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Anthony Albanese and his government have been warned against trying to impose a ‘divisive’ body to oversee truth-telling after the failure of the Voice referendum.
A Makarrata Commission, as envisioned by the Uluru Statement from the Heart, would seek a treaty between the federal government and Indigenous Australians.
Makarrata is a Yolngu word which translates as ‘a coming together after a struggle’ and is the concept of bringing ‘peace after a dispute’.
Mr Albanese told parliament on Wednesday that ‘as we take the time needed to get Makarrata and truth-telling right, the work of treaty goes on at a state and territory level’.
But shadow Indigenous Australians minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the government is ‘not listening’ to Australians and that a Makarrata would be ‘divisive’.
Anthony Albanese (left) and Linda Burney (right) have been warned against trying to impose a body to oversee truth telling after the failure of the Voice referendum
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (pictured) said the Government is ‘not listening’ to Australians and that a Makarrata would be ‘divisive’
Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney told the ABC that ‘the issue of truth-telling is incredibly important’.
But her predecessor in the position, Ken Wyatt, warned a Makarrata Commission would just ‘antagonise’ Australians and create division.
Mr Wyatt, who resigned from the Liberal Party over its position on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, said such a body was no longer a good idea.
He told The Australian that after the Voice No vote ‘you don’t want to antagonise. I think the Prime Minister has lost a lot of kudos and ground on the Voice failing.’
Ms Nampijinpa Price asked: ‘How long will it take this government to listen to the result of the Voice referendum? Australians said No.
‘They do not want to be divided like this, but that’s what treaty and so-called truth-telling are, divisive,’ she told the Herald Sun.
Mr Wyatt was one of the few prominent conservative politicians who supported the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, but he now believes there are more repercussions to come from the Voice being comprehensively defeated in the October 2023 referendum.
He even went as far as to say Mr Albanese’s ‘leadership has to have a question mark over it’.
Ms Burney said she was talking with Indigenous communities about the referendum result and ‘what the next steps would be’, but did not indicate when a truth-telling commission might happen or what it would involve.
‘I’m having discussions with the cabinet about that … the issue of truth-telling is incredibly important,’ she said.
‘There are many, many ways in which that can happen including the school curriculum.
‘There’s not a particular model that I’m favouring at the moment … I am very open, as the Government is very open, to what it might look like.’
Mr Wyatt, though, said adding a truth-telling component to ‘school curriculums alone will not do it’.
Indigenous Australian history is already a key component.
Former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt (pictured), warned that a Makarrata Commission would just ‘antagonise’ Australians and create division
‘The Australian curriculum version 9.0 includes a range of additional content that recognises the experiences and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,’ a spokesman for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority said.
‘The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross-curriculum priority aims to deepen all students’ understanding of the histories and cultures of First Nations Australians and their knowledge of important aspects of our national history.’
Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson vehemently disagreed with Ms Burney’s views, telling the Australian: ‘Classrooms should remain a place for education, not a forum to foster division and activism.’
Professor Megan Davis, who was a prominent proponent of the Voice, previously warned against simplistic solutions for engaging with Indigenous Australians.
‘We should see through the preference of those in power for performative storytelling over long-awaited and much-needed structural change.
‘We should see through the preference of those in power for performative storytelling over long-awaited and much-needed structural change,’ she wrote in The Monthly.
