SA Voice to Parliament: Kyam Maher commits to state treaty and truth-telling with indigenous people
Deputy Premier Kyam Maher has responded to a call from SA’s Voice to Parliament to act on new reconciliation measures in the annual address on Thursday.
Deputy Premier Kyam Maher has committed to a state treaty and truth-telling with indigenous people, responding to a call from the nation-leading Voice to Parliament.
In an annual address on Thursday, SA First Nations Voice to Parliament presiding member Danni Smith called on the state’s MPs to deliver “truth-telling and treaty” as the next steps in a “journey toward justice and reconciliation”.
In response, Mr Maher told The Advertiser the state government remained “committed to the full implementation of the Uluru Statement” and was considering how to deliver both a treaty and truth-telling, in consultation with the Voice.
“We are committed to a treaty. We are committed to a truth-telling process. We are considering what the mechanism is to get there,” he said.
Mr Maher, also the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, said work had started on both, including discussions with the Voice, and considering other treaty and truth-telling moves around Australia and globally.
Asked whether this would happen before next March’s state election, Mr Maher said he did not want to nominate a timeline.
But he added: “In the near future, we will have more to say about what they (treaty and truth-telling) look like, after thorough consultation with the Voice.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas endorsed Mr Maher’s comments, his spokesman said, adding potential costs had not yet been assessed.
Speaking at a special joint sitting of parliament in the Legislative Council on Thursday morning, Ms Smith urged “independent commissions for truth-telling and treaty” and said these commissions should be “grounded in lived experience, democratic authenticity and proper resourcing”.
“We believe that truth-telling and treaty are the next steps in South Australia’s journey toward justice and reconciliation,” she said.
“Without truth, we cannot heal. Without treaty, we cannot move beyond words to agreement.
“The Uluru Statement from the Heart sets out the path of Voice, Treaty and Truth. South Australia has achieved the first. Now we must walk together for the second and the third.”
Partner at major law firm, Thomson Geer, Justin Quill said, “The legal implications of the mooted SA truth-telling and treaty proposals are too hard to determine at this stage because, as always, the devil will be in the detail.
“But, aside from the immediate impact on the budget to set things up, it’s fair to say it could give rise to possible compensation claims or recommendations for legislative reform that could themselves have legal implications.”
The June state budget allocated $2.458m to the First Nations Voice to Parliament across the four-year forward estimates, including $731,000 in 2025-26 and $715,000 the next two financial years.
The First Nations Voice to Parliament was implemented at a historic sitting of state parliament on March 26, 2023, when the legislation was passed and assented to by Governor Frances Adamson in a ceremony on the building’s steps.
At the time, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher hailed a “nation-leading reform” that was “a significant event in both our state and nation’s history”.
But his Liberal counterpart, Josh Teague, reaffirmed his party’s opposition to the Voice, saying it was a “defective model” that would not achieve practical outcomes for Indigenous people.
At the federal referendum that October that defeated a national voice, South Australians scuttled Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s flagship policy in less than an hour after polls closed, by becoming the decisive third state to reject the proposal for constitutional change.
