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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-01 Daily Xml
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National Reconciliation Week

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (11:45): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises National Reconciliation Week between 27 May and 3 June 2022;

(b) acknowledges that National Reconciliation Week is a time for all South Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation;

(c) congratulates the Malinauskas Labor government on its Aboriginal affairs policies, including a commitment to state-based implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and $1 million for the design and delivery of new statues and monuments to commemorate South Australian Aboriginal leaders; and

(d) recognises that, as part of National Reconciliation Week, Eddie Mabo Day will be celebrated on 3 June 2022 and commemorates his successful efforts to overturn the legal fiction of terra nullius or ‘land belonging to no-one’.

Naa Mani. Ngai Nari Catherine Warooyoo Hutchesson. Marni Naa pudni Parliament House. Kaurna Miyurna Ngadlu. Kaurna Yarta Tampinithi. Ngaitayla.

We gather here today on the land of the Kaurna people, land that was never ceded, land on which Kaurna people have native title and on which we hope to walk side by side to reconciliation.

This week is National Reconciliation Week and is bookended by two key dates, starting on 27 May as the anniversary of the 1967 referendum, when Australians voted overwhelmingly to change the constitution to allow the commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people to help address inequalities and include them in the census. Culminating on Friday 3 June, this year it is the 30th anniversary of the High Court decision in the Mabo case, recognising native title and overturning the legal fiction of terra nullius. This year's theme is 'Be brave. Make change.'

On the weekend, I attended the Blackwood Reconciliation Walk, hosted by the Blackwood Reconciliation Group. The walk is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It begins in the heart of Blackwood and wanders down Shepherds Hill Road to Colebrook Reconciliation Park. I would like to congratulate the group on the success of the day. It was also great to be joined by the member for Hurtle Vale and our newly elected federal member, Louise Miller-Frost.

On Saturday, I was brave and chose to acknowledge in the Kaurna language Kaurna elders and other Aboriginal people from other lands. It was a nervous attempt, and I would like to thank local Kaurna elder Uncle Tamaru for his teachings and guidance. I am getting better, but these are only a few but very important, words. I look forward to expanding my vocabulary and making change. I know some of my colleagues are also taking the time to learn. It is a great start but there is much to do.

Reconciliation SA does excellent work to advance the cause of reconciliation in our state, led by co-chairs Professor Peter Buckskin and Mrs Helen Connolly, and CEO Shona Reid. I am glad to be a member of this government, one that outlined an extensive Aboriginal affairs agenda for the future, ahead of the state election—reform that will be led by the first Aboriginal man to be elected as Attorney-General, Kyam Maher.

At the heart of this is our commitment to state-based implementation of the call from the Uluru Statement from the Heart: Voice, Treaty and Truth. This includes Voice: a legally enshrined Aboriginal voice to the South Australian parliament. The model for this will be worked on in close consultation with Aboriginal communities to ensure it can truly be a voice for them and their aspirations.

Treaty: agreements between the State of South Australia and Aboriginal people. This will pick up on the work of the Weatherill Labor government, which signed the Buthera Agreement with the Narungga people in Australia's first agreement in the treaty process. While the process was cancelled by the Marshall Liberal government, we have committed to restarting the work of the treaty.

Truth: reconciliation cannot be achieved without recognising the wrongs of the past and the present. Labor governments around the country are working hard to deliver on the Uluru Statement. Victoria has established the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, which is currently setting up a framework for treaty and has established the Yoorrook Justice Commission for truth telling, which has begun hearing from elders.

The Northern Territory is developing its treaty process, with a final report on consultation and recommendations for a framework to be handed down by the Treaty Commissioner later this year. The Albanese federal government has committed to delivering the Uluru Statement from the Heart, including a referendum on changing the constitution to enshrine a First Nations voice within its first term.

This process will not be easy. It is long, difficult work, but the Malinauskas government is committed to achieving meaningful and genuine reconciliation with Aboriginal people. The Malinauskas government also has a range of other commitments to achieve reconciliation and support Aboriginal South Australians. We will legislate to protect and strengthen Nunga courts. These Aboriginal sentencing courts, the first of their kind in Australia, now operate in almost every Australian jurisdiction and are found to deliver strong outcomes to reduce reoffending by Aboriginal offenders.

We have committed to providing $1 million to the design and delivery of statues and monuments of South Australian Aboriginal leaders, in close consultation with Aboriginal people. We have committed to recruiting 15 additional Indigenous rangers to the National Parks and Wildlife Service to draw upon 2,000 generations of Aboriginal knowledge for caring for and protecting country. I was glad to join the Deputy Premier and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs on the weekend to reannounce this as part of budget week.

There is a lot of work to be done to close the gap, to achieve reconciliation and to deliver better outcomes with and for Aboriginal South Australians. The Malinauskas Labor government is committed to doing the hard work. We look forward to working with Aboriginal communities right around the state and delivering our agenda.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (11:51): I am grateful for the opportunity to rise to speak on this motion—coming to the house, happily, when it does in the course of National Reconciliation Week—that, as paragraph (a) of the motion notes in terms that appear were moved by the minister in the other place, the Hon. Kyam Maher, the house recognises National Reconciliation Week between Friday 27 May and Friday 3 June. So we are in the course of it.

At the outset, I indicate that I will move to amend the motion, insofar as I would move to remove paragraph (c) and replace it as follows:

(c) Recognises progress towards reconciliation during the Marshall Liberal Government including the occasion of Dr Roger Thomas's address to parliament on 3 December 2020.

In so doing, I will come back in a moment to what was that very significant occasion on 3 December 2020 when Dr Roger Thomas had the occasion to address this house. It was the first such occasion, as far as I am aware, and a very significant occasion it was indeed. I had real pleasure in attending the Reconciliation SA breakfast on Friday morning to meet and greet Dr Thomas.

I said to him, 'Hey, it's wonderful to see you,' and we remembered together what a happy day it was on 3 December 2021 when Dr Thomas, adjacent the Speaker's chair, stood on the floor of this parliament and addressed the house in relation to work that had been done at that time towards a better reconciliation. We know that this is work that we continue to do together. It is involving both symbols and matters of substance, and National Reconciliation Week is replete with both.

I have mentioned the Reconciliation SA annual breakfast, which was held on Friday morning. I think it is important to point out to members of this house that there were 1,400 or so in attendance at that breakfast. It was MC'd by a ring-in, by a fellow from New South Wales. He could not help but remark on a number of occasions that this was by far and away the biggest such occasion nationally in the course of Reconciliation Week. In coming together in that expression, it was a stunning moment for someone from outside this state, and it was remarked upon on several occasions on Friday morning.

Reconciliation SA is celebrating 20 years this year and so, as well as the celebration of 20 years, which was another happy occasion a week or so earlier for everyone so happily to come together for that breakfast that is held each year, 1,400 or so in attendance is a great show of solidarity in relation to work that has been done both by Reconciliation SA and by everyone throughout the state over the course of those 20 years.

These were not all matters addressed by Dr Thomas in the course of his remarks, but the Marshall Liberal government's achievements—it goes to the amendment but more broadly—within the scope of this area included an investment of $9.1 million into infrastructure upgrades in 15 regional and remote Aboriginal committees, including road repairs, improvements to waste management and community infrastructure upgrades.

At Lot Fourteen, it established The Circle—First Nations Entrepreneur Hub to support Aboriginal innovation, entrepreneurship and employment. It funded with the federal government the establishment of a First Nations arts and culture centre now being built at Lot Fourteen for opening in 2025. It provided annual funding totalling $4.03 million in 2020-21 in grants and other support for Aboriginal arts and crafts.

It appointed a Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People to assist Aboriginal families and communities to keep children safe in culturally appropriate ways and develop policies and practices that promote the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal children over-represented in the child protection system. It implemented South Australia's first standalone Aboriginal housing strategy, backed by $83 million of state and commonwealth funding. It is not just words but actions and a record of achievement in circumstances where a great deal is still to be done but there is also much to celebrate.

So, with that amendment, commending as I do the balance of the member for Waite's motion, I would simply highlight three more things of significance that have occurred in this year's National Reconciliation Week, the first of which relates to the week in particular.

After the Reconciliation SA breakfast that was attended by 1,400 people, I had the great honour to go across the road to Government House to sit alongside the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, as well as the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition and the former Premier the Hon. Steven Marshall, who led this significant work over these years, among many other distinguished guests of Her Excellency the Governor Frances Adamson AC, on the occasion of the first flying at Government House of the four flags: the Australian flag, the state flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag. All four flags, since Friday morning, have been flying proudly at the entrance to Government House. We talk about both symbols and substance, and there it is writ large.

I indicate that I am doubly proud because Andrew Frazer, the legendary national Volunteer of the Year, was the one to build that stonework for the flag platform. Andrew Frazer, from Bridgewater, was present and I was so glad to see him there. It is a proud moment as well to reflect on the fact, and I acknowledge that the Minister for Education is present in the chamber, that the flying of the flags that is taking place now coincided with the occasion of the address of Dr Thomas. One thing I was proud to do in the course of my time as Speaker was to add the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to fly in this chamber.

I will finish with the words of Dr Lynn Arnold AO at the cathedral last Sunday. In relation to reconciliation more broadly, he said, quoting author Ursula Le Guin:

'You can go home…so long as you understand that home is a place you have never been.'

So it is that we need to understand that a reconciling home-coming would bring us to a different place from that from where we had departed.

Let this work continue.

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (12:02): I rise to make a very brief contribution to this debate and simply to recognise that I will be opposing the amendment put by the member for Heysen. Therefore, the motion I will be supporting includes the original paragraph (c) which congratulates the Malinauskas Labor government on its Aboriginal affairs policies and, further, that I will be moving an amendment, which introduces a paragraph (e). Therefore, I move:

That a paragraph (e) be added to the original motion, as follows:

(e) recognises the contribution of Dr Roger Thomas in his address to the parliament on 3 December 2020.

The Hon. A. MICHAELS (Enfield—Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Minister for Arts) (12:04): I rise to speak in support of the member for Waite's motion and I also acknowledge my opposition to the member for Heysen's amendment and support the new amendment moved by the member for Elizabeth.

I want to focus my comments on the impact of Indigenous culture on our South Australian arts and culture sector. Reconciliation is at the heart of South Australia's support for the arts and culture sector. Self-determination and Aboriginal-led organisations have been supported to bring Aboriginal arts and culture to the forefront of our state arts ecology.

Arts South Australia has for a long time employed an Aboriginal arts officer to foster extensive networks and engage Aboriginal people and their communities in strategic arts and culture initiatives and provide project funding opportunities, not only to ensure equitable access but to embrace the rich history expressed through Aboriginal arts and culture in this state.

Aboriginal artists have worked alongside non-Aboriginal artists sharing stories, knowledge and skills to give ancient and powerful truths a new voice through artistic expression, through public artworks that stand as long-term reminders of a past, acknowledging the present and, importantly, giving hope to the future. Major events have showcased Aboriginal culture through song and dance. Being in the audience of such events is always a true privilege, it is powerful and moving and is a stark reminder of the journey of Aboriginal people and the impact of colonisation.

Earlier this year, the government released the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Strategy for South Australia and, through that work, the pathway for true reconciliation will continue to evolve under this government. In this National Reconciliation Week, we are called upon to be brave and to make change, and our government is proud to be doing this by continuing the implementation of this groundbreaking strategy. The development of the strategy was Aboriginal-led and in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and cultural participants and a wide range of other stakeholders.

Arts South Australia has delivered a number of initiatives and supported partnerships during the strategy's development phase. Some of these include:

funding for the Adelaide Fringe to distribute $100,000 in grants and programs to Aboriginal artists, following on from successful programs in previous years;

a partnership with the City of Adelaide to fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professional development grants to provide opportunities for ATSI artists and creatives in the public art realm, with a total fund of $100,000; and

pilot projects and case studies with over $200,000 funding granted during the development of the strategy resulting in several successful projects that exemplify new ways of working and best practice, in addition to embodying the aspirations of the strategy and actions within the implementation plan.

The comprehensive implementation plan sits alongside the strategy to ensure that the government can be timely and responsive to the changing needs of the ATSI arts and culture sector.

Arts South Australia is looking forward to welcoming an Aboriginal person into a dedicated Aboriginal senior project manager role to continue work on the implementation of the strategy. The employment of a dedicated Aboriginal-identified role to lead and enable the implementation of the strategy, drive policy and strategic direction and provide artists and sector support is a key commitment of the implementation plan. Other aspects of the implementation plan include:

maintaining support for emerging Aboriginal artist groups to enable their long-term transition to funded organisations;

establishing a panel to support and guide Arts South Australia on Aboriginal arts and culture;

engaging strategy ambassadors to promote the strategy and the South Australian Aboriginal arts and culture sector;

establishing a South Australian Aboriginal arts network to enable peer-to-peer networking and the strengthening of relationships;

developing the digital skills of Aboriginal artists, groups and organisations to support their practice and growth; and

building leadership pathways, cultural career pathways and board and executive level professional development opportunities.

The South Australian Malinauskas Labor government provides a dedicated program of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander grants through its Arts and Culture Grants Program. These and other funding programs are open to all South Australian artists—a diversity of projects and outcomes are supported—many of which promote and reflect reconciliation at its heart, where artists come together as equals, where cultural heritage is respected, acknowledged and embraced, and where project outcomes touch the lives of many. There is shared understanding and a building of trust and respect across expanded networks and relationships that will guide future partnerships and inspire hope.

One such example is the ActNow Theatre, which recently received a $10,000 grant to create a First Nations board internship which will include attendance at board meetings, mentorship meetings, a governance diploma through the Institute of Community Directors in South Australia and paid study tours. The aim of this position is to work towards more young First Nations people being in a position to take up governance and leadership roles in the arts industry, which is critical.

ActNow has also received $25,000 to build on its successful First Nations Pathway Program. This program will offer 10 to 15 young Aboriginal artists a week-long intensive introduction to the performing arts and film industries. We also have the APY Art Centre Collective Aboriginal Corporation, which has received $30,000 to allow leading APY artists to create large-scale collaborative artworks for an international showcase. Nineteen artists will be employed in the creation of six paintings, telling the story of the deep talent and diversity emerging from the contemporary APY art movement.

Engagement through arts and culture provides support in achieving the Malinauskas Labor government's reconciliation commitment. I commend the original motion, with the member for Elizabeth's amendments, to the house.

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (12:11): Thank you everyone for your contributions. We support the current amendment and move that motion. I close the debate.

The SPEAKER: I observe, too, that there are a number of amendments proposed. I turn first to the member for Elizabeth observing, too, that the member for Heysen has indicated amendments.

Mr ODENWALDER: I do not speak again, do I?

The SPEAKER: We have the amendment and it is seconded, and I will put the question. Before I do that, I will observe that the member for Elizabeth, as I understand it, is seeking to introduce a new paragraph (e). For guidance to members, and for the benefit of the house, I observe that the member for Heysen is seeking to remove paragraph 3, which I take to be paragraph (c), and replace it with a new paragraph 3, which I take to be paragraph (c). I put the question in relation to the amendment moved by the member for Elizabeth.

Amendment carried.

The SPEAKER: Turning to the member for Heysen, it may be that he does not wish to press his amendment?

Mr Teague: Well, it's wrapped up.

The SPEAKER: Very well. The question before the Chair is that the motion as amended be agreed to.

Mr Odenwalder: That's just my amendment?

The SPEAKER: Yes, that's right member for Elizabeth, and the member for Heysen I see concurs and is not pressing his amendment.

Motion as amended carried.

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