Lutruwita, the island home of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people for over 40,000 years, was stolen by colonial powers on invasion. Sovereignty was never ceded. A Treaty was agreed by the colonial government as a way to end the Black War, but it was never honoured.
The Liberal Government re-committed to progressing a Truth-telling and Treaty process in 2021, but Jeremy Rockliff has recently betrayed that promise and backed down from the commitment to Treaty. This shocking betrayal has deeply angered Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
The Greens will push the next government to commit to a Treaty process with Aboriginal people as an urgent priority, not just Truth-telling.
Tasmanian Aboriginal people have survived invasion, the violence of dispossession and attempted genocide. However, the ongoing impacts of colonisation continue today.
With no land returns for decades, destruction of Country through native forestry, Aboriginal heritage laws that fail to protect ancient cultural heritage, disproportionately high rates of youth incarceration and higher rates of health and housing disadvantage. These injustices must change.
Tasmania’s Aboriginal people have called for a Treaty for centuries, to recognise sovereignty and restore decision-making authority, and for the return of lands. Aboriginal Elders have condemned the Liberal’s Truth Telling and Healing process as meaningless without it including a clear and urgent pathway to Treaty.
It is four years since the Liberals tabled a report in Parliament that found Aboriginal heritage protection laws don’t work, but they’ve failed to act and have approved destructive developments assessed against the flawed act.
There is an urgency to return lands, end logging of native forests, and protect Aboriginal heritage and cultural landscapes – including ending the Liberals’ $10m plan for 4wd destruction on the takayna coast (see here).
The Tasmanian Greens stand in solidarity with palawa pakana in their demands for action and justice. We will continue to fight alongside them in this next Parliament to finally achieve the Treaty their sovereign nation deserves, by right.
