The head of Queensland’s Indigenous truth-telling and healing inquiry says the new minister has called off their first meeting by email, as the government prepares to pass a law eliminating the body.
The inquiry chair, Joshua Creamer, revealed on Wednesday that he was scheduled to meet with the minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, Fiona Simpson, on Thursday afternoon.
The new Liberal National party government ordered a halt to the inquiry last week, after winning last month’s election.
The premier, David Crisafulli, told the media he planned to repeal the legislation underpinning the inquiry before the end of the year, in what would be one of the first acts of the new LNP government.
A spokesperson for the inquiry confirmed that Creamer had yet to speak with either Simpson or Crisafulli. The government had communicated through media or email.
“The inquiry has today been advised by minister Simpson of the need to postpone the meeting with the truth telling and healing inquiry that was scheduled for this afternoon. There is no alternate date currently advised,” the spokesperson said.
In her email to the inquiry, Simpson said the body had “raised a number of matters requiring further advice” in its correspondence.
“In order to inform our discussions I, unfortunately, need to postpone,” she said.
Crisafulli voted for the Path to Treaty Bill in 2023, telling parliament that he hoped it could be “a catalyst for materially improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this state”.
“We need to be upfront. We cannot shy away from the real experiences of Indigenous Australians throughout history,” he said, at the historic sitting in Cairns. All 34 LNP MPs voted for the bill.
He changed his mind in the days after the failed voice referendum. More than 68% of Queenslanders voted no, a higher proportion than in any other state.
The inquiry got under way in September, holding its first hearings in Brisbane.
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It was due to hold additional hearings in November and December, at sessions in Cherbourg and Stradbroke Island. Creamer said more than 40 participants had been preparing to give evidence. It also planned to hold a tranche of hearings in Brisbane on youth justice and education, to inform advice for the government.
All were cancelled by the government in its first week in office.
Creamer was also prevented from speaking in front of 900 people at the Reconciliation Australia conference in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Creamer said in a press conference outside the conference that “ceasing the inquiry’s work in this way continues 165 years of government failing to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.
“People have said to me, this is like the chief protector days, a single person deciding what’s best for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island person in the state,” he said.
Simpson has been contacted for comment.
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