Ken Wyatt makes room for regional voice

A new adviso­ry group will develop options for local and regional bodie­s that can be part of an indigen­ous voice.

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt. Picture: AAP

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt has created a new adviso­ry group that will develop options for local and regional bodie­s that can be part of an indigen­ous voice to government.

Seventeen people have been picked for the Local and Regional Co-design Group that will be co-chaired by academic Peter Buckskin and National Indigenous Australians Agency senior official Letitia Hope.

The group will work on establishing regional connections to the “voice to government” that is being co-designed by the Morrison government with a committee led by indigenous academics ­Marcia Langton and Tom Calma.

The local elements of the voice will be designed separately from an overarching national body.

Mr Wyatt said a voice to governmen­t — which is likely to act as a body to advise on indigenous issues — needed to receive input from Aboriginal Australians in remote and regional areas.

“A local and regional voice will empower indigenous Australians and communities by establishing a framework and guiding principles for models and options that lead to improved and enhanced decision-making, and link through to the national indigenous voice,” the minister said.

“Working in genuine partnership will improve shared decision-making, and ensure shared responsibility and shared accountability for the development and delivery of government programs at a local and regional level.”

“There will be opportunities for everyone to engage throughout the process and I encourage all Australians to get behind this.”

Professor Bucksin said indigenous communities needed to have a say in how programs and policies would work for them locally.

“I’ve been on this journey for a long time, and this is a great opportunity, the next step, to ensure that all indigenous Australians can be heard by government,” he said.

Professor Bucksin is the former dean of Aboriginal engagement and strategic projects at the University of South Australia. He is co-chair of Reconciliation South Australia, chairman of the South Australian Aboriginal Education and Training Consultative Council, and chairman of the Tauondi Aboriginal Community College.

A constitutionally enshrined “voice to parliament”, which would act as an advisory body on legislation that would impact on indig­enous people, was proposed by Aboriginal leaders in the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.

Mr Wyatt has ruled out implementing the statement but is progressing on the design of a “voice to government” that will not be enshrined­ in the Constitution.

The co-design process for the voice to government began in ­October. In The Australian on Wednesday, Professor Langton and Dr Calma write that the voice process is “an opportunity to desig­n our future”. “We are at the table with the Australian government,’’ they write.

“Make no mistake, this is a step forwards. We encourage you to embrace this and engage with us.”

They say the designers of the national and regional elements of the voice would work hand in hand. “(The group) will focus on local and regional models of ­decision-making and governance; options to enhance this and highligh­t what’s already working,’’ they write.