A Labor government would pursue a treaty with Indigenous Australians under draft changes to the party’s election platform, which will escalate the debate about the consequences of a successful Voice referendum.
The Coalition portrayed the referendum as the start of an ambitious treaty agenda, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton used federal parliament’s question time on Tuesday to grill Labor on whether the Voice was the trigger for a treaty that could include reparations, and suggested Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was giving contradictory signals over his support for the process.
However, Dutton said the questions surrounding a treaty go to the prime minister’s credibility and pointed out Albanese had said repeatedly in a radio interview two weeks ago that the Voice “isn’t about a treaty”, despite committing on election night to implement the Uluru Statement in full.Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney evaded questions about the purpose of the Voice and Labor’s intentions on a treaty and was asked by Speaker Milton Dick to give a direct answer.
Under the Native Title Act, Aboriginal people can claim only vacant government-owned land and only if they prove a continuous relationship with the land.The new West Australian laws require landowners with properties larger than 1100 square metres to apply for permits or create management plans for work on their land that may impact an Aboriginal cultural heritage site, and have generated confusion over compliance.
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