Seven months out from the next election the Northern Territory Labor government is reviving plans to forge a treaty with Aboriginal people six years after it was first promised. The government denies there's been a lack of progress towards a treaty over the past year saying it purposely slowed the process during the voice to parliament referendum campaign.
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00:00 In 2018, the NT government promised there'd be a treaty.
00:06 I can stand here at this place to say that there will be a treaty between the Northern
00:12 Territory Government and our First People.
00:14 Now Labor pledges it's back on track to deliver one.
00:18 We are now proceeding with the revival of our treaty working group with the land councils.
00:25 Nearly six years ago, a memorandum was signed with the NT's land councils to work towards
00:30 a treaty.
00:31 A treaty commission was set up and then shut down after it delivered its final report in
00:37 2022, with those involved saying there's been little action from government since then.
00:43 As far as I'm aware, they have not done anything with it at all.
00:47 There's been no movement that I'm aware of.
00:51 The government says the Voice to Parliament campaign slowed progress for a treaty.
00:56 We made a conscious decision to not over-fatigue remote Territorians while the referendum was
01:04 taking place.
01:07 Now firing the process back up, Labor will hold treaty symposiums in Darwin and Alice
01:12 Springs in April.
01:14 Seven months out from a Territory election, it's also poised to become an issue at the
01:19 ballot box.
01:20 We're not going to focus on treaty, but what we do want to do is bring back those regional
01:23 councils and local decision making.
01:25 Whether those promises will ever be met, communities have already waited years to find out.
01:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]