Path to Treaty – an historic day on 16th August 2022

Having been travelled since 2019, the Path to Treaty reached an historical milestone on 16 August 2022. On this day, the Queensland Government re-affirmed its commitment to progressing the Path to Treaty and taking the next steps in this remarkable journey.

In a moving ceremony held at Parliament House, representatives of the Queensland Government, First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous Queenslanders participated in the signing of Queensland’s Path to Treaty Commitment, signifying a collective pledge to be courageous and curious, to be open to hearing the truth of our State’s history and to collaborate in readiness for negotiating treaties. The ceremony can be watched by clicking here.

Importantly, Premier Palaszczuk made use of the occasion to release the Government’s response to the Treaty Advancement Committee report including an acceptance of all 22 recommendations contained within the Report, either in full or in principle. Initiatives that were announced included structures to be established in legislation including firstly, a First Nations Treaty Institute to be led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with responsibilities for developing a treaty making framework for agreement with government and secondly, a formal 3-year Truth Telling and Healing Inquiry. As stated by Mr Mick Gooda, Co-Chair of the Treaty Advancement Committee, “The journey to treaty starts with the truth… We know that truth-telling is central to the healing we must all go through, without the truth we will never heal properly”.

An Independent Interim Body consisting of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders as well as non-Indigenous representatives, will be in place for the next 12 to 18 months for purposes of developing the legislation to establish the First Nations Treaty Institute and the Truth Telling and Healing Inquiry. The Government also committed funding of $10 million per year towards the Path to Treaty, guaranteed for the duration of treaty making.

The Path to Treaty is important to not only First Nations peoples – it is also of enormous significance to non-Indigenous Queenslanders. As eloquently stated by Dr Jackie Huggins AM, Co-Chair of the Treaty Advancement Committee, “The Path to Treaty is about how we mend the very fabric of our society… We want all Queenslanders to walk side-by-side with us on the Path to Treaty, so that we can overcome those huge injustices that still, unfortunately, persist in our society… It opens the doors to our shared future”.

The following lists what you MUST now do:

• Follow, share and promote the Path to Treaty activities using the information supplied in this Advocate Pack
• Follow Deadly Stories Facebook and participate in conversations and reshare multimedia content to support truth telling, healing and reconciliation
• Visit DSDSATSIP Linkedin and re-share posts about Queensland’s Path to Treaty
• Subscribe to and receive the Treaty News which will allow you to stay connected and updated on the Path to Treaty reform agenda
• Visit www.qld.gov.au/treaty for more information.

You are invited to enter any comments you may wish to make, anonymously if you prefer, here.