Shadow Indigenous Australians minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has blasted the Greens’ bill to establish a Truth and Justice Commission, saying the party is “hellbent on pushing ideology”.
The commission would be designed to look into historic and ongoing injustices impacting Indigenous Australians and then “make recommendations to parliament” in a similar vein as the failed Voice to Parliament proposal.
The proposal is a continuation of the Albanese government’s commitment to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a pledge which was made at the last federal election and echoed throughout the Voice campaign.
Speaking to Sky News host Peta Credlin on Monday night, Ms Price said the Greens did not appear to be interested in what Australians had to say, given the Voice referendum was thrashed with 60 per cent of the nation voting against the proposal last year.
“They would prefer to continue down a path of division within our country, of reinvention of culture,” she said.
“They infantilise Indigenous Australians and not focusing on meeting the needs of our most marginalised, nor looking at improving economic independence for our marginalised Indigenous Australians.
“They’re just hellbent on pushing ideology.”
Ms Price also warned the government could be “sneaky” and back the Greens in as a way to secure the minor party’s support in the Senate.
Following the defeat of the Voice to Parliament proposal in October 2023, the government went quiet on its plans to establish a Makarrata Commission to pursue treaties with Indigenous communities.
The Albanese government promised $27 million at the last federal election towards the commission, with $5.8 being put aside in the 2022 budget to begin setting it up.
In May this year, Senator Price argued the funding should be redirected into more pressing matters such as stopping violence in Alice Springs and remote Aboriginal communities.
She told Credlin on Monday the government needed to “come clean” on its plans of establishing the truth-telling commission.
“They haven’t been clear with the Australian people, but they need to come clean on what they intend to do in terms of the truth-telling commission that they said they still support, whether it’s to the Greens, whether it’s some other measures that they haven’t revealed yet,” she said.
When asked if Labor may be tempted to “horse trade” on the matter if they get desperate for the votes of the Greens in the Senate, Ms Price said she “wouldn’t put it past them”.
“They’ve been very sneaky. We haven’t heard much, in fact, at all, on anything to do with Indigenous policy ever since the referendum,” she said.
“There’s been a whole raft of problems, a whole raft of issues, but nothing proposed going forward as to how they’re supposed to, again, support our most marginalised Indigenous Australians.”