Treaty: The Next Step in the Reconciliation Process

When hundreds of thousands of Australians walked in the "bridge marches" of May 2000, they walked to show their support for some very basic values - like decency, honesty, fairness and compassion.

Indigenous people in Australia responded, through their elders and other representatives, by expressing a long-held hope that maybe, at last, we could come together in talks.

Recent indigenous calls for a treaty process mirror similar calls throughout the period of non-indigenous occupation of Australia. By a treaty process, they mean formal talks or negotiations which result in written and binding agreement.

Australia is the only Commonwealth country which has never entered into a treaty with its Indigenous peoples.

Now is the time to make a start!

The first decade of the Reconciliation process, overseen by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, has seen major change in the hearts of many Australians and at the neighborhood level. We are now entering the vital second stage of the Reconciliation process, in which we will need to go beyond change at the personal level to talks about changes at higher, more formal levels. The final report of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation recommended that an agreement or treaty process be established for dealing with the 'unfinished business' of Reconciliation.

Talks are the obvious process for exploring the terms of a new relationship. A treaty process is the usual mechanism for implementing and safeguarding what's agreed to during talks.

Unfortunately, the Howard Government has reacted to community support for a treaty by stimulating fear that it will mean division or two separate nations in Australia. The many thousands who support Reconciliation do not accept this shallow response. They know that we now have a valuable opportunity for renewal of relations between the first and later Australians, for a halt to the conflict and litigation, for greater certainty, for unity.

Modern-day treaty negotiations in other countries have not led to division or secession. Canada celebrates its treaty processes as a second chance to establish relationships based on mutual trust, respect and understanding. It won't all be easy, but formal talks towards a treaty offer the chance of lasting outcomes, something which is going to work through the future and through many changes.

It's time for government to sit down in talks with indigenous people and to genuinely bring our society together.

In the absence of Government support, community discussion about the merits of a treaty process is nevertheless occurring.

• In 2002, ATSIC established a National Treaty Support Group and Treaty Think Tank to develop discussion of the issue amongst Indigenous communities. The NTSG also launched a Treaty Now website to provide information and resources.
• In May 2002, ANTaR launched a Treaty Community Seminar Kit for use in the non-Indigenous community.
• In August 2002 a National Treaty Conference, jointly organised by ATSIC, ANTaR and AIATSIS, was held in Canberra.
• Also in 2002 the Gilbert + Tobin Centre for Public Law began a three year Treaty Project.

These and other initiatives will ensure that the issue continues to be discusssed over coming years.

Further information:

ANTaR, August 2000: A Partnership of Equals: The role of formal negotiations in Reconciliation for Australia
See under "Treaty or direct negotiations" in Library & Links