The future of treaties in Queensland has been thrown into further doubt with a promise from the state's opposition leader to dismantle a key treaty-making body should his party win government.
Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli said on Tuesday that the First Nations Treaty Institute would be scrapped as a matter of priority for a newly-elected Coalition government.
“That process will end,” he said.
“We won’t be wasting any time talking about those issues, in terms of the treaty and truth-telling process, because we’ve said that we’re not embarking on that.
“If the government wants the election to be a referendum on whether or not they want to embark on a treaty and a truth-telling process, well, our counterpoint to that will be on accountability when it comes to housing, education, law and order, and lifting those communities up and giving them hope.”
The Institute, intended to guide First Nations people through a treaty negotiation process with the government, is due to establish its first 10-member body in mere weeks following a call-out for expressions of interest last year.
Once the positions are filled, the state's Path to Treaty Act, which passed with bipartisan support, comes into force.
The statement follows Crisafulli's backflip last year, in which he rescinded his party's support for the state's treaty process in the wake of the Voice to Parliament's rejection.
The newly-installed premier Steven Miles vowed to continue his predecessor Annastacia Palaszczuk's commitment to the treaty process, despite the former leader's condition that any treaty process would require bipartisan support.
Mick Gooda, Co-Chair of the state's Interim Truth and Treaty body, told The Australian that he was confident the state's legislation would make any dismantling of the body a complex matter.
