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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-15 Daily Xml
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Aboriginal Language Interpreting Service

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. How is the Malinauskas Labor government recognising the value of the oldest living languages on the planet? Ngaityalya.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (15:00): Ngaityalya. I would like to thank the member for the question. The member for Adelaide, along with the member for Waite, myself very soon, and probably other members on this side of the house are learning the Kaurna language. I think it's very important for us to be able to do that as part of the acknowledgement of the traditional owners of our country. As part of that, it was my great privilege last week to officially launch the Aboriginal Language Interpreting Service (ALIS).

The new service is changing how we as a government can communicate with Aboriginal language speakers. It's a critical step towards ensuring Aboriginal people finally have equal access to information and to services. Last financial year more than 20 per cent of requests for Aboriginal interpreters for people appearing in the court went unmet. In other words, more than 560 people appearing in court were unable to have their voice properly heard.

This is about victims, witnesses and alleged offenders who all struggled to have their voices heard or understand what was happening in our courts. It goes well beyond the justice system. People have been unable to communicate their needs in hospitals, homelessness services have been unable to understand people and their needs, youth services are unable to properly engage. The list goes on and on. Last week was the beginning of the end for these terrible outcomes.

The service is now providing interpreting services in all the major languages spoken by Aboriginal people in South Australia, and there are many. With an all-Aboriginal team of office staff and interpreters, ALIS is already increasing the number of Aboriginal people accessing employment and training opportunities in the first few months. I congratulate the Senior Project Officers, Tara Liddy and Clayton Dodd; Program Manager, Kristen Walter; and their amazing team on the groundbreaking work that means Aboriginal people are now able to be informed and helped to make decisions regarding critical matters which impact on their lives.

If we look back to 2017, the Weatherill Labor government allocated $2 million to this service, but that money went nowhere for four years. The member for Dunstan, who took on many portfolios as Premier, oversaw an absolute lack of progress in this regard, which included Aboriginal affairs. He revealed his true colours in 2017 by describing the treaty process as, I quote, 'a complete hoax'.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, I will hear the point of order under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Well, that last comment was a personal reflection, but prior to that the minister was debating and not actually answering the question about what the government is doing.

The SPEAKER: In relation to the purported personal reflection, I draw members' attention to standing order 127, which permits neither digression nor personal reflections, but in relation to the standing order that was emphasised by the member for Morialta, debate, the core question allows a degree of context, and I understand the minister was providing it.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: I think in general there was a complete lack of progress in this regard and genuine engagement in reconciliation. This Aboriginal Language Interpreting Service was fully funded and went nowhere. I think after more than two years, what I'm told is that it was actually handballed to the Department of Human Services from the Premier's department as a shameless attempt to cover up the lack of progress and a way to try to get something to happen. It is a true celebration—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! minister, I will hear the point of order under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The commentary is partisan; it's barracking. It's trying to ascribe motive to a government decision of which the minister was not a member and it is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —entirely debate, contrary to standing order 98.

The SPEAKER: Very well. Minister, I draw your attention to standing orders 127 and 98. The minister has the call.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: It was a true celebration to see the office officially be launched last week. We celebrated with the wonderful music of Tilly Tjala Thomas, and we were blessed with a unique painting from artist Cedric Varco, which was a visual representation of the diverse language service. The picture said a thousand words. These lost almost precious languages are now part of a contemporary practice when it comes to providing services to people all over our state from a diverse range of Aboriginal lands.

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