House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-29 Daily Xml

Contents

MEMBER FOR GILES

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (14:56): Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to you. Can you please inform the house regarding the special recognition bestowed on you recently by the Aboriginal community?

The SPEAKER (14:56): Thank you, member for Fisher. Yes, last week I was given an Aboriginal name. My 'ini', or my Aboriginal name, is Nyimbala. I was taken by the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara women of the Coober Pedy area, and the APY area, to a special ceremony in a special women's location—sacred site—and was given that name, which is the name of a very important woman in the Aboriginal community. So, it was an incredible honour for me. I am still getting over it, but it was an incredible honour for me, and I am very pleased because my electorate has such a large Aboriginal population. I do thank them very much for giving me that honour, and I feel that I am able to work even better with those women, particularly the Kungas, but also all Aboriginal people in the area. So, thank you for asking the question, but it was great.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The SPEAKER: I just hope there were no Advertiser photographers there at the time!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: No, I won't tell you the whole story. If I tell you the whole story, I'll have to kill you.