Labor spends almost $900,000 on Makaratta Commission but pushes details on treaty making until after referendum

Of the $5.8mn put aside for the body due to oversee treaty making and truth telling with Indigenous Australians, $900,000 has already been spent. But what on?

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - MAY 22: Linda Burney during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The government has spent almost $900,000 on a Makaratta Commission, which will oversee treaty and truth telling with Indigenous Australians, despite officials revealing the consultation and design of body is not due to start until after the referendum.

It comes as states including Queensland progress on their own paths to strike treaty deals with First Nations groups, which Queensland cabinet minister Craig Crawford predicted could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars each.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart – which the Albanese government has accepted in full – calls on voice, treaty and truth to be implemented and a national Makaratta Commission to be set up to lead the truth-telling and treaty-making steps.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney in February said the government would be making announcements about a Makaratta Commission and how it would “advance treaty and truth” within a matter of weeks, while Greens first nations spokeswoman Dorinda Cox expressed her “confidence” at the time that there would be answers on how the body would work before April.

While such details are still yet to be provided, National Indigenous Australians Agency officials revealed on Wednesday that the government had already spent almost $900,000 of the $5.8m set aside in the October budget for the establishment of the Makarrata Commission.

NIAA acting group manager for empowerment and improvement Simon Gordon said the money had been spent on “preparatory work” for the body, but would not reveal what this entailed.

However, Dr Gordon confirmed consultation on Makaratta and progress on its design would only take place “following the referendum”.

The revelations sparked outrage from the Greens and independent Lidia Thorpe, who said treaty and truth telling needed to be progressed now rather than after the outcome of a referendum that was not guaranteed to succeed.

Senator Cox said there was “absolutely no reason” for the Albanese government not to progress truth and treaty alongside the voice, and that the release of detail on the Makaratta Commission would mean “mob will be more inclined to get behind this referendum”.

“The government committed $5.8m in their first budget in October 2022 to commence work on setting up a Makarrata Commission to ‘oversee processes for agreement making and truth telling’, but since then the government seem unwilling to spend this money – cold comfort for First Nations people who have advocated for truth and treaty for decades,” she told The Australian.

“However ... in Senate Estimates, the National Indigenous Australians Agency confirmed they have spent $900,000 of this money for ground work on a Makarrata Commission. There was no disclosure about what exactly this money was spent on.”

Senator Cox said she had been pushing the government to make “real and meaningful progress on truth and treaty” and had previously had productive discussions about this with the Minister.

She said the government needed to come clean about what the $900,000 was being used for.

“In the lead up to the referendum, the government needs to be transparent with how they’re spending this Makarrata money,” she said.

Senator Thorpe said the NIAA had made clear the government was “holding off on everything until after the referendum”.

“The government’s handbook on questions related to First Nations issues now is an automatic response saying ‘we’ll deal with that after the Referendum’,” she said.

“They have spent $900,000 on Truth and Treaty and have nothing to show for it. Less than a year ago Minister Burney was speaking about how the public shouldn’t forget that the Uluru Statement was about Truth and Treaty as well as the Voice.

“The public hasn’t forgotten, especially the First Nations communities across the country I’m in contact with.”