The divisive Greens

GREENSRE-INTRODUCE "THE VOICE"

One of the leading figures behind the campaignfor an Indigenous Voice to Parliament has used her first public statement sincethe referendum to call out the Albanese government's "silence" followingthe result, and back a Greens push for a federal truth and justice commission.

Uluru Dialogues chair Pat Anderson has urged the government notto use the defeated referendum as a reason to stall work on other areas ofIndigenous policy, arguing the Voice was a specific answer to a specificquestion.

The federal Greens will this week look to revive a push for anational truth and justice commission, urging the government to maintain itscommitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

"Truth" is one of the three core elements of the UluruStatement, and the government has allocated funding to pursuing treaty andtruth-telling.

In its first budget in 2022, the Albanese government committed$7.8 million to commencing work on a Makarrata Commission, which would overseea process on treaty and truth-telling.

But in the wake of the defeat of the Voice referendum last year,the government has indicated it will "take its time" in getting theprocess right.

The Greens are now seeking to accelerate that — puttinglegislation to the parliament this week to establish a truth and justicecommission at a Commonwealth level.

Commenting publicly for the first time since the referendum, PatAnderson said the Voice result makes work on Makarrata all the more urgent.

"It has been nine months since the referendum and thereneeds to be forward momentum," she said.

"Our people are hurting from the silence, and there needsto be leadership.

"Nothing has changed since October 14. Change is needed.Change is urgent."

She said the Labor government should meet the commitments itmade before the last election to act on the Uluru Statement from the Heart infull.

"The Makarrata policy is one that Labor openly andtransparently took to the federal election in its support for the UluṟuStatement from the Heart, and it was costed through the budget process,"she said.

"The referendum outcome should not be used as a barrier tothe nation progressing on unfinished business."

Greens to introduceMakarrata bill

The Greens' bill would establish a commission of 10 members,which would spend four years looking into "historic and ongoinginjustices" towards Indigenous Australians.

The 10 members would represent each state and territory, alongwith two chief commissioners.

They would be specifically tasked with investigating a range ofareas including "ongoing systemic injustice" from the Commonwealthgovernment and other federal bodies, and redress for historic injustices.

It would also have a focus on the pre-colonial history ofIndigenous Australians.

It's expected the commission would deliver a report to thefederal parliament no later than four years after starting its work.

Greens First Nations spokesperson Dorinda Cox says after theVoice referendum was defeated, a truth and justice commission is now moreimportant.

"People need hope, they need some hope that we want toprogress as a nation," she said.

"We want to make sure that we are making inroads into thoseconversations. We're providing a very bold and courageous action in bringing abill to the parliament that sees this enshrined in legislation.

"This issue is not going away, and we need the Laborgovernment to back this in."

Part of the Greens' hope in bringing on the bill is that it goesthrough a committee process within the parliament, which would bring on abroader conversation about the shape and scope of a future commission.

Some leading Indigenous advocates argue that is a criticalprocess, to avoid problems encountered by similar commissions globally.

'We will take ourtime': Albanese government treading carefully

The Voice referendum was a key election pledge for the Albanesegovernment, along with establishing a Makarrata Commission "as a priority".

The defeat of the Yes campaign — which lost by a vote of about60 to 40 per cent nationally, and failed to win any state or territory bar theACT — was undoubtedly a political blow to the government

Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, says thatthe Voice result needs to be understood and processed before further steps canbe taken.

"We will take our time to make sure we get thisright," she said.

"We're working very collaboratively with states andterritories in terms of treaty and truth-telling processes … what First Nationspeople are saying to me is that we need time to think about the nextsteps."

Ms Burney argues the truth-telling work underway at a state andlocal level should not be discounted.

"The issue of truth-telling is something that has, over thelast 12 months and before that, been taken up by community groups, by localgovernment, by schools, by land councils, by various institutions like TheHealing Foundation," she said.

"So, in my view, the process of truth-telling in thiscountry is well and truly underway, and it has been underway for a very longtime."

Greens, Yes advocatespush for action now

Greens senator Dorinda Cox rejects suggestions it is too soon tostart a national truth-telling process.

She argues there is both a willingness and a need to have someof the difficult conversations that truth-telling may bring about.

"I think we have to go into this conversation with some keyprinciples that it will be uncomfortable, and understanding that there is noblame attached to this," she said.

"This is a recording of history, this is a time in which wesay it is important for everyone to know.

"Because if we don't know, then of course we get into asituation where we start to resist the urge to hear any of that."

Marcus Stewart was a leading advocate for the Yes vote at lastyear's referendum, and helped establish Victoria's ongoing truth-telling YoorrookJustice Commission.

He said rather than providing a reason to push back atruth-telling process at the national level, the Voice result indicated astronger need for it.

"What the [referendum defeat] told us is the absolute needfor truth-telling in this country," he said.

"To understand the historical wrongs, to understand how webuild the structural and systemic jigsaw puzzle of what happened to Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander people here, in this great country, upon settlement.

"And how we move collectively together as the best countryin the world."