Qld starts journey to establishing a treaty with First Nations people
A treaty between Queensland and its First Nations people doesn’t mean “Native Title 2.0”. Here’s what it could entail, including changes to curriculum and major reforms.
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Changes could be made to the state’s curriculum and major reforms undertaken across health, child protection and criminal justice, as part of a historic path to treaty between Queensland and its First Nations people.
Indigenous leaders said treaty would be a long process, which many believed would never officially finish, but the steps announced by the state government paved the way for a “better future”, while acknowledging the painful truths of the past.
A Bill, to be co-designed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, will establish Queensland’s Treaty Institute and the Truth Telling and Healing inquiry.
This is expected to be introduced to parliament by the end of the year.
The institute, which will be established as a statutory body, will co-develop the treaty framework and facilitate it going forward.
It will also act upon any recommendations that emerge from the statewide inquiry that is expected to go for three years.
Treaty Advancement Committee co-chair Jackie Huggins AM said that the treaty could address “contentious areas”, such as criminal justice, child protection and health.
Fellow co-chair Mick Gooda said changes could be made to the curriculum so children were taught about First Nations peoples’ experiences during colonisation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Craig Crawford said the treaty wasn’t “Native Title 2.0”.
“We’re not coming for your back gate, we’re not coming for your farm,” he said.
“This is about … proper, true, final reconciliation of our history that’s more than 300 years old – it’s 66,000 years old, but we only learn about the last little bit.”
Mr Crawford said every Traditional Owner group was at a different starting point.
“Different groups will come forward with different things that they want to negotiate, for some places it could be currency,” he said.
“For others, it could be access or control of things like… public assets and waterways and those sorts of things.”
Dr Huggins said Queensland didn’t have to reinvent the wheel.
“We can learn off other treaties around the world that might be helpful and useful to us, and we’re working along also very closely with Victoria, Northern Territory and I believe South Australia is coming on board soon, and Tasmania has got a treaty process that they enacted,” she said.
Dr Huggins said she envisioned signage and place names considered to be offensive and demeaning to be changed as well.
“I’ve been involved in the reconciliation movement for over 30 years and I really have not seen anything like this in terms of people wanting to know much more about our history and become involved and walk alongside us,” she said.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the journey would not be easy.
“Each generation is called to face its challenge,” she said.
“I believe this is ours. We have this opportunity to finish what is unfinished business, to put wrongs right and finally come together as one, united state with mutual respect for our diverse cultures and identities.”
Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland was on a path to understand its past.
“This is our chance to mark the end of one chapter of this story and begin another, not as an act of government, but as the will of the people,” she said. Mr Gooda said the committee had considered a royal commission-style inquiry, but decided against it.
“I think that when we start looking at the legislation to set up an inquiry, we’ve got to be imaginative about this,” he said. There could be festivals where people could tell their stories, but also that the inquiry might request embargoed documents from within the government’s archives.
While committing to the Institute and inquiry, the government on Tuesday formally accepted all 22 recommendations made by the committee last year.
Among these is creating a Path to Treaty Office that would be overseen by the Premier, while also creating an independent interim body to provide a co-design partnership with government to inform legislation. The body would also guide the truth telling and healing process, including developing the terms of reference.
Originally published as Qld starts journey to establishing a treaty with First Nations people
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