Acting Treaty Commissioner Tony McAvoy reveals Territory Treaty just three years away

A Territory Treaty could be less than three years away following the Acting Treaty Commissioner’s final report.

A TERRITORY Treaty could be less than three years away after the NT government released the Acting Treaty Commissioner’s final report on Wednesday morning.

The report, exclusively provided to the NT News, details how the NT government can establish a ‘Territory Wide Agreement’ by June 2025.

Compiled over three years and led by Acting Treaty Commissioner Tony McAvoy, the report includes feedback from consultation with NT communities, the four land councils and Aboriginal community organisations while also considering the impacts of treaties in other countries around the world.

It also explicitly details the need for First Nations’ people to make subsequent treaties that reflect their own needs for “self-determination”.

“A Treaty negotiation model is put forward whereby First Nations establish a NT First Nations Representative Body that can negotiate (and) enter a Territory-Wide Agreement with the NT Government,” the report said.

“(The framework) provides the overarching structure and parameters for the negotiation of subsequent Treaties between individual First Nations (or coalitions) and the NT Government.”

Timeline to Treaty

The report lists a number of immediate actions including the repeals of the current law and an entirely new Truth and Treaty Commission Act passed before the end of 2022.

It then calls for multiple NT First Nations’ forums, the inaugural to be held before June 2024, to design the Territory Wide Agreement and the establishment of a fully funded Treaty and Truth Commission.

“The voices of First Nations people will be centred at every stage of the Treaty process,” the report said.

“The First Nations Forum will give the mandate for continued Treaty negotiation and will decide upon a representative body to reflect the interests of First Nations people.”

The First Nations forum would be similar to that held by proponents of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the report was Labor’s committment to empowering First Nations people.

“The release of the final report represents an important first step on the path towards recognition and representation of our First Nations people, and the facilitation of self-determination that is the cornerstone of local decision making,” she said.

“Discussion of Treaty in the NT is timely and reflects broader conversations occurring across Australia.”

The report has been received by the Territory government and will be released for public review on June 29.

It is expected to be tabled for the Legislative Assembly in July.

Tony McAvoy SC in his Sydney office with a ceremonial wig similar to the one he wore this morning when he became Australia's first Aboriginal silk

The impact of Treaty

Mr McAvoy has made two recommendations for immediate action; the establishment of a First Nations government and complete repeal of the current NT Treaty Commissioner Act 2020.

“I did give lengthy consideration to the way in which the present Treaty Commissioner Act might be amended to fulfil the needs of this process,” Mr McAvoy said.

“In the end, I came to the conclusion that because the central feature of that Act is the Treaty Commissioner, the office holder itself, whoever that may be, rather than the commission and the work of a commission it just didn’t appear to me that it was going to be easily amended.”

Mr McAvoy said the limitations of the current Act meant he believed the best way forward was to create a new Treaty and Truth Commission Act that focused on the work required to legislatively embed governance and sovereignty for First Nations Territorians.

In July, Treaty and Local Decision Making Minister Selena Uibo will table the report in parliament where the government will either reject or accept its recommendations.

Ms Uibo said the government would consider the recommendations over the coming months and provide a formal whole-of-government response that will set the foundation for future agreements between the NT government and Aboriginal Territorians.

In relation to the importance of a Treaty, Mr McAvoy said it was about recognising the deep cultural connections between land and Aboriginal people.

“Aboriginal Territorians hold very dearly their ability to be the spokespeople for their country and that connection to their countries is a very deep part of Aboriginal identity,” said Mr McAvoy.

“That connection to Country and the right to speak to Country is something that equates to what in western governance we refer to as sovereignty.”

According to the report, First Nations people will meet at an forum to discuss governance and sovereignty (Treaty and Truth-Telling).

At the forum, leaders would debate forming a First Nations government that would work alongside the NT government, with the structure still to be determined.

Mr McAvoy said in the development of the report the Treaty Commission focused on bringing voices together with best practice found across the world, but the timing of the report is also in line with conversations across Australia.

“It is timely the NT Intervention is coming to a close,” he said.

“But it’s incredibly timely in that after decades of opposition at a federal government level, we’re now in a position where there’s a federal government who is publicly committed to the creation of the Makarrata Commission (another form of Truth and Treaty making).”

Originally published as Acting Treaty Commissioner Tony McAvoy reveals Territory Treaty just three years away