Over the weekend first nation's people in South Australia determined the composition of Australia's first ever indigenous voice to parament advisory body The Voice will be a group of First Nations Representatives advising the South Australian government on matters of importance to their communities this is a big moment for the country so we're.
Going to unpack how the South Australian Voice works how it came to be and what influence it might have okay Sam so Australia has its first ever in indigenous voice of parliament at a state level in South Australia but some people might be confused because we had a national vote for a federal voice to Parliament last year so can we start by.
You explaining how we got from there to this that was one of the biggest news moments of 2023 we had a national referendum to enshrine a voice in the Australian Constitution and that failed uh and that means there'll be no voice at a national level at least not one that's constitutionally enshrined but that has no impact on what state and.
Territory governments can do individually so now we're in a situation where South Australia has become the first state to have a voice to Parliament at a state level and the general sentiment of what this body will be will be quite similar right that it will be this advisory body to speak to the government about issues that impact.
First Nations people in South Australia exactly it has a lot of the same DNA and I think that's really important to remember here now before you explain what this will look look like in practice can you just take us back a bit how did South Australia get to this point well they actually passed legislation establishing The Voice last.
Year in March so before the nation voted against a federal voice but if you go back one step further you can go back to 2022 when current Premier Peter melinus won the state election and when he won he committed to establishing a first nation's voice in the context of it being part of the U statement from the heart a key pillar of that document and.
Can you just to remind us what is the U statement from the heart yeah so if you go back even further than that you can go back to 2017 and that's when the U statement from the heart was endorsed and delivered by First Nations leaders and it basically outlines this path forward for recognizing First Nations people in the Constitution so it was.
Designed for reform at a federal level at a national level but it also could apply at a state level now when we had the national referendum in October South Australia was actually the only state where every Federal electorate voted no now this vote didn't actually have an impact on South Australia's plans but in terms of public support it obviously.
Took a hit it actually prompted a one nation state politician to table a bill in South Australian Parliament that would repeal the creation of a South Australian voice now that vote didn't pass and the formation of this state voice pushed ahead and all of that brings us to last weekend where First Nations South Australians voted to pick.
Members of this inaugural voice body so just to recap the South Australian government introduced this law to have a voice to Parliament at a state level when it came to the National vote South Australians quite convincingly said no to a voice to Parliament at a federal level but that didn't impact the fact that there was already this law to have.
A voice at a state level exactly and I'd almost imagine them as two parallel tracks and one didn't really affect the other directly nonetheless though we're here where we have a state body in South Australia that's now you know becoming formed got it and so now that we have this state body how will it actually work so why don't I explain what the.
Actual body will look like first and then we can go into how it will operate so the voice dep Parliament will be a two-tiered system and in that it'll have 46 local voices that's their official title and within those 46 local voices there will be 12 who are also State voices and so local voices are going to be tasked with speaking to members of.
First Nations Community about matters that are relevant to them and to share those viewpoints with the state voices the state voices then convey those messages whether they be concerns or endorsements of their local communities directly to Parliament and the government and it will consult and advise on matters significant to First.
Nation's people in the state and so we're talking about it today because over the weekend First Nations people in South Australia voted for who they wanted to represent them in the local and state voice not quite it's a little confusing but basically over the weekend enrolled First Nations voters from South Australia will pick who they want as.
Their local voices those local voices will then go and pick 12 people within that group to be State voices and So within the local voices level there's representatives from six different regions across the state five of those regions get members each and then the highly populated Central Region and that includes Adelaide will have 11 members.
And like I said those local voices in each region will then pick two members amongst them to represent them as state voices so that's what First Nations people voted for over the weekend but the counting of those votes isn't going to start for a couple of weeks it will start on the 25th of March and that's to allow for the return of postal votes.
From rural and remote areas okay so the voting started over the weekend but the actual counting of that vote won't start yet but take us through how will this body interact with the government once it is formed so you've got this body made up of local voices and state voices and that body will be notified of legislation that's introduced to the.
South Australian Parliament and it can present reports to Parliament on matters concerning First Nations communities now the parliament itself can actually proactively ask the voice body to report on the Imp appliations of legislation they can also ask them to kind of shape debate that happens within Parliament and report back on voting decisions and.
The voice itself has to report to the parliament as well they have to provide a written report and an address to Parliament detailing their work over a 12-month period And there are inbuilt ways for the cabinet which is the senior members of the South Australian government to meet with the state voice body and that will happen at about twice.
A year and this will allow The Voice to ask questions of cabinet and to be notified about upcoming announcements and plans really give it some Synergy these two massive structures but that's not all the state voice is also going to meet with leaders of each public department within the state so it's a pretty comprehensive workload and it'll.
Be interesting to see I mean this hasn't been tried before it'll be interesting to see how it pans out over this first 12 months it's interesting hearing all of the detail because obviously when the nation went through this process last year the big conversation at the time time was about the lack of detail and so to hear you list out all of the.
Different things about how this will actually work it's really interesting to see how it could actually work in process it would have been interesting to have the national referendum again had this body been introduced 12 months before yeah once we actually see how it works and if it does benefit the state yeah definitely another big talking.
Point from the national voice referendum was the difference between a constitutionally enshrined voice which wouldn't be able to be changed unless unless there was another referendum and a body designed by legislation which can be taken away if a new government comes in and doesn't like it so between those two things where does this body fall I.
Feel like I always get caught with the legal questions on this podcast so so this one came about through legislation and you're right it is different to the body that was proposed in the federal voice model and that would have been enshrined in the Constitution if the referendum succeeded this one is designed in legislation and that's also.
Why they wasn't a Statewide vote uh you know South Australians wouldn't vote on Road Rules or a new trade policy that the state has or new ways of the hospital can run it's the same thing here now the difficulty of course with it being done through legislation is that it can be repealed if a new government comes in then they don't like.
The voice and they think it should be taken away so just like a government can pass a law to introduce the voice another government under this system can come in and actually pass a law to cancel The Voice so obviously this policy was introduced by the current government so they are therefore unlikely to repeal it yeah it was an.
Election promise exactly but what do we know about the opposition do they support this voice well the South Australian liberal opposition did not support the establishment of the state Voice last year they voiced their concerns around a rushed process and flaws in the design of the advisory body now we reached out to the opposition.
Leader his name is David Spears not the journalist not the journalist and he told TDA that he believes many South Australians are confused about the voice after the state had what he said was such a strong rejection of the national proposal now in terms of whether they would repeal the body if they got into government Spears told TDA that they.
Would keep a close eye on the state-based voice and if it's not working uh will'll be more than willing to amend its operation or even abolish it entirely so they have kept that option open that's all we have time for today thank you so much for listening to the daily o as always we appreciate if you can hit follow on Spotify or apple.
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