NSW government will try to avoid acting as a ‘white colonial’ body in treaty consultation

NSW Aboriginal affairs minister David Harris says the ‘old colonial view’ of a treaty ‘is redundant now and it’s actually about ongoing, fluid, flexible agreements’. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

The New South Wales government will try to avoid acting as a “white colonial” body imposing its terms on Aboriginal people when it begins consulting with communities across the state about treaty later this year.

Over 12 months, Aboriginal communities will be asked if they would want to take part in a formal agreement-making process and if so what they would want it to look like.