Coalition urges for $27m promised for Makarrata Commission to be reallocated

In a pre-budget strike, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says all federal funding for truth, ­treaty and voice must be ­redirected into stopping violence in Alice Springs and remote Aboriginal communities.

Opposition Indigenous spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

All federal funding for truth, ­treaty and voice must be ­redirected into stopping violence in Alice Springs and remote ­Aboriginal communities, opposition Indigenous spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says in a pre-budget strike at the priorities of the Albanese government.

With spending in the budget to signal the direction the government will take on Indigenous ­affairs following the failure of the voice, the Coalition is demanding Anthony Albanese pivot to practical issues at a time when some Indigenous leaders want funding for a legislated voice and a Makarrata Commission that would oversee treaty and “truth telling”.

Indigenous issues will not be a major focus of the budget, with Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney coy over the government’s position on treaty and truth. She said she was focused on “tangible actions”.

Senator Price, a leading campaigner against a voice to parliament last year, said she supported Australians learning more about the “unsavoury parts of our history” but opposed spending millions of dollars on a Makarrata Commission to do so. “The history of our country should be something that all Australian understand and learn in its ­entirety, including … the most unsavoury parts of our history,” she said. “But that would look (at) how academic institutions support that better, and how that works better in terms of school curriculum going forward.

“We need more money in places like Alice (Springs), for example, to ensure community safety.”

The Prime Minister promised to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full on the night of his election win. It ­includes the commitment to “a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history”.

But Senator Price said the vote against the voice at last year’s referendum was a vote against the entire Uluru Statement from the Heart.

“I think Australian people wholeheartedly rejected that as a package and therefore I don’t think that should be pursued,” she said. “I also don’t understand how it’s going to bring about any meaningful change, particularly for marginalised Indigenous Australians.”

Voice architect and Indigenous leader Tom Calma disagreed that the Makarrata funding should be reallocated, calling instead for the government to kick start the body as part of next week’s budget. “The Prime Minister indicated he wants to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full,” he said.

“Setting up the Makarrata Commission … would establish a mechanism for how treaties may be created and the potential for a national treaty. Makarrata wouldn’t determine or negotiate a treaty … but investigate those possibilities.”

Youth crime and domestic ­violence rates have remained an issue in Alice Springs for months, with a curfew put in place ­between March and April in ­response crime.

Senator Price said the $27m promised by the government at the election – $5.8m of which was put aside in the 2022 budget to begin work on setting up the commission – should be spent on a royal commission into Indigenous child sex abuse, safe housing for those escaping domestic violence and improving legal services in regional areas.

Other Indigenous leaders, including former human rights commissioner Mick Gooda, called for more funding in the budget to tackle domestic violence, but did not specify whether this should be at the cost of a Makarrata Commission.

“Women can’t even be safe in this country … we have to find a way forward,” he said.

Labor has announced nearly $1bn to expand a program offering women up to $5000 to leave violent relationships. However, the government was criticised for not better resourcing frontline services.

It is understood Ms Burney visited several women’s shelters in recent weeks in the Northern Territory, including in Alice Springs. “The focus will be on the delivery of the action plan to ­reduce violence against First ­Nations women, tackling the problem of overcrowding in remote housing, as well as funding a new approach to jobs and economic development in remote communities,” she said.

Ms Burney did not mention the Makarrata Commission when asked whether the government was considering reallocating funds from the body.

The future of the Makarrata Commission has divided Indigenous leaders, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar calling on Labor to “push ahead” with the body while former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt warned against setting up the body.

Following the loss of the voice referendum in October, Labor has remained largely silent on Makarrata, with Mr Albanese saying his government would “take the time needed” to establish the body.

Uphold and Recognise chair Sean Gordon said he was hoping the budget would include funding for a national body to co-­ordinate “place-based funding programs” across the country.