Annastacia Palaszczuk set to pull the pin on treaty plans

Annastacia Palaszczuk won’t commit to treaties with First Nation groups, despite passing laws in May to do so, after the LNP withdrew its support.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewWire

Queensland’s path to treaties with First Nations groups has collapsed, with Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warning the process cannot go ahead now the Liberal National Party opposition has withdrawn support.

Just days after the state posted the biggest No vote of the voice referendum, Ms Palaszczuk moved to abandon laws – passed this year with the support of the LNP – enabling treaty deals and reparations for up to 150 Indigenous groups.

After the LNP announced on Wednesday night it had backflipped on treaty, Ms Palaszczuk would only commit to going ahead with truth-telling hearings, due to begin early next year.

“For the treaty process, you would need bipartisan support,’’ she said at a press conference. “I can’t predict what is going to happen in the future.”

The surprise comments of Ms Palaszczuk, whose government is facing defeat at next October’s state election, prompted an emergency caucus meeting of Labor MPs, some of whom had publicly condemned the LNP just hours earlier. Labor MPs were told the Premier did not want to put Indigenous people through a “divisive debate” for another year over treaty.

But Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher, who heads a forum of 17 remote Indigenous councils, said he was shocked and saddened by the actions of Ms Palaszczuk and LNP leader David Crisafulli to back away from treaty. “As First Nations peoples of Queensland, right now we are looking to our fellow political leaders to work together with us to unite the state following Saturday’s referendum, not to further divide it by walking away,” he wrote in a letter to Mr Crisafulli on behalf of the mayors of the 17 remote communities.

“This should be a time of healing. Not a time to further kick us when we are down.”

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture Lachie Millard

Queensland’s laws had followed Victoria, which has already held truth-telling hearings and is poised to begin treaty negotiations, and South Australia, which legislated a state voice this year.

In NSW, Premier Chris Minns will press ahead with the $5m year-long consultation process with Indigenous leaders about a state treaty, and Tasmanian Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff said a path to a treaty in his state remained. In Labor-held Western Australia a separate treaty is “not currently on our agenda”.

In the biggest state political fallout from the referendum, Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday said even if treaty deals did go ahead, “I doubt there’d be reparations”.

The Premier’s position is a retreat from then-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships minister Craig Crawford’s comments to The Australian in May that treaty deals could be worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars apiece.

Asked repeatedly if her government would progress treaty negotiations without LNP support, which is not required under the legislation, Ms Palaszczuk said: “Effective reconciliation and a path to treaty would require bipartisan support.

“I think you need to ask the questions to the Leader of the Opposition as to why he has done this.”

Mr Crisafulli said the voice referendum was “one of the most divisive and bruising debates” the nation has ever experienced.

“When Queenslanders speak, leaders should listen,” he said.

“It’s the right call and it’s a call that comes from listening.”

Mr Crisafulli said he had not spoken to any First Nations leaders about his decision to withdraw support for truth-telling and treaty, but he had talked about “Indigenous issues” with some mayors this week.

Under Queensland’s treaty model, multiple deals could be negotiated with individual Indigenous groups across Queensland, including the Torres Strait, and prompt changes to school curriculums and involve major health and justice reforms.

The state government set aside $300m to set up the Treaty Institute and facilitate truth-telling hearings and treaty negotiations.

Tasmania and NSW are expected to be the next states to pursue treaties.

Mr Minns said he “didn’t have the answers” to a treaty after the referendum defeat, promising to consult with “hurting” First Nations leaders before returning to the NSW chamber floor.

“We will be talking with the Indigenous leadership, many of whom poured their heart and soul (into the referendum campaign),” Mr Minns said.

“And we do commit, after we speak to them, to bring that to parliament.”

Mr Rockliff had been the country’s most senior Liberal supporter of the voice and said earlier this week “it was important to continue to move forward”.

Mr Rockliff said a pathway to reconciliation and a state treaty remained in progress, and he noted the Constitution was changed in 2016 to recognise Tasmanian First Nations people.

Additional reporting: Sarah Elks, Paul Garvey

While it was “very hard” to give an exact estimation of the cost of future treaties, Mr Crawford said about 80 of the treaty settlements that had been finalised in New Zealand “nearly all cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars” and the cost varied depending on the number of people killed and the amount of land taken by colonial forces in each area.

“So I think that will give us a bit of a guide to get an idea as to what that looks like in a Queensland context,” he told The Australian in May.

“But it depends on things like the level of impact that occurred in that particular part of New Zealand, what the history record shows, the level of massacres, the amount of land that they’ve lost.”

Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday said: “I doubt there‘d be reparations”.

She said Queensland needed “unity” after the Saturday’s referendum.

“I think Australians still do want reconciliation, we heard very loud and clear about the referendum,” she said.

“No ifs and buts. We accept that.

“We need to be talking about the issues that really matter out there amongst Queenslanders – and it is cost of living”.

Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Crisafulli’s comments on treaty come after Queensland delivered the strongest rejection of the voice, with 68.9 per cent voting no in the referendum, some 4 per cent higher than the next state against constitutional change, South Australia.

Mr Crisafulli said he would repeal treaty laws and cancel the three-year truth-telling inquiry if the LNP wins government at next years' state election.

“Reconciliation should be our shared goal and requires a united purpose,” he said.

“It’s clear to me that Queenslanders do not want to continue down a path that leads to more division and uncertainty. Considering all these factors, it has now become clear a Path to Treaty is not the right way forward for Queensland.

After Mr Crisafulli‘s announcement, Queensland Labor Transport Minister Mark Bailey described the decision as “pathetic” and a “naked grab for popularity”.

“It‘s at the expense of our most disadvantaged section of the community,” Mr Bailey told ABC Radio Brisbane.

“I think it‘s one of the most pathetic things I’ve seen in terms of displaying real leadership or lack of, that I can recall.

“The treaty process will continue and if he doesn‘t agree to it, well, he’s just another leader with no courage and I think people can see that when it comes to principles, he’s willing to sell them out.”

Labor backbencher Jonty Bush on Thursday morning said Mr Crisafulli‘s move to “walk away from his commitment to treaty and truth-telling” in Queensland was extremely disappointing but unsurprising.

“Our path to treaty Bill was passed in Queensland at the start of this year. It was passed with the full support of both Labor and the LNP,” Ms Bush said on Facebook.

“To walk away from a commitment already made, with work underway, is cowardice.”

After Ms Palaszczuk’s press conference, Ms Bush told her followers that Labor remained “committed to treaty”.