Federal Government Confesses to Delegating Truth-telling Process with Only 'Half a Person' Hired

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The federal government has appeared to have quietly abandoned a federal truth-telling commission, admitting it is keeping tabs on state progress instead.

When he was elected as prime minister in 2022, Anthony Albanese committed to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.

While the Voice to Parliament referendum failed, the government had previously committed to a Makarrata Commission to oversee truth-telling and treaty-making, allocating $5.8 million in funding for its establishment last year.

However, it now admits that “we are not working on a specific proposal around a Makaratta Commission”.

A woman with blonde hair and dark-framed glasses and wearing a blue shirt sits at a table

Greens leader Larissa Waters has questioned whether the Albanese government is making progress towards its truth-telling committment. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Greens leader Larissa Waters quizzed the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) about the status of the funding in Senate estimates on Tuesday morning.

The NIAA revealed that much of the funding had been drawn into a contingency fund, with the agency financing a part-time salary to monitor progress in other states.

It came after Waters questioned whether the NIAA had made a budget submission for renewed funding or for other truth-telling mechanisms.

“So you’ve gone from $5.8 million for the Makaratta truth telling to now half a person looking at what other jurisdictions are doing,” Waters responded.

“Primarily, the work the branch is doing is looking at what’s going on around other jurisdictions,” NIAA acting deputy CEO Deborah Fulton told the committee.

“Half a person?” Waters asked.

Fulton replied: “Essentially, yes.”

Fulton said the organisation was administering other programs, like the Stolen Generations Redress Scheme, which provides financial compensation and healing to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people removed from their families.

Ahead of this year’s Garma Festival, Yolngu leader and chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation Djawa Yunupingu told SBS News that truth-telling at a national level was a top priority.

However, Albanese did not endorse support for a broad truth-telling process during his speech at Garma, instead praising Victoria’s progress.

“As a nation, we are still coming to terms with the full truth and toll of this exclusion,” he said while acknowledging the work of Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission.

In July, the nation’s first truth-telling inquiry handed down its final report, containing 100 recommendations for urgent change.

“Even as we continue on the long journey of understanding our past, we must meet our responsibility to the future,” Albanese said.

Albanese instead used his Garma address to focus on “economic sovereignty” through the establishment of new partnerships between government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

SBS News understands the Greens will reintroduce their Truth and Justice Commission bill in this term of parliament, but the exact timing is unclear.

‘The government should stick to its promise’

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe called on the government to “stick to its promise” and establish a national commission within this term, telling SBS News that truth-telling “is how this country can finally see the truth of history with open eyes — without it, we’ll never mature as a nation.”

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe said the truth-telling commission should have royal commission powers. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

“The Prime Minister was full of praise for Yoorrook at Garma, but he refuses to act nationally,” she said in a statement. “He can’t hide behind the failed Voice referendum.”

Truth-telling must come first, Thorpe said, “so people in this country can learn the true history. Until that happens, we’ll keep seeing racism and misinformation spread about First Peoples”.