Aboriginal people have met in northern Tasmania to "unanimously reaffirm the call for a Treaty" between the state's Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
"A large number of Aboriginal people," according to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), from across Tasmania - some from as far away as the Bass Strait Islands - met in Launceston this week, with those in attendance saying a Treaty "must deliver on the recognised foundations of self-determination".
Following the meeting, former Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania manager and TAC acting chief executive Rebecca Digney said "the Aboriginal community has exhausted its patience".
"We made every attempt to comply with the framework recommended by the Government's own report," Ms Digney said.
"We elected our representatives. We drafted legislation.
"Four years later there is no action. The delay is no longer defensible. The community is tired of waiting."
Treaty has been a contentious talking point throughout Tasmania's Aboriginal communities in recent years.
After handing down its Treaty and Truth-Telling Report in 2021, the Tasmanian Government facilitated a historic meeting with Tasmanian Aboriginal community representatives in August, 2022.
The meeting was boycotted by the TAC, the state's oldest Aboriginal corporation, who publicly disagreed with the government's proposed process.
A separate meeting was held the same day which saw an 11-person TAC-endorsed delegation elected, the group becoming known as Tuylupa Tunapri.
Months later Tasmanian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Roger Jaensch, announced the state's inaugural Aboriginal Advisory Group, which was denounced by Tuylupa Tunapri chair Rodney Gibbons.
Around the same time Tuylupa Tunapri also provided a draft bill to the Tasmanian Government to progress Treaty negotiations, despite not participating in the Government facilitated meeting months earlier.
After numerous Aboriginal Advisory Group meetings the Tasmanian Government announced earlier this year it would no longer be pursuing Treaty, instead announcing a Truth-Telling and Healing Commission.
The announcement drew mixed responses, with the TAC publicly rejecting the proposal.
The TAC says the Tasmanian Government "shocked the Tasmanian Aboriginal community" by choosing a truth-telling process over Treaty negotiations.
TAC campaign coordinator, Nala Mansell, said the recent meeting was designed to "send a definitive message to the Tasmanian Government".
"We have no interest in Truth Telling. Tasmanian Aboriginal people have told the truth for generations," Ms Mansell said.
"The truth is known. What is required now is action, and that action is Treaty."
Ms Digney questioned the efficacy of the Government's now disbanded Aboriginal Advisory Group, saying despite substantial funding and extensive meetings with external stakeholders, the group "appears to have failed in delivering any outcomes".
"Even the long-awaited report the group was expected to hand down earlier this year seems to have gone by the wayside," Ms Digney said.
"The result has been more time and money wasted without any tangible progress for Aboriginal people."
On Tuesday the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania (ALCT) publicly supported the TAC's view, saying it "stands unwavering in its pursuit of a Treaty".
"For too long, the Tasmanian Government has acted to diminish our rights and delay the rightful progression toward Treaty," an ALCT statement read.
"These actions continue the dispossession and denial of our sovereign law on Country.
"Colonisation may have disrupted our lives, lands, waters, seas and skies, but it has never extinguished our inherent rights."
The ALCT said the Tasmanian Government's "attempts to narrow our position to 'truth-telling' alone are a deliberate distortion of our aspirations and responsibilities".
"This misrepresentation is not only disrespectful, but it also undermines the very principles of justice and self-determination that a Treaty is meant to uphold," the ALCT statement read.
"We endorse truth-telling only with Treaty as its outcome."
In last Monday's Aboriginal Affairs Estimate hearing, Tasmanian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Bridget Archer, said she understands the significance of both Truth-telling and Treaty to Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
"Since becoming minister, and also during my time in federal parliament, I've had a number of conversations about these issues and it is very clear that there are mixed views amongst Tasmanian Aboriginal people about which could come first, or progressing one without the other," Ms Archer said.
"Truth-telling is a necessary step which must run its course before any formalised agreements. While I do understand the importance and significance of Treaty to Tasmanian Aboriginal people, we believe an Aboriginal-led truth-telling process must happen for healing to truly take place in Tasmania."
Ms Mansell said Aboriginal people in Tasmania remain "united and committed to securing a Treaty that provides land, decision making authority, resources, and real self-determination".
"Aboriginal sovereignty in Lutruwita/Tasmania existed in full prior to 1803, and it has never been ceded," she said.
"Our people have been fighting for the recognition of our rights ever since the first bullet was fired upon our ancestors at piyura kitina/Risdon Cove.
"The Tasmanian Aboriginal community now calls for a complete re-boot of the Treaty process, as we collectively reaffirm our commitment to negotiating a Treaty in good faith."
In responding to the TAC's formal invitation "to meet with the Aboriginal community on country with an aim to recommence Treaty discussions without delay," Ms Archer said she is "always willing to meet with Tasmanian Aboriginal people and organisations to discuss issues of importance to them".
"I met with the TAC recently and have accepted their invitation today to meet on country early in the new year," Minister Archer said.
"I look forward to hearing directly from community members around a range of issues, as we deliver on our ongoing commitment to close the gap and improve the lives of all Tasmanian Aboriginal people."
