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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-08-30 Daily Xml
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Federal Voice to Parliament Referendum

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (14:25): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house of any important announcements made by the Prime Minister in Adelaide today?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:26): I thank the member for Giles for his question. I know that the member for Giles has a significant Indigenous population within his electorate that he cares about very deeply. Of course, the member for Giles is responsible for representing people in the APY lands and understands all too well some of the challenges that represents but also some of the opportunities the country has before us. Today, in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, at Playford Civic Centre, the Prime Minister of our nation announced a referendum is going to be held on 14 October this year, and 14 October now presents an important opportunity—

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —for the Australian people to come together to determine whether or not Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in this country should be able to have a Voice to Parliament. Let me be crystal clear, Mr Speaker: I am an enthusiastic supporter of a yes vote. The South Australian parliamentary Labor Party will be doing everything it possibly can to see to the delivery of a yes vote. We choose to vote yes as a unified outfit because we believe that a Voice to Parliament can make a material and practical difference to the lives of Indigenous Australians.

We are all too familiar as a parliament with repeatedly having to bear witness year after year of a Closing the Gap report that shows that Indigenous communities across our great country, including right here in South Australia, are neglected. The choice before us as Australians on 14 October is to choose between the status quo or a different path.

I frequently hear people from across the political spectrum raise their concerns about the status of Indigenous disadvantage. My simple message to people who are concerned about the status quo is then don't vote for it. There is an opportunity on 14 October to reject the status quo by not voting no and instead choosing to vote yes to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a seat at the table with decisions being made that affect their lives.

Another way of looking at it is to actually contemplate the ask that is being made of Indigenous and First Nations people themselves. They have asked the Australian people, through the Uluru Statement from the Heart for nothing more than a consultative committee, an advisory committee. It would seem somewhat extraordinary that a state with a history as profound as ours when it comes to making big, bold progressive change—whether it be the first legislative change to facilitate women having the right to run for parliament and to vote, whether it be the first state facilitating the legislation that underpins Aboriginal land rights, the first state to decriminalise homosexuality, the first state to ban discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity—for a state with our history, I think it is within our capacity to say yes to an advisory committee.

It seems like an exceptionally simple proposition, and on this side of the house we look forward to getting out and talking to South Australia as a unified outfit advocating for a yes vote, yes to a better path and a rejection of an unsatisfactory status quo.

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