Truth and Treaty in Divided Australia

The Queensland treaty is going ahead, assures the interim body charged with implementing it. The group is called the Interim Truth and Treaty Body. Looking at their website, they call for the Queensland Government to stay committed to Truth and Treaty. They ask, What is Truth? It sounds like something the Ministry of Truth might ask from George Orwell’s 1984. Of course, the Ministry of Truth is a misnomer because in reality it serves the opposite. But what we’re interested in in this video is, What is Treaty?

Inclusion: Treaty is a conversation for all Queenslanders. Oh, that’s nice. But at the bottom of the page, they have some bubbles answering, What could a Treaty involve? Just by accident, I’ve cut off their name: Interim Truth. You know, like Provisional Truth. How fitting.

Some of the things that are involved include: School curriculum, Education about truth telling, and Cultural education for children. Yes, this is sounding more and more like the Ministry of Truth. Tackling Inequality. Redress / reparations for Stolen Generations. There’s that word that everyone keeps saying won’t happen, but it’s there right on their website. Language. Naming of places. The Premier says that it’s absolute nonsense that we’ll be renaming the capital Brisbane to Meanijin, but on the other hand, she was happy to rename an entire island, Fraser Island to K’gari. Where is the line drawn? What can and can’t be renamed. There seems to be no rules. Culture. Cultural Heritage. This is a big one. Outside of Queensland, there’s been some cultural heritage issues, for example in Victoria, rock climbers have been threatened with $346,000 fines under the state’s cultural heritage laws. Country. Return of land to Traditional Owners. We must have known that this was what this was all about from the beginning. Ultimately, they want their ancestral land back, even if it currently belongs to you. Because it wasn’t yours to own in the first place, according to their logic. There will also be changes to Law and Justice to help First Nations people stay out of prison. And of course, under Legal, Enforceability of treaty. Obviously, this treaty is no good unless they can enforce it.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers has had enough of this Treaty talk and wrote an opinion piece for the Courier Mail yesterday. “It appears that Queensland’s own version of the Voice 2.0 has a divisive agenda to further segregate our society. The Truth and Treaty’s own website states that there will be reparations paid to First Nations people, return of land to traditional owners, brainwashing of our children with changes to the school curriculum to include truth-telling and cultural education, and ‘revive naming of places’ meaning widespread place name changes, and most dangerously of all, changes to the justice system to favour First Nations people. In this woke world there may be the concept of sharing your own truth, however in the world of policing, truth is not subjective. It is objective. Either something is the truth or it is not.”

Of course, the usual suspects attacked Mr Leavers for having an opinion. ABC, “Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers condemned for comments claiming Path to Treaty legislation would give Indigenous criminals 'free pass'”. Minister for Treaty, Leeanne Enoch, wrote a disparaging message on Facebook. Minister for Transport, Mark Bailey, tweeted, “Ian Leavers’ ignorant and factually wrong diatribe is an embarrassment to the Qld Police Union.” He sent out a total of four tweets disparaging Mr Leavers, which I can’t be bothered reading. The Guardian, “Police union boss condemned for ‘ludicrous’ and ‘factually incorrect’ opinion piece on treaty in Queensland”.

And our favourite person of the decade, the Premier herself, Ms Palaszczuk, said in response to the Police Union president’s article, “I think they are very unhelpful comments and they are divisive. We want to unite Queenslanders and we want to make sure that we do go down the path of reconciliation.” Oh I see! She just wants to unite us by dividing us by our ancestry. Welcome to the Ministry of Truth.

QUEENSLAND TREATY IS GOING AHEAD, ASSURES INTERIM BODY CHARGED WITH IMPLEMENTING IT
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/20/queensland-treaty-is-going-ahead-assures-interim-body-charged-with-implementing-it

INTERIM TRUTH AND TREATY BODY – WHAT IS TREATY?
https://www.truthandtreatyqld.org.au/resources

QUEENSLAND POLICE UNION PRESIDENT IAN LEAVERS CONDEMNED FOR COMMENTS CLAIMING PATH TO TREATY LEGISLATION WOULD GIVE INDIGENOUS CRIMINALS 'FREE PASS'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-25/police-union-ian-leavers-truth-treaty-first-nations-mark-bailey/103018512

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn