The Labor senator Pat Dodson has launched a scathing attack on the Morrison government’s lack of leadership on progressing reforms from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, after the opposition’s push to set up an inquiry into treaty-making and truth-telling was voted down by the Senate.
Dodson moved a motion on Tuesday to set up a joint parliamentary committee to investigate truth-telling and treaty-making – key elements of a Makarrata process as called for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart – but the vote was tied and the motion failed.
Liberal MPs opposed the motion because they said processes of treaty-making and truth-telling were a matter for state and territory governments, not the commonwealth.
Dodson rejected that view.
“It’s a cop-out, a sham, and it’s a lie,” he said. “They ought to own up to the Australian people that they haven’t got the guts to really face the truth of how our settlement narrative really should be told.”
He took aim at the Indigenous Australians minister, Ken Wyatt.
“[Wyatt’s] got to lead, he’s supposed to be the leader in the First Nations space, it’s no good prancing around if you won’t lead on hard issues, and this is a hard issue,” Dodson told reporters in parliament.
“He’s the bloke with responsibility, with the PM, and they should be leading and helping the nation to heal the wounds of the past divisions and discord, and taking us forward to build a better relationship. And if they’re not prepared to do that, they should get out of the road and let someone else run the place,” he said.
Labor’s push follows last week’s announcement by the Victorian government of a truth-telling commission, with the powers of a royal commission, to investigate the ongoing effects of British colonisation on Aboriginal people.
While Dodson said he was disappointed with the vote, he said this was “just the start”.
“We want to reassure the many thousands of Australians that the key issues from Uluru … are not lost on this parliament,” he told reporters. “It was a pretty close vote; I hope maturity will develop as we go to the next election. Maybe the next government will have a greater opportunity to grasp the mantle to confront Australian history.”
Dodson again rejected past suggestions by Wyatt that the process of creating a voice to parliament and a referendum on constitutional change should not be rushed lest they fail.
“It is a bit ludicrous to say it’s too fast. It’s four years since the Uluru statement from the heart, it’s nearly 30 years since the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody … We’ve had high court judgements in Mabo, Wik and other seminal judgments that have reflected back to us as a nation the need for us to re-establish the relationship with First Nations peoples.
“The notion that it’s too fast is an excuse, it’s laziness, it’s an excuse and it’s a lack of dedication to responding to what First Nations and many other Australians are saying to us as leaders in this parliament, to get on with the issue of setting straight the relationship with First Nations peoples.”
The proposed joint standing committee would have examined the history of First Nations advocacy for treaty and truth-telling in Australia, the progress of treaty-making and truth-telling in the states and territories, as well as any international developments and relevant legal issues.
The Greens senator Lidia Thorpe spoke in support by saying the only way for the nation to achieve “peace” was through treaty-making and truth-telling.
“You can roll your eyes at that,” she told parliament. “But it’s about creating a new nation that we can all be a part of.”
In January, Wyatt released an interim report on the voice co-design process. At the time he said the consultative process would run for four months, with a final report expected between June and August this year.
Under the proposal, the federal government will be obliged to consult the Indigenous voice to parliament when crafting laws on race, native title and racial discrimination that impact upon Aboriginal Australians, but the voice would have no power to overturn policy or prevent laws being passed.
Wyatt said at the time that more consultation with Indigenous communities was crucial and the government had not yet decided on its preferred approach.
Three working groups on the issue – taking in 52 members – have met more than 70 times since talks began on the voice in October 2019.
The government selected its own advisers, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and set up three separate committees and a senior advisory group. Terms of reference also imposed limits on what participants could discuss.
The Indigenous Australians minister has been contacted for comment.