In an historic moment, South Australia became the first Australian jurisdiction to establish a First Nations Voice to Parliament when the SA Parliament passed the First Nations Voice Bill on 26 March 2023.
South Australia’s First Nations Voice is a representative, legislatively created elected body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the state and acts as an important, direct and independent line of communication for First Nations people to South Australia’s Parliament and the Government.
The SA Voice is made up of First Nations individuals who are elected by the First Nations people of South Australia to represent their communities through direct communication with key decision-makers. Through the Voice, First Nations people can have their say at the highest levels of decision-making in South Australia on matters, policies, programs and laws that affect them.
The Voice is made up of 2 levels – six Local First Nations Voices and a State Voice. There is an elected body for each of the six Local First Nations Voice regions, which comprises First Nations representatives elected by First Nations people living within each Local First Nations Voice region. The Electoral Commission of South Australia will run Voice elections every four years, at the same time as the South Australian state elections.
The Local First Nations Voice comprises an elected body for each of the six regions across South Australia.
The six regional boundaries have been determined following engagement with community and advice from community leaders and experts and can be viewed here.
Each region has seven elected members apart from the Central Local First Nations Voice region which has 11 elected members due to the region having a higher population of First Nations people. Each Local First Nations Voice body will choose two joint presiding members.
Local First Nations Voice bodies are responsible for:
The State First Nations Voice is made up of the two joint presiding members of each Local First Nations Voice, with a total of 12 members.
The State First Nations Voice will choose a male and female member as joint presiding members. These joint presiding members will lead the State First Nations Voice by engaging directly with Parliament.
The State First Nations Voice is responsible for:
Both the Voice to Parliament proposed in the 2023 Referendum and the South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament are based on the calls to action of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. They share the common goal of promoting greater First Nations representation and self-determination in decision-making and the development of laws, policies, and programs.
The key difference is the Voice to Parliament Referendum sought to establish a First Nations Voice to Parliament through the Australian Constitution – meaning the Voice body would be permanent – while the South Australian Voice has been established via legislation, making it more vulnerable to changes or abolishment in future. Additionally, the SA Voice speaks to the State Parliament, while the Constitutional Voice would have operated at a Federal level.
The result of the Voice to Parliament Referendum does not affect the establishment of the SA Voice to Parliament or its continued work to advise the SA Government on issues impacting First Nations communities in South Australia. Read more detail about the SA Voice, including election results, here.
