Malarndirri McCarthy has confirmed Indigenous truth-telling and treaty in the form of the Makarrata Commission will not be revived federally before the next election.
Ms McCarthy's comments mirror those of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who told Parliament in August the creation of a Makarrata or truth-telling commission wasn't his government's focus.
Speaking to The West Australian, the newly appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians said the Federal Parliament was "not ready" to embrace the idea, and cautioned against any idea that could weaponise Indigenous Australians.
"I think that the intent behind Makarrata is sincere with that call for truth-telling, but our Parliament is not ready for that," Senator McCarthy said.
During the Voice referendum, First Nations people were exposed to significant levels of racism - both on social media and in the media itself.
Comments seen by National Indigenous Times on social media platforms of a wide array of major media publications have revealed racism and abuse of First Nations people continues, with many arguing the successful no vote meant no movement on treaties and truth-telling—in any form.
In August, Senator McCarthy told Parliament it would be "very difficult" to pursue Makarrata without bipartisan support, and this week blamed opposition leader Peter Dutton, who has said there will be no truth-telling commission or Makarrata under a government he leads.
"I do value the fact that the principle of voice, treaty, truth is still very strong. You know, we do believe in that," she told The West Australian.
"But we also accept the political reality that if you're going to weaponise Indigenous Affairs to the extent that we saw through the referendum, we have to be very careful as to how we progress forward and to ensure that we can try and get bipartisanship.
"We have to be really cautious progressing that path and enabling that kind of weaponisation again towards First Nations people."
Highlighting the Coalition's support of a no vote as well as a significant amount of mis- and disinformation during the campaign, Senator McCarthy added: "When you have no bipartisanship and increasingly weaponised tools in social media to create the misinformation and disinformation that really did emerge through it, I don't think you need to look too far to see any more reasons as to why it [the Voice] went down."
Named after a Yolŋu word for coming together after a struggle, Makarrata is the culmination of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and features three aspects: Voice, Treaty and Truth-Telling.
Indigenous leaders have called on the government to implement the final two, arguing the referendum focussed only on the voice.
The government has been criticised after comments at this year's Garma festival by Prime Minister Albanese, where he responded to calls to embark on a Truth and Justice Commission, by saying: "Well, that's not what we have proposed. What we've proposed is Makarrata just being the idea of coming together…"
Senator McCarthy was then forced to front the media, arguing: "I'm not sure how many times I can say that the principles of the Uluru Statement from the Heart are very much supported by our government."
In response, one the architects of the Uluru Statement, Pat Anderson, stated: "The prime minister's comments are confusing. Is he rolling back on the Labor election commitment to the Makarrata commission? We understand that a constitutional voice didn't get up, but the Australian people didn't vote on truth or treaty."
"The Makarrata called for in the Uluru statement was a bricks and mortar body and a clear election promise."
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has been highly critical of the decision, taking to social media in August to argue shifting blame on the coalition was a "cop out".
"Labor have a majority in the House and a crossbench in the Senate that would pass legislation for this. They are the party in power who can make change and should be. But they are just gutless and paralysed," she said.
"Shifting blame to the Coalition shows incredible weakness."
