Queensland's truth-telling and healing inquiry has re-opened for online submissions, despite plans by the new LNP government to shut down and defund it as early as next month.
Last month, Chairperson Josh Creamer paused the public hearings after newly-elected Premier David Crisafulli told reporters he would be putting a halt to the proceedings, despite not informing Mr Creamer and the inquiry first.
"We've made a decision. It's the right decision, and we stand by it. But I don't want to cause angst to people," Mr Crisafulli said at the time.
On Friday, Mr Creamer said he had reversed his decision after receiving no further information about the future of the Inquiry, despite multiple requests to the Premier and Minister.
"In the absence of any further information, and to ensure the Inquiry meets its obligations as an independent Inquiry under the Path to Treaty Act, the Inquiry today informed the Minister of works to be continued to ensure the Members will continue to satisfy their obligations under the Act until it has been repealed," the barrister and Waanyi and Kalkadoon man said.
Mr Creamer said online submissions from Aboriginal peoples, Torres Strait Islander peoples, and non-Indigenous people, as well as groups, organisations, and institutions, had re-opened, encouraging anyone to come forward and take up the final opportunity for their experience to form part of the Inquiry's record.
The inquiry will also reactivate activities to help promote public awareness of the history of the colonisation of Queensland.
However, the truth-telling hearings won't be reactivated, with Mr Creamer saying they can't provide ongoing support for those giving evidence—consistent with legal advice and the Inquiry's trauma-aware and healing-informed approach.
The truth-telling body said the decision would allow a respectful closure of the Inquiry, which would demonstrate an "effective and respectful use of public resources to deliver outcomes in the interest of all Queenslanders, because the story of Queensland connects us all".
Reiterating his comments from last month, Mr Creamer said that it is "unprecedented" in Queensland for an independent Inquiry to be shut down by the change of government.
"As the Inquiry navigates this uncertain time, we will continue to seek further information from the Queensland Government about its plans to cease the Inquiry, including how it will support participants and staff employed to assist the Inquiry," a spokesperson for the truth-telling body said.
View this post on Instagram
The decision by the new Queensland was widely criticised by Indigenous, human rights and legal organisations, with Mr Crisafulli's talk of "respect and decency," being contradicted by a lack of communication with the truth-telling inquiry.
The Healing Foundation, the national body representing Stolen Generation survivors, said cancelling the inquiry does nothing to contribute to unity for survivors, instead only adding to their "pain and suffering".
"The effects of Australia's Stolen Generations policies are not confined to the past, they have been passed down through the generations and continue to echo in myriad ways," chair of the foundation's board, Professor Steve Larkin, said earlier this month.
"As a country we need to reckon with this past, we must act to disrupt these patterns of history. We need systematic laws and programs that recognise our rights to culture and connection with our families and communities, or we will continue to be defined by 'gaps' in socio-economic outcome".
The new premier previously said he didn't want to make it a "divisive issue", something Mr Creamer has questioned.
It is not understood why the new LNP government deem the truth-telling inquiry, which has heard stories of massacres and frontier policing in newly colonised Queensland, as divisive.
The hearings, which began in September, heard from seven heads of government departments, including Police Commissioner Gollschewski, who admitted they had "failed" Aboriginal people "for 160 years"—in some cases, going so far as to deliberately kill them.
"It became evident in the government truth-telling session in September that Government has failed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for 165 years," Mr Creamer said after the LNP's decision.
"This Inquiry would provide a practical roadmap for government and the community on how to change that outcome. However, we are now left with a decision that continues the legacy of failure."
