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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-06-18 Daily Xml
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State Voice to Parliament

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding the State Voice to Parliament.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: On 14 June 2024, InDaily reported that Talia Wanganeen and Leeroy Bilney were elected as the presiding members of the State Voice. The article highlights Wanganeen's positions as a senior policy adviser within the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation and as the Chair of NAIDOC South Australia. It goes on to say that the presiding members will soon address the state parliament on any legislation of interest to Aboriginal people. This could happen as early as this year. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Has the Attorney-General received any correspondence or indication from the State Voice as to when the presiding members will address the parliament?

2. Has the Attorney-General received any indication from the State Voice, or members of the State Voice, as to what legislation is of interest to Aboriginal people?

3. Has the Attorney-General met with the presiding members of the State Voice? Has the Attorney-General met with Ms Wanganeen in her capacity as the Chair of NAIDOC South Australia? If so, when did those meetings take place?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:33): I was very privileged last week to spend approximately 20 minutes with the State Voice, when the State Voice first met, being able to talk briefly at the opening of their very first meeting. As I have said before, I am very proud that we have a body in South Australia that will allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander South Australians to make a contribution and to give advice to government about the decisions that we make that affect their lives.

As the honourable member pointed out, the statewide Voice, which comprises the presiding members of each of the six regional Voices, met for the first time on Wednesday last week. As I said, I was very privileged to go along to the very start of that meeting. I understand that, during the course of the rest of the day that they met, on Wednesday of last week, they covered a number of matters, including electing, amongst their own 12 members, their own presiding members for the statewide Voice—and the honourable member has pointed out the names of the people who were elected.

In response to your question: when did I last have a meeting that included one of the two presiding members, Ms Wanganeen, she was part of the meeting that occurred on Wednesday of last week, of which I, as I said, addressed and was privileged to be a part of for about the first 20 minutes. In relation to when will the State Voice start making contributions: that is under the First Nations Voice legislation—two particular pieces of legislation. In relation to what legislation it is the State Voice might want to speak about: the whole point of it is that it is up to the members of the State Voice to decide that.

In relation to when that inaugural address to parliament may happen: again, that will be up to the State Voice to decide that. I am not aware that the initial meeting that selected the presiding members decided exactly the processes of when that will occur, how they will decide which bits of legislation they want to speak about, but I expect that will happen during the course of the second half of this year.

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