Truth Telling and Treaty offers chance For Tasmanian Aboriginals to unite

New policies provide an opportunity for allinclusive change that will hopefully remove some of the pain and that many in Tasmania have experienced, writes Peter Rowe

ON July 29, the Tasmanian government will hold a Pathway to Truth Telling and Treaty meeting in Launceston. The meeting is open to all Tasmanian Aboriginal groups and is looking at the first stages to move ahead with Truth Telling and Treaty.

The meeting will be the forerunner to forming an Aboriginal Advisory Group, which will then, after community consultation, present to the government proposals for the mechanism, consultation with community and involvement of the

Aboriginal community in formulating the process and implementation of Truth Telling and Treaty.

In the short-term, there are very significant changes about to occur in relation to the whole ‘balance of power’ within the Aboriginal community. For many years, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has held the leadership role among local Aboriginal organisations. This may well change when the proposed amendments to the Aboriginal Lands Act are enacted. The government released a consultation paper ‘An improved model for returning land to Tasmania’s Aboriginal people’ with responses to the government this month. The responses from my discussions within the Aboriginal community indicate the proposed changes are widely supported, although the TAC have indicated their concern regarding the changes.

If the changes go ahead as proposed, there will be a major change to the membership of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania due to the implementation of the state government’s policy to Reset the Relationship, where the definition of an Aboriginal person was changed in 2016 to match all other states and the Commonwealth. Rather than the older restrictive TALC advisory committee’s definition, as shown in various court cases since the Patmore 2002 case where 130 applicants were initially denied to be ‘Aboriginal,’ which they overturned in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Roger Jaensch says in the introduction to the consultation paper that “Returning more land to Tasmanian Aboriginal people is a priority for the Tasmanian government and is a key aspect of our Reset the Relationship policy agenda.”

The recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data states that about 30,000 Tasmanians now identify as Aboriginal. However, to be eligible to vote under the proposed changes to Aboriginal Lands Act, a person needs to have completed the government’s eligibility form which means they need

endorsement of an approved Tasmanian Aboriginal organisation. To receive the endorsement, the person is required to satisfy rigid criteria proving their ancestry.

Each Tasmanian Aboriginal organisation uses the same ‘three-part test’ that is used through Australia. The three-part test involves selfidentification (very easy to state), proving ancestry (where the person uses a family tree) and evidence to prove all steps back in the family tree and lastly, that the organisation accepts your evidence indicating recognition by that community.

There are quite a few law cases as well as a substantial body of evidence from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal here in Tasmania that give clear guidelines on what is acceptable evidence. A person with no Aboriginal ancestry cannot just selfdeclare they are Aboriginal and then be entitled to vote for the ALCT.

The ABS figures for people in Tasmania declaring that they are Aboriginal is up significantly from the 2016 figure of around 23,500 which is an increase of 28 per cent. However, it is interesting to note that the figures in all states have also risen significantly since the last Census. It is widely thought that people have become more interested in their ancestry and have a greater ability to search the internet for longlost family connections, as well as generally consider it ‘safer’ to identify now than in the past when there were significant racial barriers to being ‘identified’.

In Tasmania, the reason there is a slightly higher rate of change to the Aboriginal persons could also be related directly to the Tasmanian government’s Resetting the relationship policy where the government since 2016 uses the same definition as other states and agencies.

I have seen and monitored this process of recognition in several Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations and am impressed at the extent these organisations go in order to assess applicants. The evidence used to prove ancestry is the same as that required in the court cases and tribunal hearings.

The road forward towards Treaty and Truth Telling will involve all Tasmanian Aboriginals and not just the ones that were recognised prior to the government’s ‘Resetting the relationship’ policy. It will be an exciting and all-inclusive change that will hopefully remove some of the pain and upset that many in Tasmania have experienced over recent times. This pain and upset has led Tasmania to have had the highest rate of court disputes of any state or territory in the country. These disputes have not only been painful and in some cases shattering to the individuals denied their identity but have also cost society a lot in court and tribunal costs and time.

Truth Telling and Treaty is a great opportunity for the Tasmanian Aboriginal community to unite and move forward together and make meaningful change for our society as we walk together, black and white, into the future.

Peter Rowe is a lawyer and Aboriginal advocate.