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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-08 Daily Xml
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First Nations Voice Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 7 March 2023.)

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:49): I rise to continue my remarks on this bill. When I was wrapping up yesterday, ahead of the adjournment of parliament, I was speaking about my yungandalya Tamaru, an emerging Kaurna elder who is a dear friend of mine and who was teaching me the traditional language of his people, the Kaurna people, as a way that I can practically show my support to Aboriginal people.

I am so proud to walk side by side with my yungandalya Tamaru at various events in my community, particularly the Prospect citizenship ceremonies. Uncle Tamaru always talks about the fact that we do not walk behind each other, we do not walk in front of each other, but we walk side by side, and that really is the spirit of reconciliation. Despite all that has happened over decades and decades my yungandalya Tamaru still wants to walk together with us. His generosity of spirit sees him share his time, his culture and his language with me and others in our community.

Learning the Kaurna language is something that I am so incredibly proud to do because it is being able to speak the language of people who have been here for so very long—Aboriginal people are the oldest living culture on the planet and for millennia have thrived as the custodians of the land and waters of this state, and I often reflect on that.

As people, we celebrate heritage and history. We will travel vast distances overseas to celebrate and experience significant monuments—think about Rome in particular or Egypt. When you actually stop and think about why we do that, and then think that in our home we are the home of the world's oldest living culture, to think that perhaps we do not celebrate and acknowledge that as much as we should sometimes really confuses me. It should be something that we are so incredibly proud of, that we respect, that we acknowledge and that we celebrate. So now, as a nation, I think we do. We have a real opportunity to collectively show our support for the oldest living culture on the planet. We can do this by showing our support for a Voice to Parliament.

I am incredibly proud that South Australia is leading the way with our own state legislation, and I want to congratulate the Hon. Kyam Maher MLC in the other place on his leadership on this bill. I also commend the Commissioner for First Nations Voice, Dale Agius, for his extraordinary contribution. There are so many people behind the scenes who work on significant legislation such as this so I want to give a shout-out to the Aboriginal affairs ministerial adviser, Roland Ah Chee, for his tireless efforts on this behind the scenes, along with the department staff and every single First Nations person who has contributed to this bill.

The bill comes almost six years after the Uluru Statement from the Heart was handed down in 2017, and follows six months of extensive consultation by the government led by Commissioner Agius. This is a historic opportunity for parliament to hear the call from Aboriginal people and commit to meaningfully engage with Aboriginal people on issues that affect their lives. By passing this bill, South Australia will show the rest of the country how the Voice can work ahead of the upcoming national referendum.

It is heartbreaking and it is shameful that Aboriginal people are still the most disadvantaged people in our community. Aboriginal people make up 2 per cent of the general population and yet make up 19 per cent of the prison population. While the gap is closing, the life expectancy of Aboriginal people is still eight years less than non-Aboriginal people. Around 25 per cent fewer Aboriginal students finish secondary school than non-Aboriginal students. With statistics like this, something needs to change.

The current programs and frameworks have clearly not worked to reduce the disadvantage many First Nations people experience. The Voice was called for by First Nations people at Uluru as one of the ways to address this disadvantage. The Voice will not be a silver bullet, but we know that policies that support First Nations people are more effective when First Nations people are involved in their design. The Voice will give Aboriginal people more of a say in the decisions that affect their lives, and that can only be a good thing. But despite these indisputable statistics, some continue to question why it is that Aboriginal people and not other groups deserve a Voice to Parliament.

Former Labor colleague and former Aboriginal affairs adviser and proud Kokatha woman, Amy Rust, I think put it best, and I quote:

To all those spewing about whataboutism… it comes back to the burning house theory.

Yes, ALL groups & ethnic minorities are deserving and arguably in need of…government attention. But there is no other group who have collectively suffered so greatly for so long than Aboriginal people. This isn't a victim mentality, this is a fact. On every possible metric, Aboriginal people are worse off than our non-Aboriginal Australians—health, education, employment, don't get me started on incarceration rates.

The ongoing impact of colonisation and associated disadvantage is very real. It's clear that successive governments have tried admirably and failed to improve much (check out the annual Closing the Gap reports). There is an abundance of evidence that shows when Aboriginal people are in control of the policies and programs that affect their lives, positive things happen.

So why or how could anyone argue against this?

It literally has no bearing on you or your life, it just means your fellow citizens, who have had a pretty rough trot of it, are very likely to have improved life outcomes.

It is important to note that after the 2019 federal election the then South Australian Labor opposition, led by the opposition leader Peter Malinauskas, made a bold commitment to fully deliver on the Uluru Statement from the Heart—Voice, Treaty, Truth. This is a commitment we made years ago and we have never wavered in our commitment, unlike those opposite.

With the election of the Albanese and Malinauskas Labor governments, we now have a chance to deliver a First Nations Voice at both levels of government. Let's seize this opportunity. Let's make our children, our grandchildren and their children proud. Let's hear the call of First Nations people, our oldest living culture. Let's truly listen, let's create change and let's deliver the Voice. I commend this bill to the house.

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (15:56): I rise to speak on the First Nations Voice Bill. I am so proud to speak on this bill and be a part of this historic change that will provide Aboriginal people in South Australia with a Voice about what matters to them. I stood for this parliament because I wanted to make a positive change in South Australia and this is such a significant opportunity that reaffirms my decision to run for office.

It was fabulous to watch in our last sitting week Aboriginal Attorney-General the Hon. Kyam Maher MLC introduce this bill into parliament and speak with such passion. I would like to acknowledge that I stand here on the lands of the Kaurna people and pay my respects to elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

On Friday night I went to see Spinifex Gum open the Adelaide Festival—I saw them once before at WOMAD—and what an inspirational group of young Aboriginal women they are, young Aboriginal women singing the story of Ms Dhu, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody in Western Australia in 2014. She was in jail for unpaid fines of $3,622. Whilst in police custody, she became incredibly unwell; however, police officers did not take her cries for help seriously and with their racist lens assumed she was suffering a withdrawal from drugs. In fact, she had an infection in her broken ribs and died suffering from deep pain from sepsis. This is why we need a Voice to Parliament.

In the song Yurala, Spinifex Gum contemplate the impact mining has had on their country, on their community, on the environment, without any opportunity to be heard; when an elder, Long Mack, spoke up for his country but the white people in the city and in the parliament did not listen. This is why we need a Voice to Parliament.

In the song Locked Up, Spinifex Gum rightly ask:

Why're the kids locked up

Take this silence and blow it up

Why they go so young

Falling sisters and burning sons

They put our kids in the system

Findings, reports, and royal commissions

Numbers, statistics when they're making decisions

Assess the risks and build another prison

I find those lyrics really difficult to listen to—and I should—and that is without having any lived experience. We should be challenged on these issues. That is why we must have a Voice to Parliament. Spinifex Gum sing wonderful songs of joy and hope too, my favourites being Marliya and Sisters; to know that these young First Nations women will fight for a better future than is currently mapped out for them. This is why we need a Voice to Parliament.

I hope that this historic change in South Australia that is unfortunately not being supported by those opposite will be followed later this year by a Voice to the federal parliament. This bill, introduced by our Attorney-General in the other place, marks historic change to the way parliament and government engage with Aboriginal people. It provides direct access to this parliament, to ministers and chief executives, and it delivers another key election commitment of the Malinauskas Labor government, a government that is governing for all South Australians.

I am proud to be a part of a government that back in 2019 committed at a state level to implementing the three core elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart: Voice, Treaty, Truth. Back in 2015, the federal Referendum Council was established to start the process to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution. It undertook consultations through 2016 and 2017 before the First Nations National Constitutional Convention was held at Uluru in May 2017.

This convention gathered 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over four days. The convention drafted and overwhelmingly adopted the Uluru Statement from the Heart—a generous invitation from First Nations people to the nation to walk together for a better future. The Uluru Statement called for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the constitution (Voice); a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations (Treaty); and truth-telling about First Nations history (Truth). Now in South Australia, we are taking the first step, which is to deliver to Aboriginal people in South Australia a Voice. This is not easy, and nor should it be, but it is essential that we walk together into the future. We used to be a state of firsts, and this government is bringing progress back to South Australia.

Commissioner Agius, as the state's inaugural Commissioner for First Nations Voice, undertook two rounds of consultation before this bill we are debating today entered parliament. From August to October 2022, the commissioner spoke with around 450 people at 30 in-person engagement sessions both in metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia. Following this, Commissioner Agius delivered the first engagement report, and then the government released the draft First Nations Voice Bill 2022, based on the feedback from these consultations. This bill was published on YourSAy for public feedback, and Commissioner Agius commenced a second round of in-person consultations.

We should be clear: this is not rushed; it is considered. It is not a surprise; it is following extensive consultation. It is not the panacea to all challenges facing Aboriginal people, but it is part of a process started eight years ago at the federal level and six years ago in South Australia. It is clear from the first round of consultation that First Nations people want to see a direct Voice to the South Australian parliament; the Voice to represent the diversity of the South Australian First Nations people, including nation group diversity, gender, youth and LGBTQI+ people; and direct access to government decision-makers, including cabinet and chief executives.

As a unionist, I am proud to say that the union movement are allies in calling for a Voice to Parliament. In fact, I first learnt of the Uluru Statement from the Heart from Thomas Mayer, a Torres Strait Islander man and an MUA union official. Thomas is a tireless campaigner for Voice, Treaty and Truth, and I thank him for the education he has provided the union movement on the value of having a Voice to Parliament.

As we know, First Nations people have inhabited this continent for at least 60,000 years and comprise the oldest living culture on our planet. A culture that has existed for so long is one to celebrate and nourish. However, First Nations people continue to experience significantly worse outcomes than the wider population in a range of areas, including life expectancy, education, justice, health and more.

Is the Voice a silver bullet to cure all of these? The answer is clearly no. However, what is also clear is that current programs, policies, frameworks and systems have not worked to reduce the disadvantage that so many First Nations people experience. Therefore, listening to Aboriginal people and giving them the Voice they called for with the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a way to address the issues they experience. What is true is that policies to support First Nations people are more effective when First Nations people are involved in their design. The Voice will give Aboriginal people more of a say in the decisions that affect their lives, a long overdue voice on the matters that affect them.

An opportunity such as this should not have party politics disrupt the passage of recognition. The health, education and incarceration outcomes for First Nations people can be addressed with a mechanism like the Voice to break down systemic barriers. With the hopeful passage of this important legislation, I have hope. Giving First Nations people a seat at the table, I look forward to truly listening. I am so proud to be part of the Malinauskas Labor government to deliver this important reform. I commend this bill to the house.

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Planning) (16:06): There really are crucial moments in the nation's history, and in the colour and movement of Australian life, that come to define us, and I think this is one of those moments, particularly in regard to reconciliation.

We all look at particular moments. The 1967 referendum, which saw the removal of section 127, saw the removal of what was then lawful race-based discrimination against the Indigenous people of this country. That removal saw, finally, the counting in the Census of the population numbers of Indigenous Australians, First Nations Australians. That is a critical moment in our country's history. People forget that in 1944 the Fourteen Powers Referendum had failed, which also included measures to improve the life of First Nations Australians.

In 2008, I was nearly elected to the federal parliament, and I saw one of these moments firsthand in the national apology. What we saw there was a prime minister responding to a moment in the life of our nation. It was a moment of great emotion. It was a moment of great importance in the national life because it had been such a long time coming. It had been debated and thought about and considered for such a long time beforehand and, of course, had been denied by a previous prime minister.

When you witness a prime minister making that apology in the house—and I think Kevin Rudd deserves a lot of credit for doing so. But, of course, Jenny Macklin, who was a minister at the time and just a wonderful human being, a terrific contributor to our national life, played a really key role in organising all of that. That moment meant so much to people. I remember being pleasantly surprised, or pleasantly enthused, by the fact that it was not just people inside the parliament and not just a full chamber or a full gallery, it was people on the lawns out the front of Parliament House and in parks and schools around the country who tuned in to that broadcast, to that moment.

In a very real sense, that changed the way we talk about these things. It changed the way we think about these matters, and it made everything that follows possible. Having been part of a national Labor government which undertook that measure, it is now a great honour to be part of a state Labor government with a Premier who is leading the way on the Voice.

I think it is a similar moment in our nation's history. In this case, the state of South Australia is acting I think as a state should, to a certain extent, as a proving ground, a testing ground, a social laboratory, to pressure test ideas in preparation for the nation doing them. By being the first state to undertake this through legislation after a considered period—as the member for Gibson said, a considered period of consultation, of thoughtful interaction with South Australians about the model—we are now putting that into practice in legislation in this house.

Just like with the apology there was opposition then, and I can remember the members who did not attend the apology, and how that was acknowledged as a mistake that they made at the time, because they missed a moment in the life of the country, and that was an important moment. Nobody now wants to re-prosecute whether or not we should have made an apology and, in a decade's time, once the Voice is operating, once it is part of our state's fabric of doing things—not just in terms of the mechanisms that it puts in place, but part of the culture of listening, of thinking, of considering, of making our government better, more responsive, of getting better outcomes—then I think those opposite are going to look back at this moment and see that they missed a really important moment in the state's history, a moment where they could have made it bipartisan, and could have made a better decision for this state, a more courageous decision for the state.

We could have had bipartisan consensus. I think that would have been a really uplifting moment. As it is, the legislation will be uplifting, it will be positive, it will mean a lot, but I think those opposite are going to look back in the course of time and come to regret their decision to oppose this legislation, because it is important legislation, important for, as I said before, a deeper sense of reconciliation with Indigenous people, First Nations people of this country.

Just before the apology we were all standing in line to get past security in Parliament House—MPs and other people waiting for admittance—and I remember talking to this lady from Western Australia, and her story was one of those stories you do not forget. She talked about being removed from her parents, being forcibly put in an orphanage in Western Australia until she was basically an adult. She got a limited amount of schooling, but she did an enormous amount of work picking fruit, picking apricots in this orphanage which had a farm attached to it.

Having picked apricots myself, to do that summer in, summer out without any compensation, without any recompense, it was just part of the fabric of her early childhood. If we think about stories like that: being removed from your parents—often for no good reason at all other than the state administration at the time deciding to do that—and then being forcibly placed in an institution, and then being forced to work the entire time when you are in that institution, we would not contemplate those things that occurred at that time, and yet they are very real stories within the living memory of our country. For that woman, being in the gallery for the national apology, and for all her family and forebears, her grandchildren, it makes an enormous amount of difference about how they view our country and about what kind of country we are.

When you see the Uluru Statement: Voice, Treaty, Truth, that is not a difficult concept to get in your head. A Voice to Parliament, an ability, in a very real way, to influence parliament for our First Nations people, that is a critical part of reconciliation. Obviously, a Treaty is a critical part of reconciliation. Of course, Truth, that is the real history of the country. You hear it from the lips of that woman I waited in line with during the morning of the apology.

When I think back to my own high school days in Kapunda, whenever we talk about these matters, I always think about my mate Jimmy Karpany, because Jimmy was an Indigenous man. When I think back to country towns in those days, there was this level of racism which was just part of the fabric of everyday life. It would be very, very confronting today but it was commonplace then. I often think about the experience Jimmy would have if he was going to school now—year 9, year 10, year 11—compared to when he actually had.

I think we have come so far, just in my lifetime, just in the 30 to 35 years since I was in high school. Our country has made such a great degree of progress. It is not enough. We know that it is lacking in so many ways. Reconciliation is a long journey, but when we think about our own lifetimes, our own experiences, the experiences of our friends, of people we grew up with, how much different things are today, I think that is why we need legislation like this. It is part of a journey towards a goal and we will get there by doing things like the Voice.

It is really critical that we address some of the criticisms that are out there saying that this will be a third chamber of parliament. There are a whole lot of people who are drumming up fears out there in sections of the community. Fear is often a powerful motivator in the public mind. It is often a feature of our politics, but there really is not anything to fear here. This is a democratic proposition. It is the election of First Nations Voices by local regions. It is First Nations Voice being formed by the two presiding members of those regions.

It is making sure that the First Nations Voice can communicate directly with this parliament by first of all ascertaining the views on matters of interest to First Nations people; to provide an annual address to parliament on issues affecting First Nations people; to speak through its joint presiding members on the floor of parliament in relation to any bill it considers relevant; to present reports to parliament on issues affecting First Nations people, either through its own initiative or on the request of either house of parliament; and to meet twice yearly with cabinet, with departmental chief executives and to hold annual engagement hearings with ministers and chief executives on initiatives and expenditures with their agencies affecting First Nations people.

If you go through that list, there is nothing that is out of character or out of step with the nature of our parliament or, indeed, any parliament around Australia. Every parliament could easily adopt the model that we are considering in this legislation today and it would not be a detriment in any way. It would only be an adornment to any of these parliaments: it would only be to the benefit of any of these parliaments to have such an arrangement in place.

It is a really sensible model. The Attorney-General and Commissioner Agius have gone out there quite sensibly in a considered manner and have brought us back a very well-structured model that suits the parliament, that will suit the community and that, once this legislation is passed, will find a great place in the imagination of this state.

South Australia has always prided itself on being the first, on being innovative and thoughtful in terms of social policy and progress. We see here today that same pioneering spirit, that same kind of thinking forward about the future, thinking about where we might want to be—in this case, in our relationship with the First Nations people of the state—and to provide an example for the rest of the country that this can be done, that there is no reason to fear, that there is no reason to delay progress, that there is no reason to think that this is for another time or that it is somehow inconsistent in dealing with all the other challenges we face.

We cannot move forward in this country on many of the issues that affect us—poverty, climate change, housing and all these other things—unless we are also moving ahead on reconciliation. The great truth that we have to reconcile ourselves with is that there has been a terrible dispossession as a result of the establishment of colonies, whether they be penal colonies in New South Wales or free-settling ones here in South Australia. There has been a terrible dispossession of our First Nations people, and we have to come to terms with that. We have to reconcile ourselves with just the very harsh reality of our history.

If we do that, and we do it in a careful, considered and thoughtful manner, in a manner that I think was inherent in the Uluru Statement, which is a very generous statement—a statement of a great knowledge that you sense somehow in this continent—we will realise that this very sensible piece of legislation that the government has brought to this parliament has so many careful features in it which are all about accountability, about getting better results, about delivering better on the ground, about a constant focus on the great practical challenges we have. Also, participating in that generosity that underpins the Uluru Statement, it provides an example to our country about how we can move reconciliation forward, walking together.

It will be one of those moments in time that we will look back on and think to ourselves that we really did appeal to the better angels of our nature. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (16:24): I acknowledge that today in this house I stand on Kaurna land and that sovereignty was never ceded by our First Nations people. In doing so, I add my voice to support the bill before us—the bill introduced by the government's Attorney-General in the other place, the Hon. Kyam Maher, the first Aboriginal man in the state's history to be appointed to the position, and the person ultimately charged with bringing us the legislative framework we speak on today, the First Nations Voice Bill.

It is fact that we cannot undo the wrongs of the past but we can work toward creating a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the First Nations people of Australia, and the bill before us today forms part of the long and winding road to achieve this.

I stand here today proud to be part of the Malinauskas government, which is again honouring a commitment, a promise to implement at a state level here in South Australia the three core elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart: Voice, Treaty, Truth. Before the last election, the Premier committed to implementing a state-based version of the Uluru Statement. He said:

We believe in Aboriginal self-determination to guide and protect the oldest living culture on our planet.

We have committed to Aboriginal statues and monuments to remember the great people of our past and educate future generations. We have committed to transferring Tauondi College to Aboriginal control and ownership to help secure its future. To better care for our country, we will establish a First Nations advisory group to speak directly to the Minister for the Environment. Together with federal Labor, we will provide more than $15 million to give Yadu Health in Ceduna a new home, and we will legislate to enshrine the Nunga Court as part of our justice system, ensuring that Aboriginal elders have a voice in sentencing offenders and the healing of victims.

The First Nations bill before us today to which I speak delivers on the first part of the Premier's promise, establishing a fully elected First Nations Voice to our state parliament and government. The bill is the culmination of two extensive rounds of engagement with South Australia's First Nations communities and the broader community across the state, led by the recently appointed Commissioner for First Nations Voice, Dale Agius, a proud Kaurna, Narrunga, Ngadjuri and Ngarrindjeri man with connection to country across South Australia.

Also a member of the commonwealth's First Nations Referendum Working Group, his job was to engage with more than 400 people across seven metropolitan and 17 regional and remote communities across the state, and then to deliver a report on his findings. It is meaningful and it will make a difference to a people who have continued to suffer greatly. I want to thank the hundreds of willing South Australians who came to participate in this process, and congratulate the commissioner on the smooth completion of an enormous task undertaken in a matter of seven months.

The publicly released draft First Nations Voice Bill was followed by a second round of consultation, both in person and online via YourSAy. There has been much to say and our government has listened. We listened when the community highlighted the need for the Voice to reflect the diversity of Aboriginal communities with the final bill including requirements for a number of committees to be established by the State First Nations Voice, including the First Nations Elders Advisory Committee, the First Nations Youth Advisory Committee, the Stolen Generations Advisory Committee, and the Native Title Bodies Advisory Committee.

There are a number of modifications that resulted from the consultation, including the provisions designed to ensure that the Voice does not impact on native title agreements or other First Nations organisations, and a clearer definition of the terms 'First Nations person' and 'traditional owner'. It is intended that a group of community leaders consider the various views expressed during consultation and recommendations on the boundaries for the Local First Nations Voice under the model, with the final boundaries to be prescribed in regulations.

I think this goes to show how much drive there is within South Australian communities for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The will for it has a momentum that is embracing our public, showing them that there is nothing to fear, but something rather to strive for, in making the lives of First Nations people better and, in turn, making us all better.

I was a member of the Rudd Labor government and present on 13 February 2008 when the Prime Minister delivered the apology to our First Nations people, which in part said:

For the pain, suffering and hurt of the stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind,

To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities and for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

Indeed, it was an emotional day for thousands across the nation and the thousands who gathered in Canberra in the house and on the hill outside federal parliament. It was another step on what, for our First Nations people, has been a long, often excruciating journey. For more than 60,000 years they have inhabited the continent but today, sadly, these proud people continue to experience poorer outcomes in areas including but not limited to health, life expectancy, education and justice.

Just a few weeks ago, on 9 February, on introducing the bill in the Legislative Council to a packed chamber, the Attorney-General said:

In the decades and centuries gone by, the laws of our state and those of the colony that preceded it have done so much to disadvantage, discriminate against and disempower Aboriginal people. Today, this government seeks to use the laws of our state to achieve exactly the reverse.

The Voice to Parliament will provide Aboriginal people of Australia with more of a say, a voice on decisions that affect their lives.

Some are asking, 'Why do they need this Voice?' Simply put, the programs and frameworks over the years have failed to significantly reduce the impact of this disadvantage on so many First Nations people on a day-to-day basis and over their lifetime. So, how will it work? Some of the key points are that the Voice will be elected by First Nations people within each region across the state; it will have a gender balance; and the Voice will elect joint presiding members, the primary conduit for the Voice to Parliament. Their roles will include:

the right to speak on legislation that the Voice considers affects First Nation South Australians in either the House of Assembly or the Legislative Council, but not both, on any bill through one of its joint presiding members;

the right to prepare reports to parliament and to provide an annual address;

the opportunity to meet with cabinet and departmental officials to ensure that issues affecting First Nations people are heard across government; and

annual engagement hearings to examine how government expenditure is used to support First Nations communities.

While it is important to note that this legislation is designed for us to hear the Voice and to act upon recommendations, the Voice itself will not override other Aboriginal bodies or First Nations utilities in the determination. The Voice will not administer funding. It will not deliver programs. It will not have a veto power and it will not be a third chamber of parliament. What it will do is to provide a Voice to Parliament on any matter that impacts on our First Nations people.

Throughout the development of this bill, each step of the way it was hand in hand with South Australian Aboriginal communities. This is needed reform in the space of self-determination that will have everlasting effects on education, health, housing, food supply, wellbeing, justice, choice and much, much more, which will impact the lives and life spans of our First Nations people. It will give a voice to First Nations people and help guide better outcomes.

Consider the Bringing Them Home report. This was tabled in federal parliament in 1997, and it contained 54 recommendations on redressing the wrongs imposed on our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders by a raft of race-based laws. That report, of course, was the one that led to the national apology that was stubbornly rejected by the former Primer Minister John Howard, before it was put up by the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008. These were wrongs done to the Aboriginal people through legislation handed down by decades of government that was supposed to be there for Australians. They were in a sense race-based laws.

The report showed that the people of the stolen generation, children forcibly taken away from their parents, have endured ongoing hardship. They are in fact 50 per cent more likely to be charged by police, 30 per cent less likely to enjoy good health and 10 per cent less likely to have a job. It shows that more than 50 years after the stolen generation essentially ended, descendants of those people taken away from their communities are still impacted. They are still suffering. The Voice will go a long way to addressing some of these recommendations.

The Kaurna traditional welcome, Wanti-naa, translates to mean, 'Where are all of you going?' Well, today I hope that those opposite are listening to the reasons why the Voice to Parliament is a positive, why it should be supported, why they should not be afraid and that South Australia will again be written into the pages of history with another first through the passing of this legislation, the Voice to Parliament bill, which will assist in delivering a clearer pathway for the First Nations people of our state and beyond. That is where I hope we are going.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (16:36): Today I rise to speak on what is to me the most important piece of legislation to be put before this chamber in this term of government. It is commonly held that South Australia developed differently to other states and territories. It is said that as a state free of convicts we were more progressive and we placed a higher value on civil liberties than other parts of the world at the time.

In some aspects that may be true, but there is no denying the fact that when it comes to the historical treatment of our First Nations people South Australia shares the same inconvenient truth as our interstate neighbours. It is reflected in the very first sentence of the South Australia Act 1834 which described much of the state as 'waste' and 'unoccupied lands'. It is reflected in the massacres perpetrated by colonial settlers against strong communities that had existed in these lands for tens of thousands of years.

It is reflected in the pain and suffering felt by victims of the stolen generations, a truly awful practice that persisted for far too long. The truth is that for Aboriginal people European settlement in South Australia led to displacement, dispossession and generational trauma that persists to this day. Sadly, the effect of this truth is still being experienced. As the Uluru Statement from the Heart outlines, proportionally First Nations people are the most incarcerated people on the planet. On almost every measure, First Nations people were left behind, whether it be in relation to the health of their community, the educational outcomes of their children or life expectancy. We see that First Nations people continue to experience worse outcomes than the rest of the population.

These statistics are not just numbers on a page: they represent the very real lives of thousands in our state who should not be living with the extreme disadvantage that history has afforded to them. Throughout all of this, Aboriginal people in South Australia have continued to be strong and resilient. They make an irreplaceable contribution to our state and our way of life and they have consistently for many decades called for their voice to be heard.

Their voice is diverse. There are hundreds of peoples, cultures and languages across the country, many of them here in South Australia. This diversity gives strength to the messages that they have about how this state should act on the matters that affect them. Their voice matters. The messages and ideas that First Nations people have for all of us about how to close the gap and how to end systemic disadvantage is invaluable. Without their voice, history will surely be set to repeat.

Yet their voice has been unheard. Throughout the 165-year history of the South Australian parliament, there has been almost no representation of Aboriginal people in this place. Until the Hon. Kyam Maher in the other place, I do not know of another parliamentarian who identified themselves as Aboriginal. When the Uluru Statement was made, it was powerful. It clearly identified that First Nations people want a Voice and that without it our continued efforts to end generational disadvantage will be wasted.

I am very proud that the South Australian Labor Party, under the leadership of our Attorney-General, the Hon. Kyam Maher, and our Premier, was an early adopter and committed to Voice, Treaty and Truth. Now, having been elected less than a year ago, it is up to all of us to make that commitment a reality.

The bill before us presents a model for a representative Voice that has been extensively consulted on. It is, in my view, a comprehensive and considered set of reforms. It will provide the ability for Aboriginal people to issue their Voice directly to the state's key decision-makers, including our parliament, our cabinet and our chief executives.

This is a place for debate, and I expect that there will be debate of this bill. I expect that there will be amendments that will be made. But we do not want to have inaction or delay. I hope when it comes to making final decisions, particularly at the third reading, all of us in this chamber will consider what we can do in our small part in responding to the Uluru Statement to provide Aboriginal people with the input that they have deserved for so many decades.

Tomorrow in this house I will table the South Australian Multicultural Charter. This is the core of the new South Australian Multicultural Act that was enacted on 2 December 2021. There has been considerable consultation with members of the South Australian Multicultural Commission, universities, the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, the Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement and the public.

One of the key things that moved me so much in this charter was the focus on how we represent and recognise First Nations. From the different consultations that I attended, this was first and foremost what people wanted to see represented in this charter: to acknowledge a culture of 60,000 years, the oldest living culture in the world.

The South Australian Multicultural Charter acknowledges Aboriginal peoples as the traditional owners and occupants of the land and waters in South Australia, who continue to maintain and develop their cultural and heritage beliefs as the longest living diverse culture with a significant historical and ongoing role as the First Nations people in South Australia. That is the key start when we talk about the charter. The charter will also acknowledge the achievements and challenges of the generations who came before us in bringing together new and emerging communities that help shape South Australia's identity.

The charter talks about before, it talks about now and it talks about the future. When you look at the Uluru Statement from the Heart, it talked about the next stage after Voice, Treaty and Truth. That is called 'makarrata'. It is the next stage in the journey of the struggle and the progress towards coming together—the coming together after a struggle.

For me, this is something that is not only recognised by our multicultural and our diverse community. I remind us of who that is: one in two of us were either born overseas or have a parent born overseas. This is us. These people who have migrated here recognise how important it is to recognise First Nations. For me, I think it is a recognition, perhaps, of their own struggles, and for many whose voice was not heard in their own country to see how important recognition and voice is. Their willingness, their openness and their enthusiasm to respect, acknowledge and empower our First Nations has moved me in my role as Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

This coming together after the struggle is important. I turn 50 next month, and sometimes you think, 'Where did those decades go?'

An honourable member: What date?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: The 19th. But the reason I raise that is because of the change in our recognition of First Nations. When I went through school, I learned more about the Boer War than I did about Aboriginal culture, tradition and recognising the diversity of language and the richness of culture. Yet in my lifetime I have seen that change, and not just from us recognising that we are here on Kaurna land but recognising that truth needs to be told—that we need to have difficult conversations about how we treated our First Nations people.

For me, there was a complete lack of knowledge and a complete lack of understanding about how government, legislation and policy impacted people's lives. They ripped up families in a belief that one ethnicity is stronger than another, one way of life is stronger than another, and that there is only one way to live. But that puts aside humanity. It puts aside the recognition of the depth of how people work between languages, whether it is songlines, how you provide food, your knowledge of the land or your connection to the land—we dismissed that so much. It is only now that I see my son at school understanding it, acknowledging it and understanding how important it is to know the stories, to know the connection to land and to value the oldest living culture on Earth.

I do think that we are on the second part of our journey. It is about acknowledging the truth, but it is the coming together after the struggle that is important: when we consider the story told from two perspectives, both that of settlement and that of invasion, and that the maturation of Australia will be marked by our ability to understand both perspectives. That is why the Voice and representation here is so important. I am ready for that second part of our journey.

It often says the third part of our Australian story is written by generations of migrants from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, and the world over. They have come here to make their home in this continent. They have made Australia a multicultural triumph over the diversity and unity. I look around this chamber at the diversity that is here, but the diversity has not gone far enough, until this legislation came forward. So I ask people to consider this as our coming together after a struggle, to consider that this is the best way forward, and for that I commend the bill to the house.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (16:50): I rise today to speak on the First Nations Voice Bill 2023. I would like to preface my comments on this bill by saying I am very aware of the significant ground that needs to be made on the divide between Aboriginal communities and their families in our state. As a state, we have a long way to go to address systematic and structural racism, discrimination, and unconscious bias. We know we need to make ground to improve outcomes for our state's Indigenous people.

I note that the intent of the bill is to create a connected, direct and independent line of communication for First Nations people to SA's parliament and the government to allow important shared communication by locally elected regional members. I have no doubt the direction of the bill is well intended; however, I have strong reservations about what the bill will deliver for Indigenous people of our state.

It is my hope that the model proposed for the First Nations Voice Bill does make some ground to address the disparity we see between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. I fear, however, the Voice to Parliament will fall short of delivering on some of the key injustices and inequality faced by Indigenous communities. They are many.

Educational outcomes: we know that high levels of education have been linked to better economic, social and wellbeing outcomes for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Ensuring early years learning, retaining Indigenous children in schooling systems, supporting developmental progress, supporting Indigenous students to complete year 12, and increasing Indigenous representation in tertiary education are all fundamental outcomes we need to be striving for.

Incarceration outcomes: Indigenous youth are sadly over-represented in detention, while incarceration of Indigenous people in South Australia make up 24 per cent of inmates.

Health outcomes: nationally a 2018 study on the burden of disease found that Indigenous Australians as a whole lost almost 240,000 years of healthy life due to ill health and premature death. Major contributing diseases include mental and substance use disorders, injuries, cardiovascular disease, cancer and musculoskeletal conditions, where respiratory diseases also contribute substantially to non-fatal burden.

Family and relationships: we have seen the rate of Aboriginal children entering care increasing, and the statistics for sexual assault of Aboriginal women at a level three times that of non-Indigenous women.

Life expectancy: ABS statistics indicate that nationally the life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is 7.8 years less than non-Indigenous women, and 8.6 years less for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men compared to non-Indigenous men.

Income: we know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consistently earn lower average incomes from employment and private sources than non-Indigenous Australians, and are more likely to suffer from poorer health outcomes.

Isolated communities are all marginalised further when we look at statistics in relation to each of the indicator areas I have just identified. As I mentioned, I do hope that the bill does deliver better outcomes for our Indigenous people and communities. Unfortunately, I am not convinced. We can do lots of talking, but what we need is action. I would like to be convinced about how the First Nations Voice at the parliamentary level will ensure grassroots engagement and how delivery will occur with Indigenous people to deliver tangible outcomes.

In itself, the First Nations Voice Bill creates its own layers of bureaucracy. It is difficult to see how this process will work with or complement the range of work and mandates of a range of existing First Nations bodies, which are preserved under clause 7 of the bill. This model has been layered over the top of numerous existing advisory bodies, structures and advocacy groups, which I am told number more than 190.

The bill itself establishes layers of local and state bodies and at least four other possible more separate advisory bodies. Will it actually assist in ensuring there are resources and policies directed efficiently in the best and most effective way possible to enhance education, decrease incarceration and improve incomes and health outcomes?

I note the Productivity Commission in the 2017 Indigenous Expenditure Report highlights that the expenditure per person was around double for Indigenous people in Australia compared with non-Indigenous people. The resources are being allocated. Let's make sure they are being used effectively. Let's make sure our policy settings are right.

I think we should rather be addressing some of the layered bureaucratic and delivery shortfalls in our current systems that have given rise to so many of the generational inequities that we see today. As an elected Liberal member, I value small, efficient and effective government. I do share concerns I have heard on the bill:

I am informed that it will cost $10 million over four years to implement. I am concerned about the bill as it is currently drafted, including the lack of detail about the remuneration of committee members;

the electoral process;

general allocations;

how one individual not elected by all South Australians will be able to come into the parliament and speak on any or every bill; and

the absence of a limit on the number of committees that can be established, their terms and other details.

More information is needed about how this proposal will play out.

We have had a number of speakers and a lot of people have spoken on this. It is a very easy topic to talk about all the shortfalls, problems and issues that we know, have seen, acknowledged and observed right throughout South Australia and beyond. There is no doubt there are some massive issues. I am really, really worried that this process meets emotional connections. It meets a desire for greater conductivity and greater connection through voice, communication and advocacy, but where is the substantial stuff that actually says what is going wrong today, what needs fixing, how can we make it better, how can we get it to where it is needed and actually change the results and the outcomes that we know have been rolling on year after year in history?

There is nothing more sure than there are Indigenous Australians out there immensely successful in any field. We can see them. We also know that at the other end of the spectrum there is a tail, an isolated group and communities of Indigenous South Australians who feel there is no prosperity, no future that looks bright for them, that everything seems bleak and not only do they get to feel and see that but that is exactly what transpires.

What is then interesting is that we as representatives, 47 members in this chamber and the upper house chamber members of the state parliament, are trying to advocate. We see and recognise these issues and suddenly, by having this sort of process, it sort of beggars belief that you just suddenly turn this all upside down and there is a ray of sunshine, as we sometimes say on an item, and everything changes just because this communication suddenly invents something that is not there or not being used at the moment. It actually questions what this democratic building and parliament stand for if this system is failing so badly for this sector of the population and the disadvantaged.

With what has been advocated by those who have spoken in favour of this bill—mostly by the government—there are heartfelt strings and emotional feelings. Most people talk genuinely about the issues that are out there, and finding solutions. But this is one of the things that I think South Australian MPs in general—if you're in business, and your business was about Aboriginals and the Indigenous population surviving and thriving, you would not just go and change your communication strategy. You would put a whole lot more in place than some Voice bill to change the outcomes for these Indigenous Aboriginals who are suffering so badly, outcomes that we all talk about and know need to be better.

So, I appreciate the intent of the bill. I hope it delivers tangible outcomes for Indigenous people in South Australia, but I am unable to support it.

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (17:00): Naa marni. Ngai nari Jayne Stinson. Marni naa pudni. Kaurna Miyirna ngadlu. Kaurna yarta tampinthi. Ngaityalya. I rise to support this bill and all that this bill means: a voice for Aboriginal South Australians, hearing from and listening to Aboriginal people, the first and original inhabitants of this land that we all love. It is a voice all of us in this place can do much more to listen to and to act upon. There are many challenges we face in this world, and there is so much to do in this place, but for me there are two overriding challenges for our generation: climate change and reconciliation.

The plight of Aboriginal Australians is something I have thought long and hard about for much of my adult life, and even some of my childhood. Issues of race, and my observations of the experiences of our Aboriginal people, has been woven into my own story: from childhood experiences through to my career as a journalist and, most especially, the transformative time that I spent in my twenties, working and living in north-west WA and Central Australia. Those memories and stories, experiences and events, have altered my views and deepened them over the decades, and also added many layers of complexity.

Having grown up in different towns across country Australia, I heard people talk about Aboriginal people when I was a child, but rarely was I exposed to Aboriginal culture. It was not something really discussed, taught at my school or talked about in my family. It was a period of time when stereotypes about Aboriginal people ran rife, and racist slurs were really only starting to be called out publicly. It was a time when, in country towns like mine, the language about Aboriginal people was often coarse and, frankly, racist.

I was barely a teenager when Pauline Hanson came to the fore, and tensions ramped up. In my little coastal town, Hanson held a rally and hundreds of people turned up—adults I knew. I remember feeling surprised that so many shared her views and were willing to picket the streets in support of her opinions. I must have been 13 when I was talking to my friend at school about it, and really I had no concept that she was Torres Strait Islander. I remember her with awesome, curly-blonde hair. She was very funny, cheeky and popular—and the best at the 100-metre sprint, which I always hoped to win but never did. At school, I was oblivious to her race. I never asked her about it, and I never asked any of the other students about their backgrounds either.

The first time I turned my mind to her Aboriginality was when I saw her pain at some boys latching onto the sentiments expressed by Pauline Hanson and parroting them to her in the schoolyard. She defended herself, and she yelled back, but I think from then on she was always known as the naughty kid as she dealt with racist taunts. Skip forward 20 years, and I had a beer with her at our school reunion. Our lives had turned out so differently. She had six kids, she had been in violent relationships that she had to flee and she still lived in our hometown. She was the same funny, cheeky person from school, but all grown up, harder and wiser. She had led a tough life in many ways, with intense loss and tragedy—but she is also a brilliant, caring mum and a good person. I felt really lucky to be able to see her again and soak up a moment of her sunshine.

But, of course, I did wonder how her Aboriginality had shaped her life so far, how much of the ingrained generations of trauma and racism infiltrated and directed her life. Suffice to say, many of the key indicators of disadvantage that we know exist for Aboriginal people were marked in her life story thus far.

We know Aboriginal kids are less likely to complete high school or uni, we know the tragedies of child and infant loss, of child protection interventions, of contact with the justice system and incarceration, primarily as victims, of domestic violence, of unstable housing, of ill health. Those are all features of many Aboriginal people's lives. Many of my colleagues have traversed those appalling statistics as part of this debate. I often reflect on her experience and what I would want, what she would want and what all of us would want for her children and her children's children: a life that is freer and more just, safer and fairer.

When I finished uni, I got a job with the ABC in north-west WA. It was a very remote location, the most remote in the ABC network at the time, and I covered huge native title agreements and had the great privilege to celebrate those by sitting down with Aboriginal people to eat kangaroo cooked in the earth, hear amazing Dreamtime stories, experience traditional dancing, and all in the dust of the most remote parts of our nation.

But I also reported on the degradation of the Burrup Peninsula and the destruction of the oldest petroglyphs or rock art in the world. I reported on the conflict of Aboriginal heritage and mining, and skyrocketing crime and incarceration rates among Aboriginal people. I also learned of the Flying Foam Massacre on the Burrup Peninsula close to Karratha where I lived at the time. In short, in February 1868, a policeman abducted a young Aboriginal woman at gunpoint. Nine Jaburara men staged a rescue and the police officer was speared in the attempted rescue at Nickol Bay.

What followed was the government authorised systematic annihilation of the Jaburara people, with pearlers and pastoralists assembling mounted parties to murder groups of Aboriginal people including women and children. The atrocities saw the near extinction of the Jaburara. I do not think many could claim that those early atrocities of violence and dispossession have not influenced the position of Aboriginal people who live there today. It is a familiar story across our country and it is our greatest national shame.

After several years reporting in WA, I moved to Alice Springs as the ABC's TV reporter. My experiences there were joyful and celebratory and beautiful and breathtaking, filled with song and rich culture and sweeping landscapes and the most spectacular art, curious characters and unique insights, but my time in Central Australia was also undeniably challenging, conflicting and confronting.

Some memories from our red heart will never leave me and were horrific, vile and shocking. This was in the period immediately before and during the intervention, and I was reporting on the depraved and hopeless situations many men, women and children were living in, conditions that exceeded what I had seen in the slums of India or in the poorest parts of Africa.

I had firsthand experiences of violence and fear as I lived in Central Australia, and I reported on too many murders and shocking events. But my knowledge of the travesties of Central Australia at that time were gleaned primarily by listening to heart-wrenching stories told to me by Aboriginal people in my work as a reporter. It was hard to get people to tell those stories so when they did, it really meant something to me and it stayed with me.

I actually find many of my most disturbing memories, and even the most devastating stories that I reported on publicly at the time, unspeakable to recount now. The level of violence and human tragedy and pain inflicted upon fellow humans is beyond anything that I can put into words. The depth of violence, sexual assault and paedophilia, mental illness, addiction, coupled with the lack of education, health care and economic support was mind blowing, and it was inextricable from the dispossession and trauma of the European arrival that preceded it. I do not share these insights to shame or shock, although we all should of course be shocked, but to draw the link between invasion and where Aboriginal people find themselves today.

Living and working in Central Australia deeply shaped my thinking about Aboriginal affairs and my motivations in my own career. In my teens, like all teenagers, I thought I had the solutions about Aboriginal affairs, but I knew nothing. Even now I am aware of the limitations of my capacity to understand the experience of being Aboriginal in this nation.

I viewed all of this from a place of privilege. Even as a young, underpaid junior reporter, often working alone or with just one other person, I still held a privileged position. The situations I put myself in as a reporter were of my own free will. Largely, I was free to leave and I was fundamentally safe. That included reporting on lawless riots, venturing into communities with violent petrol sniffers and just about getting stabbed in the leg, visiting town camps at night—which I would not recommend—and even attending footy games for fun on the weekend there were weapons secreted across the ground in preparation for conflict or for defence.

Going out at night in Alice always was, and unfortunately still is, very risky, especially for young women. My ability to walk away if I chose was so starkly different to the position many Aboriginal people found and still find themselves in. For economic, mental, physical, historical, family, geographical, safety and cultural reasons they cannot leave. The tragedy and trauma persists and it is inescapable for many.

Altogether, my time in Central Australia was a revelation and it was life changing for me—the sharp collision of so much beauty set hard against so much despair. I would not give up that time for anything, and I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to bear witness and tell the stories of Aboriginal people via the ABC, but I am glad that there are now more Aboriginal people telling their stories themselves, and I look forward to even more doing so in the future, whether directly or through the increasing number of Aboriginal reporters and First Nations media.

What did I learn from my time in Alice Springs? Amid all the contradictions, was there any clarity? To be frank, I am still reflecting on that, and the conversations I have now with Aboriginal people continue to shape and inform my own approach. There are many different experiences of Aboriginal people across this nation and my insights living in Central and North-Western Australia are just a sliver.

But there I learned that intergenerational trauma is deep and dark and almost unfathomable. I learned that there is no quick fix. There is no one policy or thing that will solve the immense and life-threatening problems faced by Aboriginal people. There need to be lots of actions and investments and policies, and there is an immense amount for us to do. But, critically, I learned that self-determination and community empowerment are key. They are surely at the root of the answers that we seek. If dispossession and disempowerment are at the origin of this generational tragedy then surely self-determination, representation and empowerment are at least a large part of the answer, and the place to start. Surely having a platform to discuss and be heard, to negotiate, to inform is part of the answer or, maybe put another way: Voice, Treaty, Truth.

The varied experiences I have had since as a reporter, victim advocate and now an elected member have seen me reflect upon what I have observed, and I have drawn upon that knowledge repeatedly in the work I do. But the question does arise: what role do I play? For many of us there is a question about whether we even have a right to discuss and raise these issues as non-Aboriginal people. Are we drowning out someone else's views? Are my experiences contributing anything to the debate? What should I be doing with this feeling that we all need to do something?

These days we have the concept of an ally, which I think provides a useful way of thinking of ourselves as non-Aboriginal people in the fight, but I also think that those of us sitting here need to go a bit further and recognise that we are the holders of power right now and we can use that power and share that power in the ways that we feel advance the cause. So I really see this bill, the First Nations Voice Bill, as an incredibly powerful exercise of our power.

We are not diluting the parliament's power or that of any one of us here. We are using our power to extend greater power, greater voice to another group, a group who has been denied that access to a voice and power for so long, a group like no other, a group who are the original and first inhabitants of Australia, a group who did not choose to share or surrender their power or authority in this land.

This bill is the answer, one of many answers to the question of what we here can do. We can fully commit ourselves to self-determination for Aboriginal people. The Voice in this bill, to me, is an exercise in very practical self-determination, the kind of self-determination and self-direction that provides a solid foundation for future acts to achieve real change. By voting for this bill, we are fronting up to the fact that the things we have been doing have not worked and that we want to find things that do work and that self-determination surely lies at the heart of the answers that we need to find alongside Aboriginal people.

The Voice is not a threat: it is an opportunity, an opportunity for our parliament to be informed, to listen, to engage, to seek answers, to build a relationship, to reconcile. The Local and State Voices are advisory bodies only. The Voice is not a third chamber of parliament and it is not responsible for administering programs or issuing grants, but it will be a powerful Voice direct to parliament and to government on the issues affecting First Nations people. There is no threat and no harm done.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart, which this bill draws its origins from, is a generous invitation from First Nations peoples to our nation to walk together for a better future. This bill delivers at a state level on the triple-pronged call for action in the statement. This is the Voice part of Voice, Treaty, Truth. It is the first step along a longer journey.

I accept that others have had different ideas about how this Voice might be achieved in SA and I commend the former government and the former Premier for the work done on the previous bill. It should be seen as part of the work that is now before our parliament. But I am encouraged at the amount of consultation and depth of consultation that has happened since with Aboriginal people to inform the refinement of the model—six months of solid engagement, but of course a much longer period of contemplation and information drawn upon.

I want to thank Kaurna, Narungga, Ngadjuri and Ngarrindjeri man, the Voice commissioner, Dale Agius, a friend and someone I admire for his tireless work and leadership. There are divergent views in the Aboriginal community about how the Voice should work, and that is to be expected and embraced, but he has done the work to reflect what the Aboriginal community want. That diligent process gives me great faith in this approach and confidence in voting for it.

I am also really proud to be part of a team and this whole parliament that is leading the way on delivering a Voice, here and at a national level. We often tout that South Australia is a progressive and history-making state, but honestly some of those achievements are a long way back in history now. It is a great source of pride to be standing here contributing to this legislation, which I truly believe is nation leading.

This bill has an important role in paving the way for the Voice referendum later this year and I am delighted that South Australia is forging a path that will show how a Voice is not so scary, can be executed well and does not limit the power of others but shares it. I am also really excited about the connections that will be forged between this South Australian Voice and that of the national Voice, which I so dearly hope all Australians support.

Many have asked: what will this bill, this Voice, actually achieve? It is not a silly question. It is good to have a sense of urgency to deliver practical change, and I understand concerns about symbolism being prioritised over action. But it is foolish to think of this bill as a panacea and that is not what we are voting for in this place. Will the Voice eliminate intergenerational trauma? No. Will it bring total equality? No. But what it will bring is a greater capacity to speak and be heard, a formal avenue in which listening to Aboriginal people is front and centre. What it will bring is a valuable lens over the legislation that we make in this place and that lens will help our work.

It provides a solid and valuable foundation for further action, led by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people alongside all Australians. It has not escaped me that there is a difficult conflict inherent in any model of interaction with the parliament. This apparatus asks Aboriginal people to engage in a European institution, that of the parliament, in order to be heard. I can understand how that is challenging. I can understand why some would not want to entertain such a prospect. Maybe in future we will find ways to hear Aboriginal people to a greater extent on their terms, like we have with Nunga and Circle Courts. However, this is what we have right now and the system that we need to work within.

I want to close by expressing a few thankyous. Thank you to all the Aboriginal people who have shared their experiences with me over the decades. Thank you to all of the people who contributed their views to this bill. Thank you to all the people who are thinking carefully about how they are going to vote in the upcoming referendum and speaking with their friends and family about the value of the Voice.

Thank you to Dale Agius, who I spoke of earlier; your leadership is instrumental. A very sincere and heartfelt thanks to our Aboriginal affairs minister, Kyam Maher, and his team. Kyam, I know big change does not happen without big personal sacrifices, and I hope you and your staff are watching this debate and will watch the passage of this bill, and you can absorb the moment and realise that everything you have worked for is worth it. I support the bill.

Mr ODENWALDER: Mr Deputy Speaker, I reluctantly draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed:

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (17:22): It is a true honour to rise and speak in support of the First Nations Voice Bill. Before I begin, I want to thank my colleagues from both chambers of parliament for their contributions in support of this bill. Thank you to the many who have been so wonderful.

I deliberately choose not to speak for too long, for I am not the Voice. It does not escape me that what is before us is historic. This is a time when the nation's eyes, maybe even the world's eyes, are upon us and cheering us on to do something fantastic. This is a story of good old South Australia leading the charge to do the right thing, and I could not be prouder.

Having said that, while I am very enthusiastic for this piece of legislation, in many ways it sows the seeds to make me even more excited and optimistic for what comes next. While establishing the Voice is truly symbolic, as I said in my maiden speech, actions speak much louder than words. I am optimistic that this will lead to many positive actions. I have high hopes, and may the work that follows be a profound guiding light, which I hope the rest of the nation chooses to follow.

Having grown up on Peramangk country and now living on Kaurna land, I have had the privilege to meet many inspiring First Nations people and look forward to leaders present and emerging being represented within the Voice to the South Australian parliament. I am also fortunate to have lived on Larrakia country for 2½ years. These years helped shape my views around what we must do for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Put simply, it is time to get out of the way and let them be heard. For this reason, I make the deliberate gesture of keeping my contribution short.

In my time in Darwin and across the Northern Territory, my eyes were opened to both the amazing and the somewhat difficult aspects of life for our First Australians. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people representing over 26 per cent of the Territory's population, this was a special time in my life to live among so many First Australians.

I saw countless nations—from the desert to the saltwater and places in between—experience a lifestyle that in many parts was enviable. There were fantastic foods like barramundi and magpie geese; art, dance and stories captivating the world; and kindness and a spirit of generosity without compare. But these beautiful and amazing lives were also saddled with adversity, some of it so complex that I realised we, as outsiders, can only imagine it.

As I went about my work in the Territory, my eyes would see issues and I would think to myself how much I wanted to help. Working in policy I thought I could come up with something that could make a difference—these are words very similar to those expressed by the member for Badcoe. Then one day it dawned on me: I could be as well-meaning as I liked, but I saw the world through my eyes, through my own standards and perspectives. My time in the Territory made me realise how limited these can be.

For this reason, I will not elaborate on where there are issues of concern. Aboriginal people have a right to be proud, and I have faith that the Voice will do this far better than I can. That does not mean it presents an opportunity to abdicate from my responsibilities as a lawmaker. The Voice will do its work and we will all be here to listen and then to act. While we must build bridges between all Australians, we are never going to do this properly if we see things through a single lens or by letting only one side speak. My personal journey into realising what I could do to help drew me to conclude that it was time to sit down and listen.

Our past actions have sometimes been cruel. Other times they have been well-meaning, and while these may have led to some successes we need to also accept and own the numerous failures. We cannot keep going down this same path, which is why the Voice is a much better way. As a government, we are mature enough to accept that there will be truths spoken that we will be uncomfortable with. They must be confronted, for we do this knowing we are not beyond scrutiny. We ask our children to face up to their actions; now we must ask this of ourselves.

I have seen so many wonderful things linked to Aboriginal culture. With this in mind, I am deliberately ensuring this contribution is not just about the difficult areas of policy. Not forgetting that there is a yin to every yang, the Voice will be an unrivalled platform for celebrating all that is wonderful about the oldest surviving cultures in the world. Remember, there is a strong undercurrent to share wisdom accumulated over thousands of years. Embracing this notion can only make us stronger.

So while there is some hard work to be done, we should be also thinking of the amazing possibilities of where the Voice can take us all, together. While the work of the Attorney-General is excellent, we all accept that more is needed to improve the lives of Aboriginal Australians, for this is not an end point but represents a beginning.

I have heard numerous arguments as to why this bill or the national referendum should not be supported, and I do not accept them. If even for a split second these arguments were entertained, all of them seem to discount the value of what a platform like this can give. We all know that from little things big things grow, so we cannot discount opportunities evolving into something bigger and better as time goes by. Let us be clear: the architects of this bill want this—as do I.

It is nobody's intent to lock this in and to then walk away. The Voice should lead to more change, and it will hopefully speed things up. More importantly, any future change will be guided by an elected cohort of Aboriginal leaders. For these reasons, I could not be happier to support an Aboriginal Voice to our parliament. It is time for us to stop making laws for the first Australians, but instead make laws with them.

In speaking to this bill, as I do with many contributions to this house, I take a moment to thank those who have worked hard to bring it before us. I understand the desire to bring this to parliament began while Labor was in opposition, and I want to thank the staffers, both past and present, who have worked for the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs or the Attorney-General, who have been there for this journey. Nobody is under any illusion that the resources afforded to an opposition are scarce, which makes this bill even more remarkable, and we are here today to make it all happen.

I extend my congratulations to all the political staff, and also those within the various departments. They have moved quickly, yet thoughtfully, and therefore powerfully, to bring this nation-leading legislation to life. In saying this, I make it clear that their work has been thorough with extensive consultation. These sentiments extend to the fantastic work of Dale Agius, a proud member of the Parafield Gardens Soccer Club within my electorate, who has been and continues to be exemplary as the Commissioner for First Nations Voice. I am happy for all involved and want them to know that they have every right to feel proud.

Within South Australia, the Attorney-General has been the driving force, and I can only imagine how special this occasion is to him. If he was the driving force, the Premier has been the vehicle to allow this to happen. The leadership of both has been second to none. While we do not need reminding that the origins of this bill began in Uluru, I want to point out how fitting it is that as the closest capital city to the rock, the legislative pathway to the Voice should begin here. Let's not also forget the work of the First Nations National Constitutional Convention that got things going back in 2017.

There is still some distance to go, but I am pleased that South Australia has taken the first steps to begin the journey to ensure that we can ultimately walk together. There were 16 members in the Referendum Council, and I extend my appreciation to them, as I do with the 1,200 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives who helped shape the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This sowed the seeds that led to a movement and, for all involved, I want to offer my congratulations and wish you all the best.

The road ahead is long, noting the statement also calls for Treaty and Truth to follow. We should embrace these, just as we are prepared to do so with the bill before us. I am proud to commend this bill to the house, and like so many of my colleagues who have spoken so eloquently in this debate, I look forward to joining them and the wider community for the journey ahead.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.


At 17:34 the house adjourned until Thursday 9 March 2023 at 11:00.


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