Government needs to do more than consult – GBK chair

The board of Gur A Baradharaw Kod Sea and Land Council Torres Strait Islander Corporation (GBK) met on Sabai Island last week, on the seas and lands of the Guda Maluligal Nation.

GBK Chair Ned David said local leaders and Elders from across the five traditional Nation groups of the Torres and Endeavour Straits, including speakers of our three traditional languages, attended.

On the agenda was the forthcoming Voice to Parliament national referendum and ongoing Path to Treaty talks in Queensland.

“Governments need to do more than consult with us, they need to engage with First Nations across the state and carefully consider the unique and nuanced governance arrangements across the state,” Mr David said.

“A one size fits all approach will simply not work in preparations for Treaty negotiations.

“The Treaty legislation needs to enable a greater degree of autonomy and less State control like the policies of the 19th and 20th century to the present day.

“If the Queensland government wants to negotiate a treaty with First Nations’ people in the Straits, they have to do that with PBCs, they can’t negotiate with our people in the Commonwealth body the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) or Shire Councils.

“They are mechanisms of the State, it would be like them making a Treaty with the Commonwealth Government or Local Government, basically with themselves.”

He said they had strong and ongoing cultural customs, and social and political structures with guiding principles for communities to run their own affairs.

“We have always known that we need to be in control of our own affairs in our homelands,” he said.

“Governments continue to deny the truth of our sovereign status and the polities that we have always been.

“Imposed policies and programs construct a system of community reliance on government services creating poverty.

“Poverty is a foreign system that has been imposed on us through a foreign order.

“We the people of Torres and Endeavour Straits remain committed, like our ancestors before us, to changing this situation imposed on us.

“We seek a relationship with governments based on mutual respect for each other’s right to autonomy and self-determination.

“In this new policy era of Voice, Truth, and Treaty we expect a relationship with governments that invests resources into building each other’s capabilities to Co-Govern.

“Any arrangement less than this will fail to change the lived experiences of Torres Strait Islander peoples and Aboriginal peoples in the 21st Century.”

Committee Chair Senator Nita Green said the legislation would ultimately be the mechanism to change the Constitution once it was taken to the Australian public.

“This is a critical opportunity for the Parliament to examine the legislative provisions and hear from experts to ensure that the bill gives effect to the creation of the Voice,” she said.

“The Committee is focused on the question of whether the legislative provisions achieve what is intended and give effect to the Government’s stated objectives before it moves to

Australians Linda Burney said it was “truly history in the making”.

“We are one step closer to making history,” she said.

The Committee invited written submissions addressing the provisions of the bill.

Submissions to the inquiry must be prepared solely for the inquiry and should not be published prior to being accepted by the Committee.

Prospective submitters should note that the Committee does not intend to accept submissions that

Submissions are requested by COB Friday 21 April 2023

Further information about making a submission to a committee inquiry can be found at the link below.

The Committee intends to hold public hearings.

The dates and locations of hearings will be decided shortly and published as soon as possible.

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website at https:// www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_ Business/Committees/Joint/