17 October 2024
The first 100 days of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry has made significant progress and underlined the importance of this historic process for Queensland.
The Inquiry Chair and four Members have visited as far away as the Torres Strait and Cairns in the far north, to Cherbourg in the state’s west, Minjerribah/Stradbroke Island to the east and Inala in Brisbane’s south.
Chair Joshua Creamer says he’s proud of what the Inquiry has achieved in such a short time since the Inquiry officially began on 1 July 2024.
“It’s incredible to look back over the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry’s first 100 days and see how far we’ve come in collating the story of Queensland,” Mr Creamer says.
“We’ve met with community groups from all walks of life to encourage all Queenslanders to take part in this significant and respected Inquiry.
“We requested submissions from 13 Queensland Government agencies and held a government truth-telling session with seven senior representatives appearing.”
In its first 100 days public interest has been very high, with almost 1000 media mentions of the Inquiry’s work reaching an audience of nearly 30 million people. In that short time almost 4000 people have started following the Inquiry on social media, with more than 12,000 visits to our social media sites.
Mr Creamer says the Inquiry is committed to continuing to fulfil the Terms of Reference over its three-year term.
The Ceremonial Hearing in Brisbane was attended by thousands of people across Queensland both in person and online. The first Truth-telling Hearing involved seven people sharing their evidence.
The new website shares evidence publicly, reflecting how the team is gathering an authentic history of Queensland and its people.
The Inquiry involves much more than hearings, with the team visiting Cherbourg in the past two weeks to start conversations with the community about how it wants to engage in the process. Community consultations have also begun on Minjerribah/Stradbroke Island.
The Inquiry Chair and Members have also visited Queensland State Archives to ensure there is access to all relevant records and documents, with more than 200,000 records identified as relevant to the Terms of Reference.
Mr Creamer says the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry is separate to the Treaty process and is entirely focussed on providing an accurate record of history.
“The Inquiry is important because we need to establish an authoritative public record on the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - that hasn’t been done before,” he says.
“There’s a limited time to be able do that because we do have an opportunity here from people who did grow up on missions and settlements and reserves in Queensland and that period of time is really significant in terms of the influence on people.
“So there’s a real importance in understanding what can be improved in terms of services and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“That’s going to be a really big part of our work for the next 12 months - travelling across different regions and different communities.
“Firstly working with the community preparing them, consulting them, and secondly to conduct different truth-telling sessions in those locations and also look at how we continue doing the work of investigating government.”
History is being made by the Inquiry, and the Inquiry invites all Queenslanders – Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous – to be part of it.
The evidence that will emerge from this process offers a genuine opportunity for Queensland to deliver real outcomes for Queensland’s Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.