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“Just be curious”: Historic truth-telling underway in Queensland amid political risk

Marie McInerney writes:

The head of Queensland’s historic Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry said this week that closing down its nascent work, if that occurs under a change of government at this month’s state election, would likely have “a really devastating impact” on Indigenous and non-Indigenous Queenslanders who are committed to its work.

Barrister Joshua Creamer, a descendant of the Waanyi and Kalkadoon people from northwestern Queensland, told Croakey he has not had any discussions on the future of the inquiry with Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, who last year withdrew support for the state’s Path to Treaty process.

But from what he has heard through the media he knows there is a risk that its work, planned to take place over the next three years, could be cut drastically short.

“I can only say it from a legal perspective that if the [Path to Treaty] Act is repealed, it’s the end of the inquiry,” Creamer said in an interview with Croakey this week.

Creamer said he has been struck since the inquiry’s formal hearings opened last month, by both the desire of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders to tell their stories, and the interest of others in the testimonies.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders have been waiting for decades “to have their story heard, listened to, in a respectful way, in an environment with authority”, and up to 3,000 people have attended in person and online so far, he said.

“On every occasion we’ve had to scramble to get bigger rooms and there’s a lot of attention,” he said.

It’s given him confidence that, despite the racism, division and disinformation unleashed during and since last year’s defeated Voice referendum, there is an appetite and recognition of the need for truth-telling.

“I think [shutting down the inquiry] would have a really devastating impact in parts of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island community and parts of the non-Indigenous community.”

“Some people have been carrying this history around for three generations,” he said. “These stories need to be told, first and foremost, and there does need to be an accurate account of our history.”

Asked what he would like non-Indigenous people across the country to do, he hoped they will take an interest in historic truth-telling in the same way that many do when they visit monuments and museums overseas.

“Just be curious about our history and access the work the inquiry is doing,” he said.

Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer talks to media following the ceremonial opening: photo supplied

Revealing hidden history

Creamer, a barrister who has specialised in human rights class actions and native title, has appeared in two landmark class actions in the past decade: the Palm Island class action lawsuit, which arose as a result of the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in custody in 2004, and Queensland’s stolen wages case, which in 2019 secured a landmark $190 million settlement from the Queensland Government.

Creamer told Croakey the work had exposed him to some of Queensland’s hidden history that many others still did not know about.

“I think it’s a journey for all Queenslanders, and particularly for non-Indigenous Australians, to feel our contribution to the state and to the history of this state is valued as equal as everybody else’s,” he said.

Last month, previewing the inquiry, ABC TV’s 7.30 reported on how stolen wages had been used to build infrastructure in Queensland, including the construction of Redcliffe Hospital, north of Brisbane, one of the few institutions to acknowledge it benefited from stolen wages.

The stolen wages case, along with the Uluru Statement from the Heart’s call for Voice, Treaty and Truth, spurred the Queensland Labor Government onto Queensland’s Path to Treaty.

Those steering the path recommended truth-telling after being struck during statewide consultations by the limited understanding among non-Indigenous Queenslanders about the treatment and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the state since colonisation.

“My generation was brought up learning only about Captain Cook and the white explorers. We knew nothing about what really went on,” former Liberal National Party Brisbane Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson, and a member of Queensland’s Interim Truth and Treaty Body, said in the 2024 Close the Gap report.

“Racism and fear stem from ignorance,” she said.

The Path to Treaty legislation was passed in May 2023 with bipartisan support “amid tears, hugs and applause”, the Close the Gap report says. However just months later Crisafulli withdrew support, claiming it “would cause further division at a time when Queensland needs unity”.

Widely tipped to win the election, Crisafulli has not provided details on what will happen to the inquiry, which has only just begun its work, saying only that his focus for Indigenous communities will be on employment, education and home ownership.

A tool to unite

Creamer leads the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry alongside Cheryl Buchanan, Guwamu woman and Aboriginal rights campaigner, Ivan Ingram, Wiradjuri and Filipino lawyer, Vonda Malone, Torres Strait Islander woman and former chief executive of the Torres Strait Regional Authority, and non-Indigenous former Supreme Court judge Roslyn Atkinson.

At the powerful formal ceremonial hearing on 16 September, he spoke about significant points in Queensland’s history. They included the legendary 1843 battle of One Tree Hill, maritime strike of 1936 when about 70 percent of Torres Strait Islanders working on fishing and pearling boats protested the Aboriginal Protection Act, the 1957 Palm Island strike, and the 1993 Mabo decision.

“Truth-telling is not about dividing, and in fact, it should be used as a tool to unite us,” he told the event, saying the object of the inquiry is to establish an authoritative public record about the past and its consequences, to allow healing and enable honest decisions for the future.

The ceremony took place near Musgrave Park, a meeting place which holds traditional, spiritual and political significance for the many Aboriginal groups of Brisbane and surrounding regions, including Commonwealth Games protests and the city’s tent embassy.

“Make no mistake that our opening here today is an historic moment,” Creamer said reflecting on that symbolism. “It rightly marks a turning point in the relations of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the government of Queensland and the Queensland community.”

Counsel assisting the Inquiry Melia Benn, a barrister and Mamu and Gunggandji woman, acknowledged that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people “may be exhausted from the burden of telling a story and feeling like no one is listening”.

“I know you are tired, but now is not the time to rest,” she urged.

“It is time to change the narrative so we can tell all Queensland children about the time we came together, listened, acknowledged the truth and started to heal,” she said.

Working hardest for reconciliation

Joshua Creamer speaking with Croakey this week

Community members had certainly heeded that call in the opening sessions, Creamer told Croakey,

“What really has stuck with me from the lived experiences witnesses are that the people who have been most harmed and damaged, inflicted with the most abuse…are the ones who are working the hardest for reconciliation,” he said, highlighting testimony by Stolen Generations survivors David Wragge, Aunty Flo Watson and leading academic and author Dr Jackie Huggins.

“From being broken and removed as children, they have dedicated their lives to bringing all of Queensland, all of Australia, on this journey of reconciliation.”

He also welcomed an early hearing with the heads of key state government departments and agencies: Treaty, Resources, Justice and Attorney General, Premier and Cabinet, Queensland Health, Child Safety, Seniors and Disabilities Services and the Queensland Police Services.

They and other departments have lodged submissions as part of what is in effect a ‘discovery’ round, with the inquiry to later take a “deep dive” into their actions, redress and need for change, he said.

The Queensland Health submission is a brief catalogue of policies and programs concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities versus an examination of its past and present, other than recognising the need to rebuild trust with the Doomadgee community following the preventable deaths in 2019 and 2020 of three Aboriginal women from complications of rheumatic heart disease (RHD).

It says the most important finding of a 2023 coronial inquest into the women’s deaths “was identifying that the starting point to address the system failures of healthcare delivery in Doomadgee must be the healing and repair of relationships at all levels – between health providers and between the community and health providers”.

A recording and transcript of the government session and submissions from departments and agencies can be found here.

Creamer’s key takeaway to the departmental heads was: “Well, it sounds like you failed us for 160 years”. But he said he felt there was also a commitment to do better. The plan is for the inquiry to do a “deep dive into the role of government” in its second year of operation.

The need to do so is clear. Queensland has dragged its heels over decades on many Indigenous rights, including through harmful child protection processes and harsh, populist ‘tough on crime’ policies that disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people particularly.

Along with Western Australia, it has failed yet to introduce reparations for the Stolen Generations, despite the Bringing Them Home report recommending that nearly 30 years ago.

Creamer has emphasised that the inquiry has no powers to order compensation or reparations, “ultimately those are decisions for governments and courts”. However, he is determined it will result in shaping policy, not just being an educative tool.

“One of the functions of our terms of reference is improvement in service delivery and policy advice,” he said.

Vitally important

One of the architects of the Queensland Path to Treaty, former Royal Commissioner Mick Gooda, said earlier this year that he and others wanted, through the process and in the wake of the Voice referendum, to demonstrate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who “may be suffering fatigue and cynicism”, that meaningful change can be delivered.

Creamer said he hadn’t observed any withdrawal of interest from community in participating in the inquiry, despite the political cloud over its future. “No, I think it’s actually emboldened some people,” he said, although acknowledging the uncertainty posed some challenges in recruiting staff.

He had already been aware, when he accepted the job as chair, that the inquiry may not go its full term, but working on cases like the stolen wages and Palm Island as well as native title had given him a “sense of real love for our history …[and] for the people who lived that history”, he said.

As well, he has a real awareness that that history isn’t widely known among all Australians and that true understanding “will have an impact and improve things for everybody”.

“I just thought that truth-telling is vitally important and I thought I could do something about it.”

Further reading/listening:

Twitter/X thread from the inquiry’s ceremonial opening

Queensland truth telling won’t mean anything if it falls on deaf ears

Aboriginal people robbed of up to $500m under system akin to ‘slave labour’, Queensland truth-telling inquiry hears

Government agencies acknowledge harm of past laws and policies during Truth-telling session

Qld truth telling inquiry begins amid uncertain future

‘Dying for their story to be heard’: Queensland’s truth-telling inquiry begins amid questions over its future

The man leading the biggest murder investigation in Queensland’s history

See also Croakey’s coverage of the 2024 Queensland election 

Note, this article was updated on 4 October to include a link to a recording of the inquiry’s session with government departments and agencies, and other resources.


See Croakey’s archive of articles on Voice, Treaty, Truth 

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