First Nations Voice To Parliament

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:42): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs a question about the First Nations Voice to Parliament.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Much criticism has been levelled at the Voice to Parliament, including that 90 per cent of eligible voters failed to cast a ballot in the historic vote, with members elected with as few as six votes. About 30,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were eligible to vote but the Electoral Commission SA figures show less than 2,600 formal votes were received.

Concerns are now being raised about the independence of the Voice and how it will operate. Forty-six will fill the six Local Voices, with two presiding members from those six on the 12-member State Voice. Elected members will receive between $3,000 and $18,000, sitting fees of $206 per meeting, travel, accommodation and meal allowances and $1,000 each for a laptop. The advisory body will make representations to state parliament and talk with government ministers and agency heads. I am informed that 16 current serving public servants have been elected to the Voice. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister provide the exact number of public servants elected to the Voice and provide advice on how they will be able to give independent guidance and advice without fear or favour, given the intrinsic conflicts of interest which arise from their employment?

2. Can the minister advise how these public servants will be able to be members of the Voice when the SA Public Sector Act states very clearly that public servants have a duty to avoid conflicts of interest?

3. Do you or the government have concerns about these potential breaches of the conflict provisions of the Public Sector Act, and have those concerns been raised?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for his question, which is almost identical to a question the opposition asked me a few weeks ago. I am happy to restate the answer I gave a few weeks ago, and I will be happy to send the honourable member the Hansard of the answer I previously gave the opposition on an almost identical question.

I don't have the exact number, I think it is between 10 and 15—it might be 11 or 14 members of the 46, but it is in that order—who are members of the state public sector, which is not surprising. I am very pleased that the South Australian public sector is an employer of choice for so many Aboriginal people in this state. As I said when I answered this question a few weeks ago in this very chamber, there is a process for conflicts of interest.

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment regularly provides advice for people who are members of boards and committees who are public sector employees about managing any conflicts that could possibly come up, how to declare them and how to manage them. There are members of the South Australian public sector who are appointed to a whole array of boards and committees throughout South Australia where any possible conflicts, if a decision has anything that impinges on their employment, are well and truly managed. I am very pleased that the South Australian public sector is an employer of choice for so many Aboriginal people.