Critics claim impostors will undermine SA’s Voice to Parliament

SA’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament is at risk of being undermined by people falsely claiming to be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, critics say.

South Australia’s historic Indigenous Voice to Parliament is at risk of being undermined by people falsely claiming to be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, critics say.

Premier Peter Malinauskas says people seeking to be involved in the Voice – whether to vote for their representative in parliament or become a representative themselves – need only to declare their Indigenous heritage with a statutory declaration.

This is despite many other institutions and government bodies – including the SA Housing Authority – requiring far more stringent proof, such as a letter from an Aboriginal land council approved by its governing body.

Indigenous Forum director at the Centre for Independent Studies, Warren Mundine, labelled SA’s Voice model “stupid” and raised concerns about people falsely claiming they are Indigenous, whether by lying or by mistake.

“How can you tell me that those people who have been elected, or run or voted are ridgy-didge … it undermines everything,” he said.

Mr Mundine, a former chief executive of NSW native title service provider NTSCORP, said native title services are able to verify someone’s Indigenous heritage with research stretching back “a couple of hundred years”.

Indigenous Forum director at the Centre for Independent Studies, Warren Mundine. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“I do not know why (SA’s Voice model) can’t ask for that,” he said.

“They go through a long process and they have licences where they can go anywhere – Ireland or Britain and that – to find stuff (from) the colonial period where things were taken overseas.”

The Opposition’s newly minted Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Price first raised the concerns this week, suggesting there would be a spike in false declarations.

“You will see in South Australia a dramatic increase in the number of Indigenous people within its population, no doubt, because of that particular model,” she said.

State Attorney-General Kyam Maher hit back on Thursday, telling The Advertiser there was no proof to back up the claims.

Attorney General Kyam Maher, left, Governor Frances Adamson, Premier Peter Malinauskas and deputy Premier Susan Close sign the bill on the steps of Parliament House to pass SA’s Voice to Parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“I’m not aware of any evidence that there has been an increase in people making false claims in SA or other jurisdictions as a result of the Voice or similar bodies,” Mr Maher said.

“It is disappointing that the Liberals are choosing to spread fear about this well-established three-part (definition) test instead of focusing on delivering better outcomes for First Nations people.”

Last month, Mr Malinauskas told ABC’s Q+A program the SA Voice would be the “ultimate form of democracy” as all Indigenous people in the state could vote for their representatives.

“Those Indigenous people have to declare through a statutory declaration that they are Indigenous and that will entitle them to vote,” he said.

“If you want to lie on a statutory declaration that would be your option, yes, but for those people who like to tell the truth, and in my assessment that is the overall majority of South Australians, Indigenous people will … be able to elect their Voice.”

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