message from Australians across the country.
Territorians and now Queenslanders have both elected majority governments that campaigned with clear election promises to reverse or put a stop to treaty and truth-telling developments. In place of the Path to Treaty Act and truth-telling developments, the Crisafulli government has committed to encouraging things such as home ownership, health and educational outcomes.
This commitment to practical outcomes is the approach to Indigenous policy that I have advocated for a long time, and Crisafulli’s emphasis on Indigenous home ownership is particularly heartening to me.
I’ve often spoken about the need to address home-ownership barriers such as reforming native title, holding organisations such as land councils to the same standards we would any other organisation and revisiting how money from native title is invested.
I am reminded of legislation passed by the previous LNP government in 2014 under which some Indigenous Australians were given the ability to own their own homes by converting commonly held land into freehold land. Unfortunately, since its election the following year in 2015, Labor squandered the opportunity to provide practical solutions for Indigenous Australians by doing nothing with the legislation.
I am hopeful that following its strong start to Indigenous affairs, the Crisafulli government will make the most of this legislation because that is the kind of leadership we need in Indigenous affairs.
That is the kind of leadership we desperately needed from the Prime Minister in the wake of the voice referendum.
But instead we remain stuck with a federal government that insists on paying lip-service, if that, to Indigenous affairs.
A recent case in point is the answer I received to a question taken on notice by the Albanese government during the last Senate estimates – although it can’t really be called an answer, perhaps simply a response is more fitting.
I asked whether the government had sought legal advice about possible federal implications of state and territory-level treaties. The response? Simply that the government had a longstanding practice of not disclosing whether it had sought legal advice on matters.
Remember, my question wasn’t asking for the advice itself, simply whether the advice was sought.
The Albanese government’s unwillingness to answer even that is clear evidence of its obsession with obfuscating and hiding the truth from the Australian public.
So with a federal election to be called in the next few months, Albanese must take the events this week seriously. He must accept that Australians want a leader who will honour their wishes such as those expressed during the referendum, but also a leader who honours his own word.
The Prime Minister is failing spectacularly on both counts – and, mark my words, if he doesn’t wake up to reality now, he risks lying in the bed he’s making come election day.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a Country Liberal Party senator for the Northern Territory.
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