Queensland begins formal Path to Treaty
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 127 No 7, 30 September 2022, page no. 9
The Queensland Government has formally launched a Path to Treaty between the Queensland Government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people.
It released its response to the Treaty Advancement Committee Report on 16 August at a ceremony conducted on the grounds of Parliament House in Brisbane.
Acknowledging via a treaty or treaties our First Nations peoples, their cultural practices, language, connection to the land seas and waterways, and their traditional sovereignty, as well as the impact colonisation and subsequent government decisions have had on all First Nations people, is a significant step for any civil society.
The Queensland Government should be commended for taking the historic first steps on this journey by beginning this process with the release of the Statement of Commitment in 2019, and then appointing an eminent panel that began the treaty conversation, with the support of the Treaty Working Group.
Three major themes arose out of conversations that occurred across the state: inclusion, reconciliation and the concept that we, as a state, are “treaty ready”.
A Treaty Advancement Committee was then set up co-chaired by Dr Jackie Huggins and Mr Mick Gooda, and its report was provided to the Queensland Government in October 2021.
It was the Queensland Government’s response to this report that was provided to the co-chairs at the historic ceremony at Parliament House.
Finalising the independent interim body is the next step in the process. This body will provide input into important legislative changes that will set up the First Nations Treaty Institute and the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry.
Dr Huggins said at the ceremony: “We know the path to treaty will be a long one, one that we must walk together. It will not be easy sometimes. Truths will unravel and we are yet to discover what awaits us. The journey, each step, each conversation, each truth we hear will highlight the history of our state and present many opportunities for all to learn and to share.”
We all know the important role education plays in setting up the positive futures of all young people in Queensland. We face many challenges as a state, with some of the highest First Nations incarceration rates of anywhere in the world. We need to break this cycle, and a combination of truth telling, treaty and the provision of quality school resources has the potential to improve outcomes for our First Nations students and our system as a whole. This is important work that QTU members engage in across our state every day, and a task that is the motivation for many teachers’ and school leaders’ professional lives.
The Path to Treaty process is an important point in our history as a state, with the potential to set up the most positive of futures for every young person currently at school, as well as those to come in the future.
For more information about the Path to Treaty process and actions, you can visit the Queensland Government Path to Treaty website https://www.dsdsatsip.qld.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-partnerships/reconciliation-tracks-treaty/tracks-treaty/path-treaty
QTU Deputy General Secretary Brendan Crotty said: "As a non-Indigenous person who has grown up only knowing partial truths about the treatment of past generations of First Nations people in our state, handed down unofficially, my hope is that truth-telling and Treaty-making will lead us on a journey to real healing and reconciliation, as a state and as a country."
First Nations Officer Rachel Bos said: "Substantive, structural reform that does not diminish the sovereignty of First Nations and recognises the status and rights of First Nations peoples is key to Queensland’s journey to Treaty. Its time."