Queensland’s Labor opposition claims the state’s public servants have been issued a “strict directive” not to include acknowledgments of country in email signatures.
The shadow minister for reconciliation, Leeanne Enoch, tabled a partly redacted document in question time on Thursday which reads: “Departments are no longer permitted to add additional departmental branding elements such as the First Nations acknowledgement.”
Enoch said the document was sent by a whistleblower within a government department, and prohibited modifying standard signature blocks in any way.
Enoch is one of two Indigenous members of parliament, both of them Labor MPs. She said the decision was “an insult to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.
“Under this Crisafulli LNP government we’ve seen a systematic attempt to erase Aboriginal and Torres Strait people from all aspects of government life. And this is just another attempt at doing that,” Enoch said on Thursday.
“What happens if you are an Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander person working in a department? Are you not allowed to follow your own cultural protocols?”
Fiona Simpson, the minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, denied that the government had “issued a directive to departments prohibiting a First Nations acknowledgment in email signatures”.
Earlier on Thursday, the deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, was asked if the government intended to honour the Indigenous heritage of the site of their planned Olympics stadium.
“The golf club?” he said.
Barrambin, also known as Victoria park, had been the town camp for the north part of Brisbane and is a massacre site. Part of it served as a golf club from 1931 to 2021.
Legislation passed on Wednesday night overrides a swathe of planning and heritage laws to permit construction of the stadium.
Blejie said the legislation still includes a provision honouring cultural heritage laws “because we do recognise a historical connection”, but did not commit to a cultural centre or other physical acknowledgment.
The stoush comes just days after stinging criticism of the speaker of the state’s legislative assembly, Pat Weir.
Since 2007, upon opening parliament, the speaker has acknowledged the traditional owners of the land on which parliament assembles.
But Weir acknowledges “the former members of this parliament who have participated in and nourished the democratic institutions of this state” and “the people of this state, whether they have been born here or have chosen to make this state their home”.
On Tuesday, Greens MP Michael Berkman said the acknowledgment had been “watered down almost beyond recognition” since last year’s change of government “to the point of being insipid, offensive and feigned”.
“It is the acknowledgment you give when you want to be offensive.”
Weir said he had adapted the wording to make it more inclusive.
“The intention is not to ‘water down’ the acknowledgment, the intention is to be inclusive of all nationalities that have helped develop this state,” he said.
“I come from Irish heritage. If there were any doubts on my decision, when I listened to the maiden speeches of new members, whose families come from England, Scotland, Pakistan, Greece and Northern Ireland, that is exactly the reason I did it.
“I have used the more inclusive acknowledgment statement since the start of the parliamentary term and note that the member for Maiwar has not raised his concerns directly with me.”
The Liberal National party’s first act in government was to cancel the state’s pathway to treaty process and close its truth-telling and healing inquiry.
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