Legislative Council: Tuesday, April 09, 2024

Contents

First Nations Voice to Parliament

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:10): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to asking a question of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs regarding the South Australian Aboriginal Voice to Parliament elections.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: It was reported that of approximately 30,000 eligible Aboriginal South Australians less than 10 per cent voted in the South Australian Aboriginal Voice to Parliament elections. My questions to the Attorney-General or the minister are:

1. How many press releases went out under the minister or the Attorney-General's name regarding the Voice vote in 2024?

2. How many media conferences did the minister lead or take part in to promote the Voice vote in 2024?

3. How many community engagement forums and meetings did the minister hold to promote and inform about the Voice to Parliament?

4. What level of engagement activities has the Premier himself undertaken in comparison to those by the minister to promote the Voice election?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for her questions. In relation to the first question, I don't have the exact number, but it would be quite a number of media releases post referendum when we concentrated fully on the SA Voice elections. In relation to media conferences, a number of them; I don't remember the exact number, but there were a number of media conferences.

There were even more media interviews if you counted media conferences and media interviews I conducted since October last year on our Voice elections in Adelaide and regional media. I suspect it would likely come to dozens. As I have said before, anyone would just have to look at my social media to see the dozens and dozens and dozens of posts about the Voice elections. Did I do more media about it than the Premier? Yes; I'm the minister.