Parliamentary Procedure

Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement, Statement to House

The Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement (Dr R. Thomas) was admitted to the chamber.

The SPEAKER (16:00): Dr Thomas, you were appointed South Australia's Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement in July 2018. In December 2018, the Premier announced a two-year Aboriginal Affairs Action Plan with 32 specific actions, one of which was to develop a model to facilitate and enable better engagement between the government and Aboriginal communities, and for Aboriginal voices to be more represented in government decision-making.

In the course of that work, as Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement, you are invited to this house to make a presentation to the parliament on your work since the commencement of your appointment in mid-2018. I invite you to address this house.

Dr THOMAS: Mr Speaker, honourable ministers and members of parliament, I thank you for receiving me in this chamber today on this very historic occasion. As you have probably heard already from the stutter in my voice, this is very emotional for me, so I ask for your indulgence as I go through my presentation.

As a proud Kokatha Antakarinja Matu Mirning man, I would like to formally begin my presentation by firstly attending to my cultural obligations. I acknowledge the land that I meet you on today as the traditional lands of the Kaurna people, and I respect their spiritual relationship with their country. I pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the custodians of the Adelaide Plains region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the descendants of Kaurna people today.

I also acknowledge and respect all Aboriginal peoples of South Australia as the first peoples and nations of South Australia. I recognise them as the traditional owners and the original occupants and custodians of the lands and waters of South Australia and that they continue to maintain their cultural heritage beliefs, languages and laws, which are of ongoing importance to them all, including myself.

Mr Speaker, to say that I am extremely honoured to be present in this chamber today and to be a significant part of this auspicious occasion is an understatement. I must also from the outset commend the Premier, the Hon. Steven Marshall MP, for his support and commitment in getting my report to be personally presented to this parliament as the Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement.

As a reference point, if this is a step towards a voice to parliament, as per the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and I quote, 'Voice. Treaty. Truth,' then I believe that I have taken a small number of steps today to being the first Aboriginal person to present an Aboriginal voice on the floor of this chamber. What a great honour. We still have a long way to go. I will cover this in my closing statement in my comments about the way forward.

As the Speaker has already stated, I was appointed Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement on 18 July 2018. As commissioner, I report directly to the Premier, who is also the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. In my role, I am an independent voice for Aboriginal South Australians to the state government. I carry this out with a high level of respect, integrity and also vigour.

I would like to put on the record in this chamber the outstanding work of five previous Commissioners for Aboriginal Engagement who in my view have all carried out the roles and functions of commissioner with high distinction and with the utmost respect of the Aboriginal community across South Australia. If I get a bit sooky here, there is somebody sitting up in the visitor's gallery whose name I will refer to. They include:

the inaugural commissioner, Mr Clinton Wanganeen, who was appointed in 2007;

the first female Aboriginal commissioner, Ms Khatija Thomas, who I referred to as present with me today;

Mr Frank Lampard OAM;

Ms Ina Scales in the APY lands; and

Mr Harry Miller.

I acknowledge the efforts and the work that those commissioners have carried out ahead of my appointment.

Now to my report. In this report, I detail the achievements of my functions in the period mentioned. A major part of my work since my appointment in 2018 has been Aboriginal engagement, as already pointed out by the Speaker. I will go into more detail about this initiative further on in my report. Throughout my work, I have constantly engaged with the Aboriginal community. I have listened to Aboriginal voices and brought them independently and honestly to government. Through my engagement with the South Australian Aboriginal community, my place within it, I hear the community's views and the challenges it faces as well as the strength in the aspirations.

In this report, in addition to reporting on my activities, I have taken the opportunity to bring to the government and to this parliament my concerns about ongoing exclusions and inequalities experienced by Aboriginal people. While there have been genuine efforts by governments to address Aboriginal disadvantage, Aboriginal people continue to lag behind the rest of the community in nearly every social, economic and health indicator that is available to us.

Aboriginal South Australians continue to experience institutional and systemic racism—this is something we must attack and reject—including in their dealings with the South Australian government, which is of significant concern to members of this parliament. The impact of this racism is complex. Within the context of structural racism in this report, I bring to the parliament's attention a number of areas that are at the forefront of concerns for Aboriginal people. These include:

women, children and families;

justice and corrections;

health and wellbeing;

housing and homelessness; and

education and training.

My discussion here is not exhaustive, but the issues raised are recurring, complex and require strategic policy responses. We cannot sit back and allow them to continue. Lack of progress suggests that these issues are intractable. Let me tell you that they are not. The evidence provided here in my report, while not comprehensive, gives truth to the lived experience of the South Australian Aboriginal community as expressed to me over the last two years.

In my report, I have also taken the opportunity to provide my views on some of the positive developments in Aboriginal policy and programs over these last two years under the wardship of the Premier. This list is by no means exhaustive. I look to the honourable ministers here and I am sure honourable ministers can think of some positives in their respective portfolios. This is a starting point through my eyes and engagements with my communities.

I commend the government for some of the positive developments that have been put in place to improve the lives of Aboriginal South Australians, and these include, as a starting list:

the Aboriginal Affairs Action Plan;

appointment of the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People;

the strategic cabinet and the involvement of the South Australian Aboriginal Advisory Council;

the all-of-government Reconciliation Action Plan;

custody notification service regarding Aboriginal people when an Aboriginal person is detained in custody;

cultural awareness training for cabinet and the Senior Management Council; and

the Lot Fourteen Aboriginal art and culture centre.

There are others, but in the time allotted I have given the ones that, from my perspective and certainly from the views that I have had from Aboriginal community members, are significant ones.

Now to the Aboriginal engagement reform. I have dedicated a number of pages in my report on the proposed reform. Why? Because it is a significant way forward for us as Aboriginal people in this state. As there is limited time available to go through this initiative in full—and I invite all to make reference to the sections in my report about the finer details—I will provide a summary of some of the key points about the status of the reform.

Following statewide consultations with the Aboriginal community, I have developed and proposed a new model of engagement: an Aboriginal representative body. As proposed in its initial phase, it will comprise elected and appointed members directly accountable to the Aboriginal community. We have not had this in South Australia before.

The three tenets of the Uluru Statement from the Heart are voice, treaty and truth. The Aboriginal representative body I believe I have brought to this government on behalf of the state's Aboriginal community will bring a voice and truth to the government. This is an important step in seeing Aboriginal South Australians enjoy the full rights and benefits we hope for all South Australians.

My original proposal was for elections to be conducted for the Aboriginal representative body in the first half of 2020, with a view to establishing the body on 1 July 2020. This timetable has been stalled. We all know and are aware of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. Amongst other things, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Aboriginal community in a very big way. During the four months from March 2020, access to designated Aboriginal communities was not permitted and there were restrictions. Across the state, general health restrictions limited consultations and curtailed any opportunity to commence the work for the elections.

I am also disappointed that implementation of the Aboriginal engagement form model did not receive funding in the recent state budget. While I welcome assurances that some funding will be provided through Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation until 30 June 2021, I do not believe it is appropriate that the establishment of a genuinely representative Aboriginal voice to parliament be funded from an already reduced budget for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation.

Despite the revised funding allocation, my office will continue its work to establish an Aboriginal representative body in the latter half of 2021. We will pursue these three pieces of fundamental work to achieve this, as endorsed by the Premier. These being, firstly, drafting election rules around issues such as eligibility for voter registration, enrolment provisions, complaints and dispute resolution processes, election methodology and ward composition. We have come close to completing the drafting of all of that. Secondly and most importantly is the drafting of legislation for the election of the five candidates from the five wards. The third is establishing an electoral roll of Aboriginal South Australians and the mechanisms to promote and support voter registration.

For the reform to be implemented in full, long-term dedicated funding must be provided in the 2020-21 budget and future state budgets. This is a commitment that we must all try to stand by. This will support the initial election and ongoing sustainability of an Aboriginal representative body, including secretariat support, remuneration for members, a recurrent electoral cycle and continuous engagement with the Aboriginal community across the state.

I recognise that there is a level of nervousness among the Aboriginal people across our state about the risk of COVID-19. I believe that many of our communities across this country are nervous. This may continue to present challenges for engagement and the electoral process; however, we should not lose sight of the significance of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, in which truth-telling and an Aboriginal voice were the key messages of the broader Aboriginal community.

The Office of the Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement will continue to pursue self-determination for Aboriginal people through a genuinely representative Aboriginal voice. We must have regard for this voice and this initiative remains my priority.

The way forward—and, Mr Speaker, in this section you may find that I get emotional and I stand by and ask you to indulge me. The strong cultural community and family ties that characterises South Australia's Aboriginal community offers ways forward, despite the challenges I have mentioned, as does our relationship to country.

The community is clear about the way forward. It is through leadership by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people and through a genuine and representative voice for Aboriginal people into government. It is through mutual respect. The Aboriginal representative body proposed here and formulated through engagement with Aboriginal people across the state will support the full participation of Aboriginal people in the life of this state.

On this very special day, I have created my footprint into the Parliament of South Australia. As the Uluru statement is titled 'from the Heart', I wish to now speak to you from my heart. Here we go. This is my 47^th year working in the struggles and advancement of my people. It has been a very long journey but I am not finished yet. My final message to all of you today is to say that while too many people who work all their life for their people often run out of faith and hope, I want you to know that I have a very strong sense of hope and a very strong level of commitment left in my tank.

I believe that the footprint that I have created in this chamber today will not fade but will be the footprint for future generations of Aboriginal people to follow and to walk on. The Premier has laid the foundations of an element of the Uluru Bringing Them Home report by having me present my report today to this chamber, and I am grateful to the parliament for giving me this opportunity.

Once again, I commend the honourable Premier for his commitment. I also note the hanging of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in the chamber today. This is a further significant milestone achieved and I congratulate you on that. South Australia can be proud of today's historic event as I do not believe any other state or territory has done what we have achieved today, Mr Premier.

I strongly believe that for us to progress what has been started today, as it is often stated, Aboriginal affairs should be bipartisan, and it is to that end I strongly encourage this parliament to fully apply the full spirit and principles of bipartisanship in working with me and other significant Aboriginal people to progress the Aboriginal voice.

In conclusion, honourable ministers and members of parliament, I have the great pleasure to present to the Premier of South Australia, the Hon. Steven Marshall, and the Parliament of South Australia, the Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement's Biannual Report for the period July 2018 to November 2020. Thank you.