CALLS GROW FOR THIRD CHAMBER AND TREATY IN WA PARLIAMENT
By Tangiora Hinaki, credit Ivan Luang / WAMN News
Prominent Noongar Elder Professor Ted Wilkes AO says it’s time for Western Australia to follow Victoria’s lead and begin serious discussions about a Treaty and a third chamber of Parliament to give Aboriginal people real decision-making power.
Speaking to WAMN News’ Ivan Luang, Professor Wilkes said Aboriginal people are tired of their voices being filtered through bureaucratic “gatekeepers.”
“We want a voice to Parliament that allows people like me and other Aboriginal leaders to go directly to government,” he said.
“We don’t want those people in the middle — the white fellas of the bureaucracies. We need an Aboriginal structure that goes straight through to the Premier and the bosses of Western Australia.”
Professor Wilkes said a third chamber would provide a pathway for Aboriginal people to control their own future — not just advise on it.
“I would want a third chamber in Parliament that allows Aboriginal Australians to control the pathway out of our poverty,” he said.
“It should have the power to veto all unnecessary impositions on our people. After 200 years of others deciding for us, it’s time we had a proper pathway to complete our humanity.”
He criticised the previous national referendum on the Voice to Parliament, saying it was “fast-tracked” and failed to address what Aboriginal people actually wanted.
“The referendum tried to fool us into voting for a voice, but most people knew it wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t a good thing to have a voice that could be vetoed by politicians and their minions,” he said.
Menang woman Megan Krakouer also told WAMN that Western Australia should establish a Truth and Justice Commission, similar to Victoria’s, to build unity and understanding.
“Right now in Western Australia there’s a lot of division, a lot of animosity and challenges,” she said.
“If we had something like a Truth and Justice Commission, it would give everyone across the state the information they need so that at least we’re united in some sense. At the moment, we’re divided.”
Krakouer pointed to South Australia’s state-based Voice to Parliament as an example of how representation could work.
“Those members are elected by the people — that’s about self-empowerment, self-determination and self-management,” she said.
Both leaders agreed that a third chamber in WA would not block progress but strengthen inclusion in major decisions.
“When it comes to infrastructure or development, Aboriginal people should be part of those conversations,” Krakouer said. “It’s about inclusion, not exclusion — and that’s what’s been missing.”
Professor Wilkes added that the change was long overdue.
“We’ve lost our ability to live and eat from our land the way we once did,” he said.
“Economically, we want to be viable in our own way — not through white influence. We want to rebuild in a First Nations way that lets us live properly on our own country.”
Both Wilkes and Krakouer said the time has come for Western Australia to take the next step — towards Treaty, truth, and a seat at the table.