Queensland's human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, has used a speech at Parliament House to condemn the state government's "hostile" and "assimilationist" approach to First Nations people, as he prepares to step down from the role next month.
In his address on Monday night, Mr McDougall criticised the Liberal National party government led by David Crisafulli, pointing to the repeal of legislation establishing a state truth-telling and healing inquiry as "one of the biggest steps backwards" on the path to reconciliation. "In Queensland, we are not walking together towards reconciliation – our non-Indigenous leaders are walking us backwards," he said.
He also highlighted the government's "adult crime, adult time" laws, which ministers concede will disproportionately affect Indigenous children and breach the state's Human Rights Act. Mr McDougall further objected to the exclusion of First Nations representatives from the Olympic Games organising committee, the abandonment of a proposed First Nations Cultural Centre, and the rejection of a recommendation to name the new QPAC theatre after poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
"One can only wonder what the International Olympic Committee were thinking when they were told that the Pathway to Treaty was extinguished by the Pathway to the Olympics," he said. "What a terrible message to send to the international community – let alone to Queensland's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people."
Mr McDougall accused the government of pursuing policies that ignore First Nations participation in decision-making, describing attempts to engage only with mayors of Aboriginal shire councils as "assimilationist" and reminiscent of the 1950s. He called for a "radical reset" and an "almost immediate 180-degree turnaround" in policy, imagining a future without children in watch houses and with detention centres converted into Tafe colleges.
The commissioner's role is established under Queensland's Human Rights Act 2019, and his replacement has not yet been announced. The speech follows criticism of the state's human rights record by a UN special rapporteur in May, after Mr Crisafulli dismissed UN involvement in local politics, saying Queensland would "govern its laws" and be accountable to Queenslanders rather than "United Nations boffins".
