A decision by the Northern Territory government to end the work of its treaty commission, reject some of its key recommendations and delay the negotiation process so it can hold more consultations itself, has angered some Indigenous leaders.
The NT government released its response to the Northern Territory Treaty Commission's June 2022 recommendations online over Christmas, which included closing the commission and continuing the treaty process without it.
There was no press conference and the Treaty Minister Selina Uibo did not respond to an interview request on the day.
Arnhem Land independent NT parliament member, Yingiya Guyula, said he had been dismayed at the timing of the response.
"The Government snuck it out, during the Christmas holidays quietly so it didn't wake up the ears of the public," he said.
The Yolngu leader said he felt the $4 million and time spent on consultations was now being squandered.
Government to hold its own consultations
Former Treaty Commissioners Professor Mick Dodson and Ursula Raymond had travelled across the territory consulting Indigenous communities for more than two years, asking people how they wanted dispossession of their land, children and culture to be addressed, and self-governance returned.
In its response, the NT government said instead of maintaining the commission, it had decided to hold a series of First Nations forums over the next 18 months to two years to "test" whether Aboriginal Territorians agree with the commission's recommendations or not, and to and close the commission.
"The pathway to treaty will … require more work to inform the development of a final treaty making framework," the government said.
"Working through these complexities will take time and require more thinking.
"The government will seek to test the treaty report's recommended treaty-making framework and pathway against the views of Aboriginal Territorians."
The government also plans to start a truth telling process by getting its Aboriginal Interpreter Service to start recording peoples' stories.
By contrast, Victoria has established a Truth Telling Commission with five commissioners.
"After these recommendations came through from the independent commissioner, the NT government took it back into their own bureaucracy," Mr Guyula said.
"And now they're going to put it back into a discussion within the government itself, it's just going around and around and around in circles."
Maningrida traditional owner Reggie Wuridjal was among the Indigenous leaders who told the commissioners he was keen to see progress on a treaty.
"We don't make rules here, the big guns are out there making the laws," he said.
"We want treaty to get a good self-governing body and self-determination so we are able to do and manage our own affairs."
Commissioner Tony McAvoy SC submitted his report to the NT government six months ago with high hopes.
"The timing is right for this type of reform," he said at the time.
"My expectation is we would see a significant change in the levels of disadvantage."
'Going around in circles'
Mr Guyula was elected to parliament in 2016 on a treaty platform by the home community of Yothu Yindi, which penned the famous song, Treaty, and gained the first national treaty promise from former Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1988.
"I am very very disappointed with the NT government's response, it's the same old story going around and around with bureaucracy, there is no commitment to making real change," he said.
The treaty commission recommended a framework for negotiation, an overarching NT-wide treaty and individual treaties with Indigenous peoples, a process towards self-government, and a truth telling process.
It recommended laws be passed and funding allocated so the commission would also become an expanded Treaty and Truth Telling Commission to continue its work.
The commission also recommended that a First Nations forum should be established, through which Aboriginal Territorians could endorse a treaty model and decide how they should be represented in negotiations.
"My people have always been saying they are ready for a long long time and the Commissioner listened to that," Mr Guyula said.
"But the government was not and is still not ready for treaty."
'Listen to our voice'
Darwin Larrakia elder, Eric Fejo, said he is also dismayed.
"It's really really frustrating, but not unexpected, but this was an election promise," he said.
"They're delaying it after spending millions of dollars, just to shut us up, because they already had the answer."
The NT government provided a statement to the ABC, saying it was going to progress towards a treaty-making framework within its Aboriginal Affairs Office.
"We know there is widespread support for the treaty approach, and the benefits it could bring," it added.
"We always knew the pathway to a treaty was going to be complex, and we will be addressing those complexities over the next period."
Mr Guyula called on both the federal and territory government to speed up their treaty processes.
"The federal government and the Northern Territory government need to listen to the voice that we are putting to the parliament, from the Indigenous people on the ground," he said.
"The independent Australians who are supporting these treaty processes also need to be heard; it's not the governments that make decisions in the end, it is the people."
