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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-10-17 Daily Xml
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First Nations Voice to Parliament

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs on the topic of the state-based Voice to Parliament.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: During the debate and committee stage of the government's state-based Voice, the minister said, and I quote:

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.

He further stated:

Getting this bedded down is our first priority, but we absolutely are committed to the other components of Treaty and Truth.

My question to the minister is: is the government still committed to implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full—in full—here in South Australia with Voice, Treaty and Truth, including the Makarrata agreements and reparations, and, if so, when?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:58): I thank the honourable member for her question. I was tempted just to answer yes and then sit back down, but I might give a slightly fuller answer. As the honourable member correctly points out, way back in 2019—that would have been a few months ago in this stage of the electoral cycle—we did release a commitment to the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in a South Australian context. We did the first part of that in line with many of those who gathered at Uluru in May of 2017, sequenced it with Voice as the first component.

We have passed that legislation. On 16 March next year, there will be elections where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will get to choose from their own who represents them in a series of Local Voices, and those Local Voices will decide who sits on the statewide Voice to our parliament and to our government. This is very similar to the quotes I read out earlier, eerily similar to what the Liberal Party had said numerous times over the last two years.

Once the Voice is up and running, we intend to consult with the Voice about the process for Treaty and Truth. We started way back in 2016, the first jurisdiction anywhere in the country, a Treaty process in South Australia. We consulted with Aboriginal nations, Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal people and we got a fair way along. We had intense discussions and negotiations with Adnyamathanha, with Narrunga and with Ngarrindjeri nations about those treaties. We signed the Buthera Agreement with the Narrunga Nation before the last state election. We led the country in Treaty discussions and Treaty implementation.

Unfortunately, there was an election and, as so often happens and so devastatingly happens for Aboriginal people, there was an about face. There were two steps forward and two steps backward when the incoming government, the new Premier, Steven Marshall, who had responsibility for Aboriginal affairs, wasn't prepared to take on the title of minister for Aboriginal affairs, but had responsibility for the policy areas—his very first decision was to scrap the Treaty process in South Australia.

Since then, we have seen most other jurisdictions take up the mantle. Victoria are very well progressed with their First Peoples' Assembly. They had their second four-yearly elections for the First Peoples' Assembly that represent Aboriginal Victorians in their Treaty discussions with the government. Queensland has committed to Treaty discussions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland. The Northern Territory have released their Treaty Commission report. The incoming New South Wales government has committed to Treaty and has a minister responsible for the implementation of Treaty in that state. In Western Australia, the South West Native Title agreement, the Noongar Settlement, has every single element of a Treaty except in the name.

We are now shamefully lagging behind the rest of Australia on Treaty, and we intend to remedy that. We intend to consult with our elected First Nations Voice about the processes going forward. That won't be the Treaty negotiating body but we will seek their views about the processes going forward, and we are committed to truth-telling. Yes, we are committed to the implementation in full.

There being a disturbance in the gallery:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

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