The Queensland opposition party have abandoned the state’s plans for a treaty saying it will create “further division.”
The backflip comes after all 34 LNP state MPs supported a treaty and truth-telling process in May with state leader David Crisafulli saying he hoped Queensland’s path to treaty would hold the government accountable and “improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Mr Crisafulli says the failure of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum spurred the change.
“Sadly, over the past six months Australia and Queensland have been subject to one of the most divisive debates in my life,” he said in a statement.
“When the LNP originally agreed to enabling legislation for the path to treaty we did so in good faith as a genuine effort to promote better outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
In the days since the referendum as I have travelled throughout the state it has become clear to me the path to treaty will only create further division.”
On the Queensland government’s website it claims that a state treaty would be “for the benefit of all Queenslanders and provides an opportunity to cultivate a new relationship with First Nations peoples and share in more than 65,000 years of rich history and culture.”
Queensland and Victoria are the only states with concrete plans to draft a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
While South Australia is planning to legislate it’s own Voice to parliament, the New South Wales government is in the eary stages of planning its own treaty process.
Image Credit: Kgbo Via Wikimedia Commons
