The Queensland Human Rights Commission has expressed concern at the exclusion of the state's police force from the proposed Indigenous Truth-telling inquiry.

The Path to Treaty Bill was introduced into Queensland parliament in February and was hailed as an important step in the state's progress towards truth-telling and Treaty.

Part of the treaty process involves a three-year truth-telling inquiry that will report on the impacts of colonisation on First Nations people.

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner, Scott McDougall, said it alarming that the police are exempt in the proposed legislation.

"Given the central role of the Queensland police service in the brutal colonisation of Queensland and … the devastating and ongoing impact of that colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it is fundamentally important that the inquiry have the power to compel the Queensland police service to participate in the inquiry," Mr McDougall told a parliamentary inquiry.

Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) senior policy officer, Heather Corkhill, told the parliamentary inquiry it was a "fairly quick amendment" to have police included in the compulsion powers of the truth-telling inquiry, along with other groups including NGO's and faith-based service providers.

"With compulsion powers it isn't necessarily that you even need to use them, it's just the fact that they are there, would actually be of assistance to the inquiry," she said.

The QRHC made a submission to the Inquiry into the Path to Treaty Bill 2023, asking for the legislation to "increase powers of the Inquiry to compel information and attendance from any person, or at a minimum to include …the Queensland Police Service…to ensure the effectiveness and cultural safety of the truth telling and healing process".

In response, the Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships said they had considered the issue "in detail".

"In relation to Queensland Police Service, this issue will be further considered given the intent was for the powers to apply," the department said.

Sources told National Indigenous Times it is believed this was an oversight and will be rectified, with the Queensland police being included in the scope of the truth-telling inquiry.

The Bill establishes a Truth Telling and Healing Inquiry and a First Nations Treaty Institute. It's the result of "extensive co-design" between the Queensland government and the Interim Truth and Treaty Body.

Mr McDougall told the parliamentary committee that it was important to reflect on the preamble in the Path to Treaty Bill.

"The colonisation of Queensland occurred without the consent of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples…" he said.

At the time the bill was announced, the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: "Our government is determined to deeply understand our past, to acknowledge the pain and suffering, and to build a better future together…Queensland's Path to Treaty signals an opportunity to walk into a much brighter tomorrow."

The government stated that "66 per cent of Queenslanders agree that all Queenslanders should know the truth of First Nations culture and history".

This history includes the Frontier Wars, which resulted in the death of thousands of Aboriginal people throughout Queensland in the 19th and early 20th century.

A series of violent conflicts that First Nations people targeted by non-Indigenous landowners and the police, as well a 'native police' force of Aboriginal people who were forcefully recruited from communities and ordered by white officers to kill and move on many Indigenous people to further enable European colonisation.

Mr McDougall said the Queensland Police Force's role in colonial history must be fully explored during the Indigenous Truth-telling inquiry.

"The ignorance within the broader Queensland community about what actually occurred in Queensland in the 1800s lies at the root of so many problems that we see played out day to day on the streets," he said.

"So this has got to be a transitional justice process that requires the involvement of the entire Queensland community at all levels."

Queensland Minister Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Craig Crawford told National Indigenous Times that it "has always been our intention that all government departments including police would be compelled to give evidence, furnish documents and attend hearings".

"The Government will consider any recommendations put forward by the Community Support and Services Committee following its consideration of the Path to Treaty Bill," he said.