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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-15 Daily Xml
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Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (14:53): My question is for the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister please inform the council about the recent Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration delivered by the new commonwealth Minister for Indigenous Affairs?

The Hon. J.E. Hanson: That's how you do it.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hanson, we don't need your help.

The Hon. J.E. Hanson: It's just a great question.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hanson!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:54): I wish to thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing and continuing interest in this chamber and outside this chamber in Aboriginal affairs. It indeed was an honour to attend the Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration on Tuesday 31 May, hosted by the Don Dunstan Foundation at Adelaide University.

This year, the oration was delivered by the Hon. Linda Burney. It was particularly notable to have Linda Burney speaking on that night. Earlier that day, Linda Burney had been in Canberra and had been elected to the federal Labor front bench at a caucus meeting. The following morning, the Wednesday morning after speaking in Adelaide, Linda Burney travelled back to Canberra to be sworn in as the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the first Aboriginal woman in that position and also ever to serve in a federal cabinet.

To have the now minister come to Adelaide to speak about her vision for reconciliation, amongst all the history-making events that she was part of in Canberra earlier that day and then on the next day, was a distinct honour for South Australia. It is a testament to what a strong partner South Australians, particularly Aboriginal South Australians, now have in the federal government, a minister who will go above and beyond and invest the time in South Australia.

This was the 15th Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration, an annual event hosted by the Don Dunstan Foundation. The event honours Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue, a trailblazing leader and a great South Australian. Born in Indulkana (Iwantja), Lowitja and two of her sisters were taken from their family and community to a mission. It is worth noting and worth remembering that it was institutions around the country and even parliaments in the past that created things like the Aboriginal Protection Board, which removed children like Lowitja from their families.

Remarkably, she went on to lead a varied and trailblazing career. She was a nurse, working for many years at the Royal Adelaide Hospital after initially being refused training there because she was Aboriginal. She worked in the Public Service, including in the state and federal departments for Aboriginal affairs. She chaired the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) after its establishment by the Hawke government, providing a voice for First Nations people across the country.

The annual Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration is an important way to honour this remarkable South Australian and to ensure her legacy of work for Aboriginal people is continued. Minister Linda Burney, like orators before her such as Pat Anderson, Noel Pearson, Marcia Langton and Senator Pat Dodson, forms an important part of this legacy.

I am looking forward to working with the new federal minister, Minister Burney, on many areas that affect and seek to help overcome the disadvantage so many Aboriginal South Australians face. While Lowitja was not able to make it to this year's event herself, it was clear that everyone on that night deeply valued the leadership she has displayed for so many decades in this state and across the nation.

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