Queensland Premier Steven Miles stalling on Indigenous treaty and truth-telling

The Queensland Labor government is delaying the establishment of a promised truth-telling inquiry investigating the impact of colonisation on the state’s ­Indigenous peoples ahead of the October state election.

Leeanne Enoch speaks at a Yes campaign ahead of last year’s referendum. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The Queensland Labor government is delaying the establishment of a promised truth-telling inquiry investigating the impact of colonisation on the state’s ­Indigenous peoples ahead of the October state election.

Key appointments to the five-member inquiry are yet to be locked in almost a year after ­landmark laws passed state ­parliament. Insiders have blamed the slowdown on the failed voice referendum and leadership upheaval after former premier ­Annastacia Palaszczuk’s exit.

Appointments to the inquiry, bestowed with the powers of a royal commission to hold public hearings across the state, were due to be finalised by the end of 2023 then delayed until early this year, but are yet to be announced.

Creation of a 10-member institute to support Indigenous groups to prepare for and enter treaty ­negotiations with the state government has also been delayed.

The state Labor government has not proclaimed its Path to Treaty Bill, passed by parliament in May last year, which would force it to meet strict legislated timeframes for treaty and truth-telling processes.

Once legislation comes into ­effect, the government would be required to establish a truth-­telling inquiry within three months and publish its terms of reference after one month.

Former Liberal Brisbane lord mayor Sallyanne Atkinson – one of the government’s hand-picked treaty architects – said it appeared the government had grown ­“reluctant”. “It was supposed to be all wound up by the end of last year … I don’t know what’s happening and I don’t think anybody else does,” she said.

“I’m assuming it’s all about the election and I hope we’re not dragging it out till October … people need some sort of resolution one way or the other. I don’t think it is good enough – we should have moved right along.”

The treaty and truth-telling processes were thrown into chaos after Queensland posted the largest no vote of October’s voice ­referendum, with LNP leader David Crisafulli immediately withdrawing his support for the legislation he had helped pass months earlier.

Mr Crisafulli, who had pledged he would “absolutely not” roll back Indigenous treaty legislation if he became premier, had been under intense pressure from LNP membership and the federal opposition over his support for the laws.

After the LNP withdrew support, Ms Palaszczuk would commit only to going ahead with truth-telling hearings, insisting treaties were not viable without bipartisan support.

When he took over the Labor leadership in December, new Premier Steven Miles said the government would push ahead with Indigenous treaties “as ­legislated”.

Longtime activist Bob Anderson, the original native title claimant to Mulgumpin (Moreton Island) and a Ngugi elder, said both major parties must work together on a way forward.

The 94-year-old Ngugi elder grew up when boundaries were enforced around Brisbane to ban Indigenous ­people at night and on Sundays.

“As a society and as a nation, we have a responsibility to come together to talk together and look for areas of agreement,” he said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnership Minister Leeanne Enoch said the ­govern­ment remained committed to treaty and truth-telling “as ­legislated … a robust recruitment process has been conducted, with expressions of interests for members of the inquiry and the institute closing in January, and a significant appointment process is under way.”