Condolence

Agius, Auntie Josie

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:40): On indulgence, I would like to take a moment today to honour a great South Australian, an Aboriginal Elder of the highest standing and a simply beautiful soul in the late Auntie Josie Agius. Josephine Marjorie Agius left the physical world on the second last day of 2015 at the age of 81, but this proud Kaurna, Narungga and Ngadjuri woman lives on. She lives on in the memories of all those who knew her and were in some way touched by her. She lives on in the richly varied contribution she made to our state and to our collective striving for practical reconciliation.

I had the privilege of speaking at Auntie Josie's funeral, which was held on 14 January at Alberton Oval, the home of her beloved Port Adelaide Football Club. I do not think I have ever attended a funeral that, in spirit and gesture of those present, spoke so completely and eloquently of the person being farewelled. There were folk there from all walks of life and of all ages. There were Aboriginal people representing many language groups, including the West Coast, the APY lands, the South-East and the Riverland, and of course there were countless stories: stories of Auntie Josie's energy, her cheeky sense of humour and the trailblazing work she did to improve the lives and engender understanding of Aboriginal people and their culture.

Auntie Josie was born in Wallaroo in February 1934, and she grew up in Point Pearce on the Yorke Peninsula. In the late 1950s, she married a cray fisherman named Fred Agius who, sadly, died in 1982. As a child, the young Josie travelled widely, across the state and beyond, living with her family variously in Adelaide, Leigh Creek and Alice Springs. Part of her formative teenage years were spent at Taperoo in the heart of the Lefevre Peninsula. It was here, within a large community of Aboriginal people, that she spent her spare time fishing and swimming at the beach. She also loved to go to the dance halls that were much more numerous in Adelaide back in those days. Later in life, she never missed the opportunity to dance at the annual NAIDOC Ball.

During her involvement in Kurruru, the youth performing arts group, she helped make both traditional and contemporary dance central to that company's productions. Besides Kurruru, she was involved in many Aboriginal arts and cultural organisations in Adelaide, including Tandanya and some innovative collaborations. In particular, she played an integral role as a cultural adviser in the co-production between Kurruru and the Vitalstatistix Theatre Company about a decade ago of a production called Second To None. This piece of work, which included drama, dance and music, was about the trade union movement's historical support for Aboriginal people in the Port Adelaide area.

In a more general sense, Auntie Josie had a knack of bringing young Aboriginal people, especially some initially sceptical ones, into the arts fold and quickly earning their respect. When I look at the success of last year's inaugural Tarnanthi Arts Festival, I cannot help thinking that she helped in an indirect way to prepare the ground for such an event by raising the profile of Aboriginal arts.

Auntie Josie's working life was remarkable for its breadth and for its inherent leadership. In the 1970s, she was one of our first Aboriginal health workers, making community nursing available to people in their own homes. In this particular role, she influenced policy in regard to the provision of specialist Aboriginal health services in South Australia. For example, she was part of a team that developed a cultural framework for how hospitals and community health services responded to and assisted Aboriginal people.

From 1984 to 1991, Auntie Josie was an Aboriginal education worker at Taperoo Primary. Among her many achievements at that school were the introduction of Aboriginal culture week and making sure that children were involved in NAIDOC Week activities. Also, from 1988, she was the main organiser of the Annual Aboriginal Youth Concert, which showcased the talents of Aboriginal students from across Adelaide.

From an early age, she developed a love for education and language and a determination to keep Aboriginal culture alive, and so many of the community activities she undertook can now be seen through the prism of this belief and commitment. There was, for example, her invaluable work on the National Aboriginal Languages Project—an initiative that produced a popular songbook in Narungga and Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna languages. There was her appointment in 1995 as the first Aboriginal Community Networker at Kurruru Youth Performing Arts.

Throughout her life, Auntie Josie was heavily involved in sport. She was a regular at annual football and netball carnivals. She took her children to football, soccer, basketball and baseball matches, and she herself was an excellent netball player. She started her sporting life at Pioneers netball club in Alice Springs, and later played for teams in Wallaroo, Point Pearce and Taperoo.

In the minds of everyday South Australians, Auntie Josie was probably best known for the traditional welcome to country she would extend on behalf of the Kaurna people at public events and ceremonies. I witnessed that welcome, given in the Kaurna language, on so many occasions. I always found it to be gracious and warm in spirit, and I know that it was greatly appreciated by people including dignitaries from overseas and interstate. Her message was this:

Let's not dwell on the bad things of the past, but let's not forget the past, and let us, as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, walk together in harmony.

By using this particular set of words, Auntie Josie was extending the hand of friendship and touching on an indisputable truth about the lives of Aboriginal people, and that truth is that dispossession is at the heart of their experience and current disadvantage. It was an elegant yet profound way of saying something which needed to be said. Auntie Josie did her final welcome to country last year and, given her love of sport, it was appropriate that it was at the start of the cricket season and occurred at Adelaide Oval.

To the extent Auntie Josie sought status or recognition, it was only ever for her people in order to advance their cause, which she felt was so important. Nevertheless, she was accorded many formal honours and appointed to many positions in her life. Time does not permit me to list every one of those honours, but I do mention a few. On the occasion of the arrival of the new millennium on 1 January 2001, Auntie Josie was awarded a Centenary Medal under the Australian honours system, for her service to the community, particularly youth.

She was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, and bestowed with the titles of Aboriginal of the Year and Elder of the Year. She was ambassador for the Port Adelaide Power Cup. In 2009, she was inducted to the South Australian Women's Honour Roll. In 2013, Life Without Borders acknowledged her support for that organisation by naming the main meeting room at its headquarters after her. And, at Alberton Primary School—the school where my two daughters attend—the meeting place known as the Agius Ward Hall is named in part after Auntie Josie and her family.

Eighteen months ago, I presented Auntie Josie with the 2014 Premier’s NAIDOC Award in recognition of the way she had made a positive difference to the lives and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. Perhaps the most moving form of recognition she received related to her work on NAIDOC Week, the annual celebration of Aboriginal culture and heritage.

In 2014, the status of host city for national NAIDOC Week events passed from Brisbane to Adelaide. Auntie Josie and two other Aboriginal leaders, Dr Roger Thomas and Dr Alitja Rigney, were scheduled to attend the big NAIDOC Ball on the Gold Coast and receive the traditional message stick that signifies the handover. Friends and family were a little concerned about Auntie Josie making the trip and getting up on the stage, as her health and legs were not quite what they used to be. Nevertheless, she was determined to make the journey. In the end, she walked on the stage with strength and pride, and she accepted the message stick with her usual grace and generosity of spirit.

One year later, after Adelaide had hosted successful national-level NAIDOC Week celebrations, Auntie Josie closed the circle by formally passing on the message stick to the City of Darwin at the NAIDOC Ball. When she took to the stage of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre to perform that task, the 1,500 people in the audience stood as one and gave her a heartfelt and unforgettable ovation. That spontaneous outpouring of love and admiration was not just recognition of her efforts to support NAIDOC Week, such as through her roles as ambassador and patron, the moment also spoke to the respect with which she was held by Aboriginal leaders across Australia and to the lifelong contribution she made to her cause.

Josephine Marjorie Agius was an outstanding community leader, a fine, engaged citizen of our nation. She understood who she was, where she came from and what she wanted to achieve in life. Above all, she was personable, inclusive and selfless. As mentioned at her funeral, Auntie Josie dedicated her life to making sure her family was okay and worried about everybody else before herself.

Our state's Aboriginal communities and South Australians as a whole will rarely have in our midst a more generous soul. On behalf of members on this side of the house, I extend my condolences to her children: Kate, Raymond and Fred; to the wider Agius and Warrior families; and to her many grandchildren, and others who loved her. May Auntie Josie rest in peace now after a life of love, goodwill and service.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:51): On indulgence, I would like to commend the words of the Premier and also join in our expression from this side of the house on our condolences to the family on this very sad occasion in the recent passing of Auntie Josie Agius.

I was lucky enough, as I know many of the other people in this house were, to have met Auntie Josie many times over the years. She was a highlight at many South Australian functions both large and small as she gave her welcome to country in her much loved Kaurna language, and I certainly commend the Premier for his reflection on that very unique welcome to country which he spoke about at her funeral. I think the way that you put it, Premier—'elegant and profound'—was absolutely spot on. Let's not forget the past, but let's not dwell on the past. I know it was always a pleasure to hear her speak on these occasions just as it was a pleasure to chat with her about our shared passions of reconciliation, Aboriginal culture and, of course, our much-beloved Port Adelaide football club, which I know the Premier himself also supports.

Born in Wallaroo in 1934, Auntie Josie grew up a proud Narungga, Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri and Ngadjuri woman. She grew up in the community of Point Pearce on Yorke Peninsula and later lived in Leigh Creek, Mile End, Alice Springs and Taperoo. She attended primary school at Thebarton. She had a hard start to life losing her father when she was just three years old; her brother when she was only 12; and then later, her mother, when she was 16. She was fiercely proud of her heritage and her people, and maintained her strong connections with the region even after her career took her to Adelaide. Auntie Josie's was a life defined by 'firsts' and breaking down barriers.

Auntie Josie left school at age 14 and immediately started her working life, taking on three jobs to make ends meet. Some of her early jobs included milking cows on a farm at Pine Point, a live-in role at the Franklin Hotel, and then later moving into aged care. She loved working in aged care due to her naturally friendly nature and her innate ability to connect with people. She once reflected on her time in aged care:

That was fun I can tell you…you didn't know what the oldies were going to do next—they'd come out with nothing on sometimes!

She then went on to work as one of the state's first Aboriginal health workers in the 1980s, and was an integral part of the team that developed a cultural framework for how hospitals and community health services respond to Aboriginal people.

Her commitment to education included working for many years as an Aboriginal education worker at the Taperoo Primary School. She was passionate about the importance of education for Aboriginal young people and spoke to me about this on a number of occasions. She reflected on the difficulties of trying to get a genuine education as a young Aboriginal person in the 1940s, saying in one of her interviews:

We moved around quite a bit…Thebarton school was our first school in Adelaide. It was a bit of a shock. The teachers were alright, but it was just getting used to the other people. It was a bit sad because coming into your first school you hope people will be good to you, but maybe we were all a bit frightened of each other—we worked at it I guess.

Such was her dedication to education that in 1995, at the age of 61, Auntie Josie went back to school. She had not studied in 47 years but did not let this deter her, and she successfully studied tourism and the Kaurna language at the Aboriginal College, Tauondi, in Port Adelaide. This dedication to study was recognised with her appointment as the 1998 South Australian ambassador for Adult Learning Week.

Auntie Josie had a great love for the Port Adelaide community and worked as an advocate for Port Youth Accommodation and as a cultural adviser for Kurruru Youth Performing Arts for over a decade. She described her love for Port Adelaide, saying:

Port Adelaide is so good. There are so many other cultures here…I never knew all these years ago that I was going to do this stuff and that I get to be at these events and get to know these people.

From 1988, Auntie Josie was the main organiser of the annual Aboriginal youth concert which gave young Aboriginal people an opportunity to showcase their talents to a wide audience. She was a tireless advocate for reconciliation and had a strong desire to share her culture with non-Aboriginal Australians.

These deeply held commitments contributed to her being inducted into the SA Women's Honour Roll in 2009. In addition to becoming patron of the 2014 and 2015 NAIDOC SA Awards, Auntie Josie was awarded the 2014 Premier's NAIDOC Award, the David Unaipon Award and the Port Adelaide council Aboriginal Person of the Year Award.

She was a strong believer in the importance of the Kaurna language and personally worked to ensure that it would not be lost. She worked on the National Aboriginal Languages Project, which produced a songbook in Narungga, Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna languages. I understand that this book remains an important cultural document today. In an interview she gave in 1998, she reflected on having to learn the Kaurna language as an adult, rather than in her childhood:

A lot of us didn't learn all that because we weren't taught it and our language was taken away…It's important for us to know our own connections and our own culture…If you don't teach them now, they will probably forget about it and we don't want to see that happening…It gives them an identity, it makes them aware of who they are and where they come from.

Auntie Josie was a highly respected Aboriginal elder who made an enormous contribution to the state through her commitment to Aboriginal people and especially the youngest in her community. Her funeral was attended by more than 1,000 people, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, such was the impact she had on people's lives.

Auntie Josie was a compassionate, funny, intelligent and dedicated woman who always gave others the benefit of the doubt. Her death is a loss for all South Australians and is an especially acute loss for Aboriginal South Australians. I for one will greatly miss seeing her smiling face at events. On behalf of the Liberal Party, I extend my sincere condolences to Kate, Raymond and Fred and to the wider Agius and Warrior families. Vale, Auntie Josie.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:57): I rise today to briefly add to the lovely comments already made (and those that I am sure will be made) by my parliamentary colleagues about the sad loss at the end of last year of Aboriginal elder, Kaurna, Narungga, Ngarrindjeri and Ngadjuri woman, Auntie Josie Agius.

Auntie Josie was a very much loved daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and sister and a deeply respected and loved auntie to many in our South Australia community. Auntie Josie was also an outstanding activist, deeply committed to making a difference with and for Aboriginal community members and particularly Aboriginal children across South Australia. She was an extraordinary leader who both gently and assertively led in a way that brought people together and inspired future leaders.

Auntie Josie was a proud Australian Education Union member, committed to ensuring respect for all workers through working together with her colleagues for positive change. I was fortunate enough to get to know Auntie Josie during my years at the Australian Services Union where she often spoke with members and at many public events about her thoughts on fairness and equality. On every occasion that she spoke, she would unfailingly start by asking me and others how they were going and she would almost always start a speech by making a couple of very cheeky and very funny jokes.

Auntie Josie was an ambassador for our Australian Services Union's equal pay campaign with and for 200,000 community workers around Australia, 85 per cent of whom were women. This campaign was highly successful but long and hard fought and, in addition to being filled with many activities in workplaces, parliaments, public arenas and elsewhere, the equal remuneration case itself was filled with technical detail.

Amongst this, Auntie Josie absolutely cut through in terms of articulating what was important about it and why it was so important to value the work of women and the community sector's role in supporting our most vulnerable community members. In this and in all other matters concerning equality she was one of the clearest, most engaging and passionate advocates for what was fair and what was right.

Auntie Josie's leadership in every cause she was active on was exemplary. She was courageous, unfailingly kind and quietly determined. She was relentlessly active on issues that deeply affected her Aboriginal brothers and sisters and particularly Aboriginal children. She led from the centre in a way which brought people together nurtured them, empowered them and saw them similarly focused on the need to be active on the issues that they were passionate about. Auntie Josie was generous. Her leadership was never, ever about self-aggrandisement but always, always, about engendering leadership in others.

Auntie Josie's steadfast support and advocacy throughout her life for the rights of women was something I deeply admired, and on many occasions it built my courage and the courage of others to speak up and out until injustices were righted. I know that as we approach International Women's Day Auntie Josie's absence will be felt by everyone who attends our various IWD functions and events. Her very generous welcome to country at these will be remembered with a smile but sadly not heard.

Of all of the many events that I have the pleasure to attend, breakfasts are, of course, ones that I love, but they are not held at my favourite time of day. At all of the breakfasts that Auntie Josie attended, including the spectacular UN women breakfast here in South Australia, she always made a joke about how incredibly early it was held and how she might just pop back to bed as soon as possible after it. I am sure she did not; I am sure she always had far too much to do. We will miss Auntie Josie's cheeky sense of humour and the way she made us all feel so welcome on Kaurna land at so many important moments. There will always be a gap in our hearts at these community gatherings where she once stood, welcomed and held us enthralled.

Auntie Josie's packed funeral service was a testament to the thousands of lives she touched. I was honoured to attend and pay my respects amongst the huge crowd of mourners each of whom has been touched in some way by Auntie Josie's kindness, resolve, courage and leadership. It was wonderful to see her passion for the mighty Port Power on display and, importantly, it was wonderful to be comforted there by the knowledge that through her touching so many young people's lives many will continue her work for fairness, equality and compassion in all aspects of community life.

My sincere condolences to Auntie Josie's family and everyone in our community who loved and admired her. Vale Auntie Josie, and thank you. You will be remembered with love and will continue to inspire us for decades to come. We are all stronger and kinder for your work and your big and kind heart.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (16:02): Ngtaky Pitjantjatjara nintini tjuku tjuku Kaurna nia, munta. Palu, ngyalu nankatyi, nyangatja mant nyangatja manta, Kaurna manta, Rawa.

I speak a tiny bit of Pitjantjatjara, and I am sorry that I do not speak any Kaurna, but what I said is that this land that surrounds us that we are on now is Kaurna land and always will be Kaurna land.

This morning I was at a funeral for a fifth-generation Coromandel man I have known for 30 years. I thought I knew Hugh Magarey quite well, but it was during the eulogy that I found out so much more about him. He was a fine man. The pastor this morning said that we come together to grieve at funerals but we also come together to celebrate the person's life.

I knew Auntie Josie through my role as the shadow minister for Aboriginal affairs and going to functions, as you do, as members of parliament. While she was vertically challenged, she was a huge spirit. When you meet Aboriginal people in South Australia who are leaders in their communities and also leaders in the wider community you understand the achievements they have made in their lives. When you then hear about their backgrounds, the obstacles that they have overcome in their lives, you can have nothing but utmost admiration for them.

Auntie Josie was an absolutely wonderful person. We have all heard from the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition about the wonderful achievements that she made during her life.Every time I met Auntie Josie and heard her speak, I was continually in awe, not putting it too grandly, of how she was able to be the person she was and do the job she was doing. She was one of those role leaders we look for in Aboriginal communities today, and in all communities, who are upright, forthright, straight as a die and always looking not to improve themselves but to improve others. For the Agius and Warrior families to have lost someone like Auntie Josie is obviously a huge gap in their lives.

The funeral at Alberton Oval was an amazing occasion. You could sense the loss and grief that was there but, at the same time, you could sense the celebration of this woman's life. The words and the pictures portrayed only a very small part of what she achieved. I, for one, will miss Auntie Josie and her welcomes to country. Uncle Lewis O'Brien will continue to try to do his bit but that special touch that Auntie Josie had will be something we will all miss. I pass my sincere condolences to the Agius and Warrior families. I will miss her very much.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (16:06): I rise as the member for Port Adelaide to pay tribute to one of the most special constituents I had and to express my deep sorrow at her passing. For me, Auntie Josie was one of the best expressions of being a South Australian because of her combined history in our first peoples. To be Narungga, Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri and Ngadjuri in one person is an incredibly rich cultural history and I understand that she was in touch with and understood the depth of that history and the importance of it for the first peoples of this nation.

Her capacity and willingness to improve not only the lot of her people and work tirelessly for their improvement but to reach out and share the strength of her people's culture with those who came to dispossess her ancestors is a mark of a truly remarkable human being, and I am grateful to have known her even a little.

Auntie Josie, for me, was also quintessential Port Adelaide. I know she was born in Wallaroo and brought up in Point Pearce, but her characteristics are what I identify in Port Adelaide—Port Adelaide the community, the place and, also, our glorious football team—and there is no more fitting place for so many people to be able to come and commemorate her life at her funeral than the grounds of Alberton Oval.

Auntie Josie exhibited loyalty. Auntie Josie showed that once you were part of her community you were never lost to her. She showed that it is important to be tough (another Port Adelaide trait), it is important to speak the truth, and not to gloss over the reality of the truth of what we all know about the birth of South Australia and the birth of Australia. But also she had the generosity that is part of the Aboriginal people and the Port Adelaide people, the generosity of spirit that allowed her, as has been quoted, to say to all of us, 'Let us not dwell on the bad things of the past but let us not forget the past.' She had the profound wisdom of that combination and the profound generosity to allow people not of Aboriginal background to feel welcome, truly welcome, to country and truly able to participate but on the understanding that that is based on a difficult history; to acknowledge that, but to walk together, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, in harmony.

So I say to Auntie Josie's family that I am very sorry for the loss you have experienced. I am sure you are very grateful for the great gift of her life and how she has affected all of you and I, too, share your sorrow, although of course at much greater distance, and I share your gratitude that she lived amongst us.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (16:09): I rise also to support the condolence motion for Auntie Josie Agius, a well respected South Australian Indigenous elder. As has been said, Auntie Josie was born on the Yorke Peninsula and had deep ties with that community and the Adelaide community through her work in health and education and advocacy for her people. I had the great pleasure of meeting Auntie Josie on a number of occasions when I hosted numerous events around the city and Auntie Josie was often on hand to give the Kaurna welcome to country. She was small in stature but large in character.

Auntie Josie had a delightfully endearing nature and was loved by all those who met her. One of her greatest qualities was her willingness to hand over her knowledge, learnings and beliefs to the next generation of Kaurna people. I would often see her sharing time with Indigenous footballers, especially at the Port Adelaide Football Club. She would always get the ear of players like Gavin Wanganeen, Byron Pickett and Daniel Motlop, and to see them now give back to the Indigenous community and the state at large would make Auntie Josie crack one of her famous heartwarming smiles, full of pride. I was exceptionally lucky because Auntie Josie was always kind and warm to me, especially around the Port Adelaide Football Club, but I think it was because she thought I was Chad's brother.

Whilst Auntie Josie played her part in supporting the Kaurna community, for anyone interested in knowing more about the Kaurna ways and to know what Auntie Josie was about they could visit the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre and Warriparinga on the corner of Sturt and Marion roads on the boundary of my electorate. It is a wonderful place to learn more about the Kaurna ways. I have always revelled in Auntie Josie's words, 'Let's not forget the past, but let's not dwell on the past.' She would also call on Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to walk together in harmony. My condolences to the family. Vale, Auntie Josie.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (16:11): I would like to add my voice to this condolence motion. I did not know Auntie Josie particularly well, but I saw her at a lot of functions. I would just make this observation: when I first started to see her—because I was working for Kevin Foley at the time and started going to a lot of official functions—Auntie Josie would, of course, often do the welcome to country at those things. She seemed to me to be quite shy and a little retiring. As I progressed over many years, through the ministry and even recently, that shyness dropped away and she became quite sunny, even to the point of impromptu speeches while she was there. It got to the point where I would often find myself smiling when she came up onto the stage because I was looking forward to what she would say.

A couple of people have mentioned her stature. I can honestly say I have never reflected upon that until now. I never even thought about her as a short person because I was always quite taken by her personality up on the stage. For someone such as myself who did not really know her very well at all, to feel that sadness when you hear of someone's passing, I can only imagine the effect it is having on the family, so I offer my condolences and also my thanks for her service to this state in so many different capacities over such a long time.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (16:12): It is with great sadness that I contribute to this condolence motion today. I certainly pass on my respect and condolences to the family and friends of Auntie Josie. I had the pleasure of working with Auntie Josie on a number of projects. I must say that I really appreciated being able to ask her what would be seen as fairly ignorant questions about how a white person would behave and what sort of respect and address needed to be used for people who were leaders and elders of our Aboriginal community and I really thank her for helping to educate me in what was appropriate.

We bonded together pretty well straight away because although, as has been mentioned, Auntie Josie was not born in Port Adelaide, I was, and so she was very happy about having an association with me and because I grew up particularly in the Taperoo, Largs Bay and Largs North area we had a lot of things in common that we could discuss. There were a lot of families that I went to school with and a lot of people who were my neighbours, particularly in Largs North, who knew Auntie Josie and also the other family. It is a very multicultural area, I might add.

When I say the projects that we worked on together, Auntie Josie was one of the main people who helped Amanda Vanstone (who was then Senator Amanda Vanstone) and myself establish the Indigenous Women's Gathering. This was on a national basis, and we managed to get funding. I must say Senator Vanstone has to take a lot of credit for the federal funding to make sure that Indigenous women could meet and that that net was spread wider than Australia.

I remember Auntie Josie being particularly impressed with the very assertive New Zealand women, the Maori women, who talked about a lot of rights, including something that had not occurred to me before which was 'air rights'. I think that was very instructive. I must say that Amanda Vanstone and I were wondering what we had actually created, because the power from these women was wonderful. Also on a state level, we were fortunate in convincing the treasurer of the time, Kevin Foley, that it was important that we had a regular state-based meeting and that people were able to access that meeting by being supported for both travel and accommodation. That has become a feature of South Australia's women's policy area as well.

I understand the comments that have been made about Auntie Josie's height—not that I am a very tall person—but I particularly remember the Aboriginal apprenticeship scheme which Auntie Josie helped support, and also encouraging young women to take up apprenticeships as well as young men. One of the problems with some of the occasions that we had where we gave out awards and supported people who had done very well in the apprenticeship schemes was that the lecterns were always too big and, basically, if Auntie Josie addressed people from the lecterns, you could not see her at all.

She would actually do a little bit of slapstick comedy routine about the fact that no-one could see her and she would peep out from behind the lectern and entertain people with her speech but also with her slapstick routine. Fortunately people from the further education and training area got the message and started making sure that we could actually see our very special speaker at these events.

The other really important thing that I remember was being introduced to the Aboriginal grannies. This was something that I had not really appreciated before that time about the work that the grandparents in the Indigenous community contribute, and Auntie Josie made sure—again, we had the meeting in Taperoo, of course—that I had an opportunity to hear about some of the issues I needed to know about as social justice minister.

Also, I knew as youth minister that one of our strong agendas that everyone supported was the school retention program that we needed to enforce. Auntie Josie and the Aboriginal grannies were part of some of the original ideas about how that would be successful. It is good to have policy, as she would say, 'but we actually need to come up with practical ways of making sure that that policy happens. Words are good but action is good too, and that was certainly the political message that she gave to me.

Like other speakers, I am going to be very sorry not to see her at gatherings. We really enjoyed her contribution, which was quite often a very good perspective of what the day was about, and she was always keen to make sure it was successful. Vale, Auntie Josie and condolences, as I said, to her family and friends and all of her supporters.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (16:18): I will be very brief. I too pass on my sincere condolences to each and every one of you as members of the family, and of course those members of the family who are not here today. What I recall in all my dealings with Auntie Josie was the love, care and pride she had for her family and, in turn, I know that it was reciprocated by her family and I feel very strongly about your loss and indeed the loss to all South Australians. Auntie Josie was just—how can I describe it? People talk about her stature, but I found her to be a giant of a human being. In all aspects of what she did she was a decent human being. As the member for Ashford mentioned, I learnt a lot from her, particularly during my time as the minister for youth, the minister for further education, training and employment and then in my too short a time as the Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation minister in this state.

She was a person who was immediately likeable, but when you spoke to her you knew her deep, profound understanding of a whole lot of issues. In fact, I do remember one time, too, we were having a discussion about some of the difficulties that were occurring down at Port Adelaide between some of the young people from the emerging communities and some of the young Aboriginal people down there. She said, 'We've got to get them working together. It's no use fighting each other, because they are both suffering from the same problems.'

The idea was to get them to work together to look at, I guess the common enemy is too strong, but the difficulties they were facing jointly and that they should work together. That was the premise that Auntie Josie worked on all the time; that is, we need to work together to make things better than what they were.

I told my wife Annabel when I learnt of her passing and she loved Auntie Josie very much as well, because, as I said, Auntie Josie made everyone feel welcome. I think she treated on all occasions everyone equally. She came with no preconceptions about anyone. She judged people on how she saw them; and, as a consequence of that, those people who met her were instantly attracted to her ideals, the way she thought and her quality as a human being.

I feel very sorry for your loss and the loss for all South Australians, but I know that you will take strength in the love and the care that she had for you, and I know that you will take strength from the magnificent contribution that she has made for all South Australians and this state. Vale, Auntie Josie.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (16:21): I rise to add my voice on the condolence motion before us today. On many occasions I was present when Auntie Josie Agius gave her welcome to country. I recall us speaking briefly about our mutual love for Port Adelaide, or Port Power, and the occasional mention of the high heels that I wore, because when I took mine off I was much closer to Auntie Josie's height.

Along with her family and friends, South Australia farewelled Auntie Josie at Alberton Oval in January. She was a remarkable woman, and today I just want to extend my condolences to her family for sharing her with us on the many occasions that she did. I know that her time, giving her welcome to country, meant that she was not with you, but we thank you truly and sincerely for her being present with us.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (16:22): I acknowledge that we gather on Kaurna land today, and the many members of Auntie Josie's family who have joined us for our condolence motion. Auntie Josie Agius has been a kind, warm and consistent presence in my life since I first became an MP.

Before I knew the difference between an acknowledgment or a welcome to country, Auntie Josie was at events I was attending as I tried to learn everything I could about Aboriginal and Indigenous matters, and she was always present officiating at functions all over Adelaide. As has been said about her height, I am fairly short of stature, too, and she always made me feel very tall. There was a quote in The Advertiser on 22 February 2014 which said.

Her personality dwarfed her petite frame, leaving a lasting impression on crowds of hundreds and often thousands.

Family was her greatest love, perhaps because she lost her father, her mother and her brother at such an early age, and I know that you all know she especially loved her family, her children, her grandchildren and her great-grannies. One mob who always welcomed Auntie Josie and her welcome to country was the South Australian Public Schools Music Society. They always were thrilled when Auntie Josie came on to open all the concerts every year.

She was highly regarded and loved by many other organisations throughout Adelaide, among them the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, Catholic Education South Australia, Tandanya, the Aboriginal Health Council and the Aboriginal Lands Trust. Auntie Josie was always a very humble person, and I would like to continue on from a quote you had, leader, which finished off by saying:

I get to be at these big events and get to know these people, the important people of Adelaide.

She went on to say:

For us it was such a big thing for anybody to come and talk to us, especially from the big mob.

She was a very humble person and I know she was pleased when the Aboriginal flag was flown here permanently at Parliament House, and again when speaker Breuer introduced the custom of acknowledging country here in this chamber.

Although Auntie Josie did not ever have a chance to address us, she followed the activities of the Florey Reconciliation Task Force quite closely. She was supportive of our activities on recognition and closing all the gaps. It is poignant perhaps that this week sees the anniversary of the apology and that tomorrow many of us will gather at the breakfast. I am sure Auntie Josie will be there with us in spirit. I was not able to attend the funeral because of the birth of a child, and I know Auntie Josie would understand that.

We pass on our condolences to all of you in your loss. I ask members to stand as a mark of respect in their places to pass this motion.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 16:26 to 16:34.