Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Treaty is off the table yet again and very few people have realised it, as this government is doing its best to cover up what is quickly becoming one of the biggest broken promises to First Peoples this country has seen. It's 36 years since a prime minister made a commitment to treaty, yet we have nothing to show for it. First it was Hawke, then it was Keating, and now Albanese has made it a trifecta of Labor prime ministers failing to fulfil their commitments to treaty.

When the Albanese government was elected, it committed to implementing the Statement from the Heart in full. When we voted in the referendum last year, we were not told that the promise of truth and treaty was dependent on the Voice. Four months later, our people are still hurting. We need healing, yet instead the government pours salt into our wounds. In estimates last week, the government made it clear that truth and treaty are off the table. This decision was made within the Labor Party, and they have even called these conversations amongst themselves 'consultation'. Talk about ignoring grassroots voices, not to mention the calls from thousands of people who attended rallies on 26 January to demand truth and treaty.

This year offers an opportunity to begin a process of healing, following your failed referendum, and a renewed approach to truth-telling. The government has $22 million sitting in a reserve fund for makarrata. It is time for the government to get out of the way and spend this money on truth and treaty through a self-determined grassroots process to heal this nation.