Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that I have received the following letter, dated 27 November 2023, from Senator Thorpe:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

Following the failed Voice referendum, the Albanese Government must fulfil their promise to First Peoples in this country by progressing Truth and Treaty in this term of government.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

Following the failed Voice referendum, the Albanese Government must fulfil their promise to First Peoples in this country by progressing Truth and Treaty in this term of government.

The war and genocidal project against First Peoples has never ended. This war continues with different weapons and tools of oppression: mass incarceration, over-policing of communities, child removals and creating conditions that make life seem too hard to keep living. First Peoples and people of colour live the ongoing impacts of this war every day. We bore the brunt of it during the racism that flourished from the referendum campaign. The bare minimum this government owes to First Peoples is to fulfil its commitment to truth and treaty. Last week, the Call It Out racism register proved what every person of colour knows—that racism festers in every corner of this colony, on the streets and in workplaces, schools, health-care services, police stations, courts, government agencies and business.

The nation-state of Australia's illegitimate claim to political sovereignty is founded upon racist beliefs. Public health studies have proved the impact that this has on the physical and mental health of First Peoples and people of colour. It is a disease that erodes the fabric of our society, killing our lands and waters, keeping First Peoples and refugees of colour locked up and tearing children away from their families and culture. In the words of the multitalented poet and Wiradjuri-Gamilaraay woman Lorna Munro: 'We are invested in a colonial system of governance that is unable to cater to our need for humanity, society, community and ecological level. Our governance systems did not go anywhere. Everyone will talk about doomsday climate change, but no-one wants to talk about the systems of government required to achieve that stability.' This is why it is important to tell the truth of this place, because, in order for us to heal ourselves from this disease, we have to start by understanding how we got here and how the systems of governance that have been built in this colony do so much harm to all of us and our environment.

This land has a black history. We have the stories of how things were before the colonisers arrived and what has happened since. Conversations about this history used to happen in black spaces only, but, more and more often, people are starting to explore this history and ask the important questions around dinner tables and in classrooms. 'How did your ancestors arrive here? What role did they play in the colonial occupation and dispossession of First Peoples of these lands? What is the history of the place you actually live and work?' There are hard but necessary conversations that we need to have. Black power in this country is strong and growing, and more and more people are learning its black history and embracing a black future that works for everyone. From a new shared understanding, we can build new systems of government that respect the political sovereignty of First Peoples and are grounded in care and custodianship for each other and the environment. This system is one that nurtures and thinks about transformative ideas of justice, where we no longer need prisons and detention centres and where healthy country and healthy people are not sacrificed for the profit of a few. We have done so before, and we can create it again for all of us. This can be done through a treaty process—one that incorporates all 250-plus language groups. This cannot just be a federal or state issue. It is all of our responsibility across all systems of governance, from the bottom to the top. This change will happen, and it will need a lot of energy, love, care and community. It would happen a lot faster, and with far less pain and suffering for everyone, if everyone in this chamber supported the real truth in this country.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me be very clear: the 'no' vote in Western Australia, and in fact in the entire nation, was not a vote for continued Indigenous disadvantage. It was a vote to find a different way, a way that delivers real life outcomes for disadvantaged Indigenous Australians.

The tragedy for our nation and for our Indigenous population is that the Prime Minister and the Labor government have wasted the first half of this term of government—which increasingly looks like, fortunately, a one-term government—pursuing their ideological Voice, and now they have no plan whatsoever. In fact, an editorial in the West Australian last week really summed it up very nicely. The editorial said this:

There was one question Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was desperate to avoid answering during the doomed Voice referendum campaign. What if it fails? … And in the aftermath of that disastrous campaign, the Albanese Government has busied itself with moving onto other things to distract—

them and the Australian people—

from that monumental loss.

It also went on to note:

Mr Albanese hopped on a plane almost immediately after the referendum, and has spent much of the five weeks since at various overseas engagements—state dinners at the White House, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, busting some moves in the Cook Islands. Meanwhile, the same problems of Aboriginal disadvantage have remained—

and are getting worse.

Since that went down so decisively, what have the government done? Absolutely nothing. As I said, they have no plan. It is very clear, in relation to this motion from Senator Thorpe, who we welcome back, that Australians don't want a Voice and don't want the concept of truth and treaty. They want real outcomes. On this side of the chamber, we have put forward multiple practical and sensible initiatives which those opposite and the Greens have failed to support, somewhat unbelievably.

After the failed referendum, Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition; and the shadow Indigenous minister, Senator Nampijinpa Price, called on the government to establish a royal commission into child sex abuse in Indigenous communities, a call strongly supported on this side of the chamber. But guess what? On a royal commission into the absolutely scandalous rates of child sex abuse in Indigenous communities, those opposite said no. Not only that; we also suggested that we do an audit on spending across the entire federal government. Tens of billions of dollars a year are spent on Indigenous programs intended to close the gaps, but they don't work. We need to understand where this money is going, why it is not working and how we can, as a start, redirect those tens of billions of dollars annually to programs that work. But, again, those opposite have simply refused to do this.

Now, coming to Western Australia and all state and territory governments, clearly the responsibility for delivering the services and ensuring the Closing the Gap outcomes are met rests with state and territory governments. The health systems, the education systems, the juvenile justice systems, the job programs, the training programs and community housing, for example, are all state government responsibilities. Again, it's not like they're not getting the money from the federal taxpayers—they are—but they are not being held accountable. That is particularly so in Western Australia, where we have such entrenched Indigenous disadvantage not just in our remote communities but in Perth and in other metropolitan areas. So we have to start finding out where this money is going and what is working—and there are programs that are working—so that we can force state and territory governments to start making a difference. And it has to be done across the aisles in this place and in the other place. (Time expired)

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's no denying that Victoria leads the nation in ensuring decision-making powers are in Aboriginal hands. As Senator Thorpe would know, Victoria is boldly pursuing treaty and truth-telling, led by the Allan Labor government. I thank Senator Thorpe for bringing this motion today before this chamber. It's an important conversation to have.

The First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria was established in December 2019 as an independent and democratically-elected voice for Aboriginal Victorians. Earlier this month, I was proud to welcome the newly elected co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly, Rueben Berg, as part of a delegation of Victorian Aboriginal leaders to Canberra. Rueben emphasises the importance of including the federal government in Victoria's treaty and truth-telling process. This was the message he sent when speaking with senior members of the Albanese government, including the Prime Minister and Minister for Indigenous Australians. The Albanese Labor government has always been clear in its commitment to listening to First Nations Australians. We have always been clear that any progress on truth-telling and treaty is to be done in consultation with community. We need to listen to First Nations communities on the best way forward. We are going to take the time to listen to First Nations people about what those next steps look like. We're going to listen to what our community wants, whether it's mob in Central Australia or in Far North Queensland or whether it's my mob in Victoria. We owe it to our community to get this done and to get it done right.

The National Indigenous Australians Agency to date has focused on understanding the truth-telling and treaty processes in states like Victoria. Last year, Victoria established an impartial, independent treaty authority to oversee treaty negotiations. This is critical to ensuring that Aboriginal law and cultural authority are observed and upheld through the treaty process. We understand that the treaty process takes time and it requires continuous consultation and engagement with First Nations people.

Further to this, Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission is the first of its kind in Australia. Since its creation in May 2021, the role of Yoorrook has been to bring truth to the injustice of the past across all areas of social, political and economic life. With the full powers of a royal commission, the commission has held formal hearings and investigated historical and ongoing injustices committed against Aboriginal Victorians since colonisation. Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission I'm sure will be amongst many other things considered by the Albanese Labor government when thinking about our relationship with First Nations people—our partnerships with First Nations people and thinking about, 'Where to next?'

We are going to take the time to listen, engage and seek advice from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which of course includes bodies like the democratically-elected First Peoples' Assembly. I want to commend the great work of the Assembly in pursuing treaty and truth-telling in my home state.

I'm proud to represent Victoria, which leads the nation when it comes to Aboriginal affairs. In fact, it was the Victorian Labor government's commitment to treaty that piqued my interest in politics for the first time. It's why I became a Labor person.

Aboriginal affairs has always been at the heart of any Labor government's agenda. It was a Labor government under Whitlam that brought the first Commonwealth legislation to grant land rights before this parliament, and it was a Labor government under Hawke that pursued self-determination through practical, representative bodies that could directly influence government policy more significantly than had ever been done before.

It was a Labor government under Kevin Rudd that first apologised for the dispossession and forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, communities and country. Labor's guiding principle has always been about getting better results for First Nations people with First Nations people, and a core component of getting better results is listening to communities about what they need.

What this clearly demonstrates is that, if we want progress on First Nations justice and aspirations, then we need to make sure that a Labor government is in charge, because it's only a Labor government that will deliver First Nations justice for First Nations people.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens were, proudly, the first party to commit in full to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and we remain committed to it. It is vital that this government works with the states and territories to progress truth-telling and treaties, and to ensure that momentum is not lost following the referendum. Our communities need to see that this government, and state and territory governments, actually have our backs and will not back away to the easy option of turning their backs on community. In fact, and unfortunately, that's what we're seeing right now.

There is some work happening, and I would like to use the rest of my time to quickly whip around the country and have a look at that. Starting in my home state of Western Australia: we have what many people describe as the first treaty in our country, the Noongar Settlement, which involved the largest agreement in Australia. And we passed the Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition Act in 2016, formally acknowledging the Noongar people as the traditional owners. WA also undertook constitutional recognition in 2005, all under Liberal governments. Unfortunately, WA hasn't moved much further beyond that, but that's another yarn for another time.

Heading north-east, the Northern Territory's Chief Minister signed the Barunga Agreement in 2018 as the basis for treaty negotiations. The Treaty Commissioner in the NT called for truth-telling to begin as soon as possible, before treaty negotiations. However, over the shutdown period last year the government quietly released its formal response to this report. The independent treaty commission was to be abolished and the government would do its own consultation.

In Queensland in 2019, the state government created two bodies: a working group and an eminent panel to conduct initial work on the path to a treaty. Both of these bodies called for a truth and healing commission, and for an independent First Nations treaty institute to be established. This year, the Queensland government passed a bill called the Path to Treaty, which stated that truth-telling and healing processes would occur over the next three years and would inform the treaty process.

In New South Wales, the Labor government made an election commitment to take their first steps towards a treaty. But, following the referendum, the New South Wales Labor government said they will not progress beyond consultation until after the next election.

Here in the ACT, the government released a report in July 2022 examining treaty processes. This report had mixed reviews, and the government apologised for poor consultation and acknowledged that healing was needed before a treaty. It's worth noting that there has been an elected body, very similar to the proposed voice to parliament, functioning in the ACT since 2008.

As Senator Stewart has already mentioned, the First Nations People's Assembly of Victoria has been established for treaty negotiations. The treaty process in Victoria is the most advanced, seeing the first treaty legislation passed in 2018. It laid out the legislative basis for negotiations and a road map. The independent Treaty Authority has been established and it is expected that negotiations will begin imminently. Further, their truth and justice commission has been operating since 2021, known as the Yoorrook Justice Commission. The commission handed down an interim report in September this year, with 46 recommendations for the Victorian government, and the final report is due in June 2024.

Down south, in Tasmania, the state government has started discussions about what a truth and treaty process should look like, showing that taking action towards truth and treaty can be done by a Liberal government. First Nations people in Tasmania have made it clear that truth-telling cannot be the end in itself but must lead to tangible outcomes. Similar to other jurisdictions, this process found mob calling for truth-telling before a treaty. In 2022 an Aboriginal advisory group was created to codesign the truth-telling and treaty processes with the Tasmanian government.

Finally, in South Australia, the state government and the Narungga Aboriginal Corporation signed the Buthera Agreement in 2018, establishing the basis for treaty negotiations. However, a change in government saw a new Liberal Premier put a pause on that. Following another change of government in 2022, earlier this year we saw South Australia become the first jurisdiction to legislate a state based voice to parliament. Elections are due in March next year, and it is expected that the treaty process will recommence shortly after this.

So although they may all be at different stages, progress is happening in most jurisdictions. But what is absolutely clear, despite the result of the referendum, is that we have a long road ahead of us and it's now time for federal leadership on this issue.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 14 October, 60.3 per cent of Territorians said no. Much has been said by the Labor government, who have tried to claim that the majority of Indigenous Territorians voted yes in the Northern Territory. In actual fact in Lingiari, where this claim has been made, 56 per cent of registered voters turned out. So 35,000 registered voters out of a total of 80,000 registered voters turned out to vote. This tells me, as a senator of the Northern Territory, that the vast majority of Indigenous voters in remote communities chose not to vote at all because they didn't believe in the proposal that was put before them.

In South Australia, 64.17 per cent said no; in Western Australia, 63.27 per cent said no; in New South Wales, 58.96 per cent said no; down in Tasmania, 58.94 per cent said no; in Queensland, 68.21 per cent—about seven of every 10 people—said no; and even in Victoria, 54.15 per cent said no. A total of 60.06 per cent of Australians said no. They said no to division. They said no to separatism. They said no to the Voice. And they said no to the Uluru statement in full.

Yet there seem to be some in this building who think that result was somehow unclear. Even worse, there seem to be people in this building who think we don't need to listen to the result. There are people here who still treat Indigenous Australians as if we all think the same and want the same. We do not. Yet this Albanese government seems intent on continuing its activist agenda with complete disregard for the will of the people it is meant to represent. It is moving forward in complete indifference to the real and urgent needs of Indigenous Australians living in remote and rural Australia.

Practical examples have been provided, like a royal commission into the sexual abuse of Indigenous children. We hear about a royal commission conducted by the Yoorrook commission. Why then does this government fail to acknowledge that Indigenous children experience the highest rates of sexual abuse in the country? Why does this government not want to know a thing about it? It talks about listening to Indigenous Australians, and yet we have the member for Lingiari having to apologise to the principal of Yipirinya School who looks after the most marginalised children within the community. The elders of that school have been screaming out for support, and yet we hear platitudes about listening and working with Indigenous Australians. It's all lip service.

There still is no plan. We've wasted 18 months through a referendum and no action on the ground for our most marginalised. We can't continue to waste time with talks of treaties and truth-telling when the truth is that there are people—children, women, men—suffering right now. They're suffering because we have the highest rates of black-on-black violence in this country, but let's not address the elephant in the room. Let's pretend it's something else.

Well Australians, including Indigenous Australians, have had enough of the talk. They've had enough of the division. They've had enough of the virtue signalling, the grand gestures that offer little in way of practical outcomes. They want us, those of us who have been elected, to improve the lives of everybody in this country. They want those of us in this building to come together to work on real and practical solutions to improve the lives of our most marginalised. We know how to fix these issues, so can we stop this nonsense and just crack on with it please.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Much more than the racist Voice to Parliament was rejected by an overwhelming majority of Australians at the referendum. Australians understood that the Voice was a crucial first step towards a treaty, and they knocked it back. They understood the Voice, treaty and truth-telling would divide this country by race, and they knocked them back. They understood that failure to close the gaps would not be fixed by more bureaucracy and billions of dollars more wasted on the Aboriginal industry gravy train.

They heard from this industry and the Indigenous elites who live large on the Australian taxpayer while Aborigines in remote communities continue to suffer poverty, crime and welfare dependency. They were lectured to by big business, big banks, academics, activists, the Greens, the Teals, Minister Burney and Prime Minister Albanese. They heard these out-of-touch leaders tell them they were racist and stupid if they didn't do what they were told. They were told Australia's international reputation would suffer. Then these leaders went on the BBC to trash Australia's international reputation. They were told by these same out-of-touch leaders that the 'no' campaign was all lies, misinformation and disinformation. They watched the 'yes' campaign castigate the media for daring to report on the 'no' campaign. They rejected all of it.

There is no war on Indigenous Australians, as Senator Thorpe pretends. That she sits in this parliament, along with other Indigenous people, shows this claim for the lie that it is. Senator Thorpe is no victim, on her taxpayer-funded salary. Most Indigenous people reject the idea that they are victims. Governments do not sign treaties with their own citizens.

For the education of senators, I repeat this essential principle of Australian democracy: equal rights for all, and special rights for none. That's because, regardless of race, we all share in the story that is Australia. We all should contribute according to our capabilities, abilities and aspirations. But I have to ask the question: what special or unique contribution entitles Indigenous Australians to special or unique rights greater than those of anyone else? The answer is: none whatsoever.

Let me read out a comment that was sent to me on my Facebook page by Rebecca. She states: 'Can we stop using the term "traditional owners"? Aborigines did not, and do not, own Australia. They were original inhabitants and that is it. Mother Nature provided all that Aboriginals claim as theirs. They did not build Ayers Rock, the Three Sisters, Kakadu, the river systems, the mountains et cetera. They used the land and its natural resources and structures that were already there. They did not construct or design a damned thing and, just as they continue to do today, use and take whatever is available to them.' That's from an Australian, and that's how a lot of Australians feel.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not all of them.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What people like Senator Thorpe tend to forget is the fact that I was born here too. So were millions of other Australians and the migrants that have come here. All I've asked for is equality for all Australians. If you need it, you get that helping hand. If you don't need it, then, fine, you don't—you work hard for what you need. That's been proven by the 11 senators in this parliament who are of Aboriginal descent. Yet you want special treatment, and you don't deserve it—no more than anyone else.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You need to be unwelcomed in this place.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So are millions of Australians who don't identify as Aboriginal.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, senators!

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're unwelcome!

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're a nasty piece of work.

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Take your seats, both of you. Senator Hanson, you have the call. I suggest you make your comments to me as the chair.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said, this country belongs to all of us. It does not belong only to the modern descendants of the Stone Age hunter-gatherers discovered by British explorers and settlers. There is only one nation on this continent. There has only ever been one nation on this continent, founded on 1 January 1901. There cannot be a legitimate treaty. This means there is also no requirement for so-called truth-telling. This is a code for rewriting history to maximise financial settlements in a treaty. Just forget it. The only fair and equitable way forward is for racial separatism and division to be abandoned and for us to move forward as one people and one nation under one flag. We are all Australians together and should be treated equally.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Thorpe be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I'd like my name and Senator Hanson's name recorded as opposing that motion.