Aboriginal Monuments

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (15:18): My questions are to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs regarding Aboriginal monuments. What is the progress of the statue of Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG, commissioned by the former Marshall Liberal government? Will this be the first statue, or amongst the first statues, to be finalised, borne out of the work by Dr Roger Thomas, which sought to investigate and create statues of monuments that would celebrate Aboriginal people of significance?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for her question. The Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement, Dr Roger Thomas, is in fact doing consultations about the implementation of this government policy for Aboriginal statues around South Australia. The honourable member refers to Lowitja O'Donoghue, who celebrated her 90^th birthday recently and who is, in many people's feedback, an appropriate person to have a statue of. In relation to individual details, I am not going to go into matters the member has raised, in particular about previous matters with that statute, out of respect for Aunty Lowitja's family.