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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-11-10 Daily Xml
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NAIDOC Week

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier advise the house what he is doing to mark NAIDOC Week in 2020?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:17): I thank the member for Flinders for his question about NAIDOC Week, which this year of course is significantly delayed from when it is normally held in July. NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee and it can trace its origins right back to the 1920s. It's a time each year when we can celebrate the history and the culture and the language and the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders here in Australia, and what a contribution they have made.

This year, of course, it has been very much delayed, so it will be held from 8 to 15 November and the theme this year is 'Always Was, Always Will Be'. This, of course, relates to the land, the country, that is inextricably linked to the culture of the oldest living civilisation on this earth—65,000 years.

I note that I was only recently up at Oak Valley on the Maralinga Tjarutja lands with the member for Flinders, meeting that community, and they, like so many other communities in South Australia, worked very hard to protect their communities in a lockdown under the Biosecurity Act during the height of the infectious period of the coronavirus. I congratulated that community like I congratulate all communities in South Australia who have protected their communities during this year.

This is a time to celebrate. It's a time to celebrate some of the magnificent achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Yesterday, I had a great opportunity to speak with Vincent Namatjira after he had been to Government House to receive his Order of Australia medal from His Excellency the Hon. Hieu Van Le, Governor of South Australia. This was a great celebration.

He was in fact joined by two other people from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands. He was joined by Nyurpaya Kaika Burton from Tjala Arts on the Amata community and also Tuppy Goodwin from Mimili, who was receiving the Order of Australia medal on behalf on her late husband Mumu Mike Williams. These are incredibly talented artists. They have a major contribution to make: to preserve, to tell and to share with the world 65,000 years of Aboriginal stories and songlines, and that is exactly and precisely what we plan to do here in South Australia with the establishment of the Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre.

In a few moments' time, the Treasurer will come in, and I am very proud that during NAIDOC Week we will be announcing significant increased funding for the Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre in South Australia. This is a great opportunity to create a globally significant centre that will preserve the wonderful art and artefacts that we have and to share that with the globe. It will create a wonderful tourist attraction and, most importantly, it will preserve and share those wonderful stories and songlines.

In addition to that, we will be addressing one of the longstanding issues left unresolved by the previous government, and that is the storage of Aboriginal art and artefacts, which have been left in a deplorable condition down at Netley. We will be establishing a new storage facility which will be based on best practice internationally. These two announcements we could not be more proud to make during NAIDOC Week. It is our great wish that these will resolve some of the issues left completely without resolution by the previous government.

On Sunday just gone, I was down at the Royal Flying Doctor Service Adelaide site at the Airport, and that was a great opportunity to meet with two incredible artists from the Ceduna area. I met with Kelly Taylor and also T'keyah Ware. They are very proud Antikirinya/Yankunytjatjara/ Kokatha women who have designed a new uniform for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It is a wonderful recognition of the contribution that the Royal Flying Doctor Service has made to rural and remote communities and will now be a permanent connection with Aboriginal people here. I hope everybody gets to enjoy and celebrate the wonderful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contribution to Australia during NAIDOC Week this year.

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