How states and territories are forging ahead with their own Voice and treaties despite a resounding referendum defeat

Several states and territories that voted against the Voice referendum are moving ahead with their own reconciliation plans.

The Voice was overwhelmingly rejected after polls on Saturday showed more than 60 percent of Australians voted ‘no’ in the hotly contested referendum.

Despite strong support against a vote, some states and territories are moving ahead with their own plans, ranging from implementing a state vote or a treaty.

N.S.W

The state government has pledged $5 million to set up a treaty process before the state elections in March, but they have yet to start consultations.

Prime Minister Chris Minns said he would be open to a state vote but did not want to engage in discussions with Indigenous leaders about how to move forward after the referendum result.

Mr Minns told the Daily telegram pursuing a treaty was a commitment his government had made.

He said the process requiring signing agreements with 150 different Aboriginal groups would not be an easy undertaking.

“As difficult and as long as that discussion will be, it is not acceptable that (the process) has not yet begun in NSW,” Mr Minns said.

“It will be complex and difficult.”

The move comes despite the fact that almost 60 percent of voters in the state voted ‘no’ in the referendum.

VICTORIA

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – an independent, elected body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional owners – was established in 2019 in preparation for a treaty between First Nations communities and the government.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission, a formal process to tell the truth about historical and ongoing injustices faced by Victoria’s First Peoples, is expected to release its next report in December 2024.

The state is relatively advanced in treaty talks, furthest in Australia.

The Treaty Act, Australia’s first ever Treaty Act, was passed by both houses of the Victorian Parliament in June 2018 and came into effect on 1 August 2018.

It paved the way for treaty negotiations and established an agreement between the First People’s Assembly and the state to develop protocols to give practical application to the guiding principles set out in the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians.

About 55 per cent of Victorians voted No to Vote in the referendum, despite polls showing the state was one of the few on track to vote Yes.

QUEEN COUNTRY

The Queensland Parliament passed the Path to Treaty Bill in May to establish a First Nations Treaty Institute and a formal inquiry into truth and healing.

The state government has not announced any plans to implement a state-based Voice.

The state government has committed to the treaty process several times and in multiple state election campaigns.

Queensland had the highest percentage of voters nationwide who rejected the Voice.

Nearly 70 percent of voters in the Sunshine State voted no, while about 76 percent of votes have been counted so far.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The South Australian government passed legislation on a state-based vote for parliament in March, but postponed elections for the body until March 2024.

The decision was made to allow the “clean air” referendum, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher said.

Weatherill’s Labor government began a state treaty process in 2016, but this was halted in 2018 by the previous Liberal government.

The current Labor government has yet to restart the process and focus instead on implementing its Vote.

Like the national Voice proposal, the SA Voice will not have the power to veto policies and laws or force parliament to act.

Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas has fully translated the Uluru Declaration into law, encompassing voice, treaty and truth.

About 65 percent of voters in South Australia opposed the Voice.

WESTERN AUSTRIA

Western Australia currently has no treaty or plans to tell the truth, but some lawyers and academics call the South West Native Title Settlement between the Noongar people and the state government Australia’s first treaty.

Premier Roger Cook said a state vote was not on the agenda and sought to remind people that the state’s constitution was amended in 2015 to recognize Aboriginal people.

The previous state government led by former Premier Mark McGowan began plans to establish an Indigenous representative body in Western Australia in 2018.

WA Senator Pat Dodson, known as the ‘Father of Reconciliation’, has urged the current state government to entrench a state-based voice and initiate a truth-telling process.

The move comes despite almost 64 per cent of Western Australians voting ‘no’ in the referendum

TASMANIA

The Tasmanian government has committed to ‘promoting truth-telling and treaty-making in true partnership with Tasmanian Aboriginal people’ and in December appointed a six-member Aboriginal advisory body to oversee the process.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said Monday there are currently no plans to put forward a state-based vote.

Mr. Rockliff was one of the few liberals who supported the Voice, despite a majority of people in his own state voting against it.

Nearly 60 per cent of Tasmanians rejected the constitutional change in Saturday’s poll.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

After consultation with Aboriginal people across the territory, the NT Treaty Commission developed a two-step process consisting of an umbrella treaty for the entire territory, followed by individual treaties with First Nations people.

After delivering its final report in July 2022, the commission was replaced by a Treaty Unit, tasked with implementing the commission’s recommendations on treaty-telling and truth-telling.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said her government will continue to push for better outcomes for Indigenous Australians despite the disappointing outcome of the vote.

Just over 60 percent of NT voters voted no.

ACT

The ACT has already established an elected Indigenous voice in Parliament – ​​the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body – which advises the government on matters affecting Indigenous territories.

The ACT Government has committed to initiating treaty discussions in the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028.

More than 60 percent of voters in the ACT voted ‘yes’ to the Voice, making the jurisdiction the only state or territory in the country to support the Voice with a majority.