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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-01 Daily Xml
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Bills

First Nations Voice Repeal Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. S.L. GAME (16:26): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to repeal the First Nations Voice Act 2023, and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. S.L. GAME (16:27): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am introducing my First Nations Voice Repeal Bill because I believe in needs-based support and laws that do not create division within our society. Looking at the results of the Voice referendum, in which more than 60 per cent of Australians voted no, and in South Australia 64 per cent of voters rejected the concept of dividing the state on racial grounds, I know I am not alone.

Much has been said in this chamber about giving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a voice. Much has been said by our very own Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders already have a voice, with 11 federal Indigenous parliamentarians and 26 Australia-wide. There are currently 110 advisory committees or groups that develop policies and provide advice on specific issues registered on the federal government website.

This chamber needs to be concerned with the voice of all South Australians. It is time those already on salaries and guaranteed positions listened properly and acted to create real tangible benefits for those they represent. I have been accused in this chamber of being happy with the status quo for those in despairing conditions, despite repeatedly advocating for them and making my position clear. I want every dollar to go to those who need it, not on a greater bureaucratic arm that will comprise over 100 members and, due to the potentially ever-expanding nature of the committees, potentially many more in the future.

How this equates to racism and happiness with the status quo is mind-boggling, but I will continue to advocate for needs-based, not racial ancestry-based, support. I question why it is justified to treat any child differently based on their ancestry. Surely, children, especially those living in poverty, should be prioritised based on the needs they have.

Over 20,000 children are living in poverty in South Australia. It is unacceptable and deserves our attention whether you are first generation Australian, multi-generation Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or not. I have heard stories from dedicated staff about schoolchildren refusing to listen to them because they were stolen. Schoolchildren need to be taught facts about history, both good and bad.

The Hon. Robert Simms has been critical of One Nation's education policy, a policy that promotes critical thinking and the benefits of a merit-based society, a policy that would put an end to guilt shaming, which no child should be subjected to. The way forward is not to create another massive level of bureaucracy, it lies in early intervention, keeping families together, focusing on education, and building pathways to employment regardless of background or ethnicity.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:31): I rise on behalf of the Greens, but also on at least 11 votes in this place, to speak against the First Nations Voice Repeal Bill 2023. The Hon. Sarah Game of the One Nation party has finally—after a few false starts—introduced this repeal bill to repeal a piece of legislation that has already passed this council and this parliament in this term of parliament, to repeal a bill that is a Malinauskas government election pledge made good in the parliament, and that was a Greens election pledge made good in the parliament.

When the Hon. Sarah Game claims that much has been said about a Voice, this chamber and this parliament is the voice of all South Australians in this state. When political parties make election promises, take them to the people, put their candidates out to the people, and are elected to this place, I think the people of South Australia expect us to keep our promises.

Some parties did not put many pledges out to the electorate whatsoever, and certainly the One Nation party made no statement during the state election about a Voice to Parliament that I could find on the record. What I could find was the very public commitment by the Labor Party and the Greens that we would legislate a First Nations Voice to Parliament. By my count that adds up to more than the 11 votes needed in this place, and it means that this bill is doomed to fail.

While it has finally been introduced into this place after much fanfare, largely on places like Sky News, I do not want the South Australian public to think that there is any chance whatsoever—and I certainly do not want those First Nations people who, in good faith, supported my political party and the party of government of this place—to think for a second that there is a hope in hell of this bill passing this place. It will go no further, and I challenge the Hon. Sarah Game to put it to a vote in the next sitting week of parliament rather than debating this through Sky News as opposed to the chamber of the parliament, which is the representative voice of all South Australians.

I am not the only one who has had my mind boggled by this. We have treated Aboriginal people in this country differently for a very long time. We have had White Australia policies where we have treated other races, as well, very differently for a very long time. But to treat our First Nations people in this nation so abysmally, where we sought to assimilate them, where we sought to annihilate them, where we stole their children, and have recognised this in this parliament, Mr President, as you well know, with a compensation scheme to make reparations for the harm that we have done First Nations people in this nation, it is the least we can do to make amends, not just by apologising, not just by ensuring reparations, but by ensuring that they have a voice that this parliament pledges to, hopefully listen to.

Even when members of this parliament do not listen to that First Nations Voice, some of us will be listening, and the community will hear loud and clear who is actually representing the people of this state, who is keeping their election promises and who is simply doing another stunt for Sky News and thumbing their nose at the democracy that has already happened in this parliament.

This parliament has voted on this issue. This issue should be settled but, of course, the member who has introduced this bill today, as I say, after a few false starts, wishes to have the argument again. What will not change—and we can have all the arguments in the world, and I look forward to them if that is the way the honourable member wishes to take this particular debate—is that she does not have 11 votes in this place. There are 22 members. She will need 11 votes. She does not have 11 votes. This bill is going nowhere, and with that I seek leave to conclude my comments when I hope it goes to a vote in the next week of sitting.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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