Incoming Indigenous affairs minister Linda Burney has a long list of priorities when she is sworn in this week, but chief among them is to embark on the unfinished “nation-building project” of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
No pressure, then. Burney says the election adrenaline has worn off and now she feels as if she’s been “hit by a truck”. As the first Aboriginal woman to hold a federal ministry and to sit in the cabinet, she says: “I feel elated and daunted at the same time. I actually have a very long history in the Aboriginal affairs space. So I feel ready to take on the challenge.”
“I’ve spent my entire life building allegiances and I think that I’m the right person for it. I don’t say that with any expectations, but I say it because I understand this country. I understand the importance of this issue. And I understand what building consensus is about.”
Labor has set itself some big goals in Indigenous affairs. It says it will scrap the “punitive” CDP, or work for the dole scheme. It will abolish the cashless debit card and make income management voluntary. It has promised millions for justice reinvestment to reduce reoffending, and funds for Aboriginal families to participate in coronial inquests after a death in custody. It will spend millions repairing ailing community health infrastructure and will fund 500 new Aboriginal health workers. Crucially, it has promised more than $300m for remote housing.
Then there’s the task of implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart, with the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, saying on several occasions that his government will hold a referendum on a voice to parliament in its first term.
As the minister responsible for much of this work, Burney says she feels the weight of expectation, especially given that her predecessor once made the same promise.
“To implement the Uluru statement is complex. It will take time and it will require the imagination and the participation of the entire country,” she says. “The next 12 months will be about building consensus, building the case. You can’t expect people to vote on something that’s not articulated. So, what will the voice look like? How will it be constructed? Those things have to be bedded down, and that will take time.”
Seeking consensus won’t be easy. Many conservative MPs, including the new opposition leader Peter Dutton, have said they oppose a voice to parliament as a “third chamber” of government. Some have warned they will actively campaign against any referendum. While Dutton has not spoken directly about the Uluru statement recently, he was one of a group of LNP members who walked out of the apology to the stolen generations in 2008 (he later said he regretted the decision). Meanwhile, the Greens have said they do not oppose a constitutionally enshrined voice but consider a treaty more important than a voice to parliament. Does Burney think she can persuade them to come on board?
“I am sure that the prime minister will have some discussions in relation to this and many other things with the leader of the opposition. But to me, this is not just about talking to Peter Dutton, it’s actually about talking to everyone, bringing people with you, building a shared enterprise and a shared belief in what is an incredibly modest ask.
“I think that the way to approach it is to reissue an invitation to the opposition for a bipartisan approach. Clearly, we need to talk to the Greens about the views that they have. I’m a little confused about what their position exactly is. And obviously, the crossbench is important – a number of the independents have expressed their support for the Uluru statement.
“My approach will be one of trying to build consensus. And in a consensus-building exercise, you lose some things, you win some things, and you be flexible.”
Burney says a successful referendum will be a people’s movement, and the signs are that the people’s views already outstrip those of politicians. Public support for a referendum to enshrine a voice to parliament in the constitution has grown steadily. The ABC’s Vote Compass found that at the last election, 64% of voters supported the push for a referendum. This time around, 73% are in favour
The Uluru statement calls for Voice, Treaty, Truth, in sequence. But Burney views the second two as necessarily flexible.
“The sequencing is something that I’ve discussed with the prime minister. The idea that a treaty is easy is a false idea. It is complex, it is time-consuming. When you look at places like British Columbia, which has done a contemporary treaty process, which is what we’re talking about here, I think it took 13 years.
“Treaties are carefully crafted. Everyone has to be involved in the discussion, and they take a long time. We have to be realistic about that.”
She says she understands there is a great need, especially among elders, for truth-telling to happen sooner rather than later. Every community will have different ideas about how truth-telling will happen, and what it will achieve. Local processes will be important. She cites the efforts of the descendants of the Myall Creek massacre – survivors and perpetrators – who have worked over decades to build a memorial and a process of remembering.
“Imagine what this country will be at the end of a national truth-telling process,” she says. “It will be a different country. It will be a country that knows its story. It’s not about blame, it’s not about guilt. It’s just about understanding that this is the real story of this country.”
• This article was amended on 30 May 2022 because Labor has committed to ending the CDP (Community Development Program), not the CDEP (Community Development Employment Projects scheme) as an earlier version said.
