David Crisafulli cut Queensland's Truth-Telling Inquiry ahead of youth crime hearings

Truth-telling sessions examining youth crime have been axed after the inquiry was halted by the new Crisafulli government, which staked its future on the issue.

Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry chairman Joshua Creamer says every day the inquiry is delayed, more First Nations’ history is being lost. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Truth-telling sessions examining youth crime have been axed after an inquiry was halted by the new Crisafulli government, which had staked its future on the issue.

Chairman of Queensland’s independent Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, Joshua Creamer, said hearings scheduled to take place before the end of the year would no longer go ahead after newly appointed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Fiona Simpson issued the inquiry with a notice to cease operations in preparation for the repeal of the Path to Treaty Act.

The hearings scheduled for November and December were due to explore issues of youth justice and education. While the inquiry has not officially been cancelled, no further work will take place.

Mr Creamer said the aim of the inquiry was to use the learnings of the past to forge a path forward for First Nations people.

“The inquiry identified these policy areas as key barriers currently faced by community,” he said.

“The inquiry would use the evidence from these hearings to form recommendations for government on how best to address these issues.”

Premier David Crisafulli’s election campaign hinged on his adult crime, adult time policy for youth crime offenders. He said on Wednesday that the government had other focuses rather than truth-telling.

“There are a number of things that we want to achieve: better education, better health, better housing,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“You’ve got people crammed in houses in those Indigenous communities, and it makes lifting themselves up and delivering things very, very difficult.”

Mr Creamer said that since the inquiry was paused, one elder, who had been expected to share her truth, had entered palliative care.

“We’ve been working with her to prepare her evidence,” he said.

“People are dying every day. We just have to look out in those communities and those people are the ones who are the vessels of our history.

“No doubt, you delay this thing for a week, delay it for a year, you miss out on a really important story.”

The chairman was also barred from speaking at Reconciliation Australia’s conference in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Reconciliation Australia chief executive Karen Mundine said truth-telling was a fundamental part of reconciliation.

“Truth should never be the enemy of a truthful government,” Ms Mundine said.

The commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission – Victoria’s truth-telling royal commission – Sue-Anne Hunter said Australians should not turn away from the past, and urged Mr Crisafulli to reconsider his stance.

“Governments come and go, but they can’t cancel history,” Ms Hunter said.

“Trying to put a lid on truth, can never suppress it … I would respectfully ask he review his position, because freedom of speech must include the freedom to be honest about our history.”

Originally planned to run for three years, just six sessions of the inquiry had been held since it launched on July 1. It was designed to capture the stories of the state’s Indigenous history, which would be used to guide policy and education tools. However, it did not have the power to grant reparations.

Seven elders told their personal histories of the protectionist era, including life on missions and in state-run dormitories. The inquiry also received written submissions from 14 government entities and heard oral testimony from six director-generals and the Queensland Police Commissioner.