Aidan Curtis
SOUTH Australia’s State Government is meeting with First Nations communities around the state on the road to discuss implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
These meetings, headed up by SA Commissioner for First Nations Voice Dale Agius, have been seeking the opinions of Aboriginal communities about how to best enshrine an Aboriginal voice in parliament.
Enshrining a voice to parliament, alongside forming a Makarrata commission towards treaty-making and truth-telling, was one of the key features of the Statement when it was first issued.
According to Mr Agius, there has been a lot of good feedback and representation from the communities he has spoken to so far, with a great turn out in the South East.
He held a forum at the Blue Lake Golf Club on Monday, September 5, and said the input and enthusiasm from the South East’s Aboriginal community was very “energising”.
“The level of input makes it very rewarding and reignites the passion to engage in that and have some serious reform for Aboriginal communities,” Mr Agius said.
“It’s quite a relief, when you lead the conversation, to see Aboriginal people showing up, and time and time again showing up.
“To put forward thoughts and perspectives which could design a model which builds self-determination for themselves, it just keeps you going.”
Mr Agius said there were running themes during his discussions, including that Aboriginal people want to give input into the design of how enshrining a voice to parliament would work and self-determination.
Traditional Owner, First Nations of the South East Andrew Birtwistle-Smith said the numbers and diversity at the meeting reflected how much Aboriginal people want to see change.
“A range of discussions were had around what we thought the voice may be, whether that voice is enshrined in legislation, whether it’s more of an advisory role,” Mr Birtwistle-Smith said.
“It was just so good to hear different perspectives from community and even more inspiring was a number of young ones in the meeting.
“[They] were inspirational in regards to their visions, where they are now and where they want to be with guidance and support from elders.”
He said it was one of the best forums he had been to and he looked forward to the Commissioner’s return in the near future in the continuing consultation process.
“It was a really amazing experience to be able to do that and talk about what we thought was great for our community, particularly around a voice,” he said.
“Everybody definitely agreed that it can’t be tokenistic in the context of just having an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative in parliament.
“Having a voice is ensuring that voice is heard and also is listened to and has authority, similar to other Members of parliament.”
Mr Agius said he would be back within a few months and, while he had a lot of work ahead of him, he was glad the government was taking steps towards implementing the Statement.
The Statement was first issued in May 2017, with the Labor government committing to its full implementation during the state and federal elections earlier this year.
