Pat Dodson wants the PM to forge ahead with Indigenous treaty

Former Labor Senator Pat Dodson has called on the prime minister to use Labor’s second term to forge ahead with Indigenous treaty and truth telling.

Transcript

00:00Well, he's known as the Father of Reconciliation, and Pat Dodson was calling on the Prime Minister

00:09to make the most of Labor's landslide election win, urging him to use this second term for

00:17an ambitious agenda in Indigenous affairs.

00:21Mr Dodson was speaking in Broome.

00:23He spoke to the 7.30 program, marking Reconciliation Week.

00:28And Pat Dodson, a former Labor senator, was really urging the Prime Minister, the government,

00:35to move ahead on a national truth-telling commission known as Makarata and Treaty, as well as, you

00:44know, this was a request from the Uluru Statement of the Heart.

00:48He argues that this wouldn't require any constitutional change, but is something that Indigenous Australians

00:55have themselves requested.

00:58That process, that Uluru Statement from the Heart, goes back to 2017.

01:03He also argued that the government should adopt a system of local and regional Indigenous advisory

01:12bodies.

01:13And this was something that was recommended to the then-Morrison government in 2021 by Indigenous

01:19leaders Tom Kama and Marsha Langton.

01:23Mr Dodson also spoke about his disappointment following the voice referendum back in 2023.

01:29Did he have a message for Indigenous Australians?

01:31Yeah, Lorna, it was his first television interview following the 2023 result of that referendum.

01:40He spoke about his personal disappointment, about his personal sadness at the result, but he

01:46did have a message for Indigenous Australians that may have felt that same way from the result.

01:53He has urged them to stick through the process of reconciliation.

01:58Well, I don't see any alternatives.

02:02I don't see any alternatives.

02:04We're not the majority of this country, and we saw that.

02:08But we do hurt, and we do feel the pain, and we've got to revise where our energies go.

02:14But if you don't participate, you'll end up being the subject and the property of the

02:21assimilationist.

02:22And you'll go down a track that's totally about assimilation.

02:26The more you smash and destroy the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people, the greater

02:32it is to say, well, there's no substantive argument to say that they had any presence

02:35here, because there's no evidence there, because you're blowing it up.

02:38Lorna, Mr Dodson also says that he was disappointed that in his view, the Prime Minister took a step

02:45back on reconciliation following the 2023 result.

02:50Though he did say that he thought it was smart that Mr Albanese didn't drink from the quote

02:56poisoned chalice.

02:58But he does stress that he is confident that the Prime Minister now has the backing of the

03:04people following that election win, and that he is hopeful that there can be some progress

03:10on reconciliation.