NAIDOC WEEK

 A large audience gathered at the TAC on Charles Street for the
NAIDOC Weekflag raising ceremony, where
Premier Peter Gutwein provided an address.
 Pictures: Adam Holmes

TAC state secretary Trudy Maluga has warmly welcomed
the Premier's commitment to progressing treaty talks.

Premier Peter Gutwein is hopeful of a "uniquely Tasmanian approach" to reconciliation with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, including a movement towards treaty, and promising further land returns and stronger Aboriginal heritage protections.

At the opening of Parliament in June, Mr Gutwein announced that former governor Kate Warner AC and law professor Tim McCormack would lead consultations in developing a pathway to treaty, with a report to government in October.

Mr Gutwein spoke more about the government's ambitions for the process during the NAIDOC Week flag raising ceremony at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in Launceston on Monday.

He said he was looking forward to receiving recommendations on truth telling and the pathway to treaty.

"Whilst my government remains committed to our obligations under Closing the Gap, the stronger protection of Aboriginal heritage and are open to proposals for land return, there is more to be done," Mr Gutwein said.

"I believe that together we can achieve a uniquely Tasmanian approach to reconciliation, and that as a result, we will all be stronger. We will all live better and more fulfilled lives.

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"That's why in consultation with our First Nations people, the Tasmanian Government wants to find an agreed pathway to reconciliation, so that we can all share in the potential that exists from a truly meaningful reconciled relationship.

"Our goal is to see better outcomes for Tasmanian Aboriginal people, more opportunity for them and their families, to dignify the relationship with Tasmanian Aboriginal people and achieve a truly reconciled community."

Aboriginal leaders across the state have broadly welcomed the next steps towards reconciliation and treaty.

In Victoria, the government first entered into treaty negotiations with Aboriginal communities in early 2016, but the process has encountered difficulties throughout, and is ongoing five years later.

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Mr Gutwein said he had confidence that the engagement of professors Warner and McCormack with Tasmania's Aboriginal community would be beneficial.

"Now it's important that we allow that conversation to take place and that we hear from the Tasmanian Aboriginal people what their views are on this matter," he said.

'We've finally been given a reason to be hopeful'

The NAIDOC Week ceremony in Launceston drew a large audience in 2020, and continued to grow in 2021.

TAC state secretary Trudy Maluga addressed the crowd, and said the community had taken great heart from the Premier's commitment to a treaty process.

"We've finally been given a reason to be hopeful, with Premier Gutwein announcing his commitment to considering a pathway to reconciliation and treaty," she said.

The horrors of colonisation, dispossession and violence have become increasingly spoken about in Tasmania in recent years, and Ms Maluga said this truth telling was vital in 2021.

But meaningful reconciliation and treaty would need to right these wrongs, she added.

"That is what reconciliation and treaty are about: restoring land, access to resources, protection and promotion of our own language, restoring Aboriginal community control of our own destiny, and the security and safety of our own children, and future generations," Ms Maluga said.

"We've been powerless in our own country for far too long."

In 2019, Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chair Michael Mansell described his vision for treaty, including land returns - particularly West Coast areas, Mount William national park and South-West wilderness areas - along with Aboriginal seats in Parliament and GDP allocation for land management.

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Ms Maluga said that other states had made progress in self-determination, now it was Tasmania's turn.

"That's another matter that we must consider as part of a treaty exercise: to what extent do we want to restore Aboriginal jurisdiction over our own behaviour through mechanisms such as Aboriginal courts, as they have in other parts of Australia and the United States," she said.

"We want to use these opportunities to try to ensure a fundamental change in the relationship between Aboriginal Australia and the rest of the Australian nation.

"That new relationship would properly respect our status as the first people of this continent, including of course our island lutruwita."

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Editorial, July 6, 2021 | Reasons for treaty positivity as government, TAC relationship on the mend ... Editorial 

The TAC's lutruwita group performed at the NAIDOC Week flag raising ceremony in Launceston, before Premier Peter Gutwein gave his speech. Picture: Phillip Biggs The TAC's lutruwita group performed at the NAIDOC Week flag raising ceremony in Launceston, before Premier Peter Gutwein gave his speech. Picture: Phillip Biggs As Premier Peter Gutwein addressed the crowd at the NAIDOC Week flag raising ceremony on Monday, he was greeted with warm applause before, during and after his speech. ......................... There was an air of anticipation, of hope, after his commitment to work towards a reconciliation and treaty process. ......................... The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has not always been the most comfortable ground for premiers, particularly his predecessor Will Hodgman, whose "reset the agenda" policies drew strong criticism from the TAC and saw its relationship with the government reach a low ebb, to the point where they were largely excluded from discussions. It was difficult to see him getting a positive reception if he walked out to give a speech. ......................... But Mr Gutwein's promise to work with the TAC - and all Aboriginal community groups - represents somewhat of a reversal from the previous government's approach. He took a conciliatory tone in his speech, congratulating TAC state secretary Trudy Maluga on her comments, and promising more land returns and greater Aboriginal heritage protections. ......................... It built upon Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten's address last year when he apologised on behalf of the council for past mistakes. The understanding of the history of violence and dispossession faced by Aboriginal Tasmanians, and modern day challenges of inter-generational disadvantage, have taken huge strides forward in recent years. ......................... Yet words are often just that, words. The easy part is admitting past wrongs and committing to doing better in the future. As the Victorian example has shown, treaty and reconciliation can be a drawn out process. And at the end of the Hodgman years, not only was the government's relationship with the TAC fractious, so too was the relationship between the TAC and recently-formed regional Aboriginal organisations. ......................... What gives everyone hope, however, is the involvement of Kate Warner AC and Tim McCormick, two of Tasmania's most respected minds. ......................... The road ahead will have many obstacles, but this is the best possible start.