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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-28 Daily Xml
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First Nations Voice To Parliament

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs about Aboriginal affairs. Minister, will you listen to South Australians if they vote no and repeal your State First Nations Voice or will you reject the result of the referendum on 14 October?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for her question and the opportunity to talk about one of the things I am most proud of in my working life: when we passed our First Nations Voice Bill in this South Australian parliament. It was a massive step forward and built on the shoulders of progressive, democratic reforms that this state has become known for. And not just that, it built upon the proud legacy we have over the last half a century in Aboriginal affairs.

In 1966, we became the first place in the country to legislate for Aboriginal land rights when then Attorney-General and Aboriginal affairs minister, Don Dunstan, passed the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act. We continued that under Liberal Premier Tonkin with the passage of what was then the Anangu Pitjantjatjara, now the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act, giving freehold title.

In 1997, two days after the federal government handed down the Bringing Them Home report, the then Liberal Premier, I think, or maybe Aboriginal Affairs minister, Dean Brown, apologised to the stolen generations in the South Australian parliament on behalf of the South Australian people—two days after the report was handed down.

We commenced Treaty negotiations in South Australia in 2016, becoming the first jurisdiction in Australia to do so. As we canvassed earlier this week, sir, and with your great advocacy previously, we became the first mainland state to introduce a Stolen Generations Reparation Scheme. We have a very proud history and a very proud tradition in this state, and we built on that with the passage of that legislation.

In fact, as the Premier has said a number of times, it was the very first policy we committed to in opposition. We released that policy to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart way back in NAIDOC Week, so July of 2019. We have legislated and the parliament has seen fit that there will be a First Nations Voice. We have recognised that in our South Australian constitution by making amendments to the Constitution Act. There will be an election to give Aboriginal people a Voice.

There will be an election so that Aboriginal people have more of a say in the decisions that affect their lives. There will be an election so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this state can help governments do better by listening to them and not making decisions for them. We will be having this body.

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