The recent process the ACT Government undertook to hold Treaty discussions with one family group with connection to the ACT and Surrounds is a disgraceful act of discrimination and prejudice.
It has long been public knowledge that there are at least three distinct groups with connections to the ACT. No effort was made by the ACT Government to engage with the other two groups on the same terms.
To have undertaken that process without undertaking the same process with other Aboriginal groups with connections to the ACT was deeply divisive, offensive and discriminatory
The previous exercise was nothing but a sham that has left ill-feeling among many other Aboriginal peoples in the ACT.
The ACT Government’s actions raises serious doubts as to whether the ACT Government is genuinely capable of and committed to truth telling and treaty with all of the Aboriginal groups with connections to the ACT.
A Truth Telling Commission for the ACT should have the powers of a Royal Commission, in the same way as the Yoorrook Commission has been established in Victoria.
The Commission should be led by eminent Aboriginal people (male and female) with no prior connections to the ACT. The Commission should also have the power to require governments and their officials to produce documents and official records, to call witnesses and where necessary, to carry out research and to conduct its own investigations. Anything less will be a total sham.
A Treaty Authority should also be established to oversight the process, including the development of a Treaty Negotiation Framework where there are no limits as to what can be brought to the table for negotiation.
The fact remains that the Nation’s capital was built on the stolen lands of the local Aboriginal peoples, and that was done without the local Aboriginal peoples’ consent and without a treaty.
The Aboriginal peoples of the ACT have never had the opportunity to document our losses. Nor have we ever been compensated.
The ACT is still subject to s.122 of the Constitution which give the Commonwealth the exclusive power to govern the Territories. A Truth Telling Commission must therefore also involve the Commonwealth. Not as a by-stander watching idly by, but as a genuine party to the process. Anything less would also be a total sham.
Ultimately, we should all want to leave the next generation with a wiser, more peaceful and fairer world. This is the vision that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples put on the table with the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Uluru Statement included three key elements: Voice. Treaty. Truth.
While the rest of the nation rejected the Voice to federal Parliament in the Referendum last year, unsurprisingly, over 65% of the ACT voting population supported the Voice proposal.
A Truth Telling Commission with he powers of a Royal Commission and a Treaty Authority are genuine proposals to address the unfinished business of the past and to find a way to a better future for all.
