Dr WOODRUFF question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
We welcome your government’s announcement to establish and fund a Truth‑Telling and Healing commission and commissioners. However, we share the deep disappointment of many Tasmanian Aboriginal people that you appear to have abandoned your promise of a Treaty.
On top of that devastating broken promise, last week – and the week before Reconciliation Week – your government announced that it would spend $10 million to reopen the Takayna 4WD tracks, against the advice of your statutory Aboriginal Heritage Council. We do not have to tell you, but in case you have forgotten, the takayna coast is one of Lutruwita’s most precious, ancient Aboriginal cultural landscapes. Your decision puts cultural heritage at risk and will drag the Aboriginal community through court challenges all over again. Will you abandon the reopening of these tracks and bring in an Aboriginal heritage bill? Can we expect that the Truth‑Telling Commission will have more money allocated on it than the vandalism vandalism of the Takayna coast?
The SPEAKER – The member’s time for asking the question has expired.
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for the question; there are a lot of questions within the question. First, I am very pleased with our government’s ongoing commitment to closing the gap and setting up the Truth‑Telling and Healing Commission, if I can call it that, which has been welcomed by many Tasmanian Aboriginal people. As I have said many times in this place before, it is important that Tasmanian Aboriginal people, with their lived experience, tell their story and their truth, and that goes to healing.
Through that process, there is education for the broader Tasmanian community as well. It is so fundamentally important to get an understanding and appreciation of the hurt of our First Nations people in Tasmania and the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and the consequences that they suffered as a result of colonisation. Through that healing process we are able to move forward and address the issues that are so fundamentally important.
It does concern me, as I said a number of times throughout the referendum debate, that our incarceration rates for Tasmanian Aboriginal people are far too high. Life expectancy is a lot lower for Tasmanian Aboriginal people, educational attainment is a lot lower, health. That is why this process is very important – a Tasmanian Aboriginal‑led journey towards truth‑telling, towards healing and relationship building with Tasmanian Aboriginal people and the broader Tasmanian community, as I said. This is a first and historic step forward for Tasmania, a moment of deep significance for Tasmanian Aboriginal people and one that echoes our state’s commitment to reconciliation.
The matters that you refer to about tracks and others have been through some deep discussion for a number of years. There has been investment in the areas that you speak of when it comes to those particular areas. The strategy does not plan or recommend any new off‑road vehicle tracks. I want to make that very clear.
The SPEAKER – The Premier’s time for answering the question has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Dr WOODRUFF – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary question.
Dr WOODRUFF – I thank the Premier for his considered response. In relation to the question I asked about abandoning the four‑wheel drives track, which is another form of colonisation and against the advice of your statutory Aboriginal Heritage Council, will you take their advice and abandon the four‑wheel drive tracks that have been proposed?
Mr ROCKLIFF – As I was speaking of, the strategy does not plan or recommend any new off‑road vehicle tracks.
Mr Bayley – It is still opposed by your two statutory advisory bodies.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Thank you, deputy. It is focused on developing sustainable management outcomes for the existing tracks and improved recreational experiences for users and visitors to the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area and the broader west coast. Consultation with key stakeholders, including Tasmanian Aboriginal people, is ongoing and will continue as part of the implementation of the strategy. Parks and Wildlife Service work continues to be subject to robust planning process which includes Aboriginal heritage assessments.
