SA Liberals vow to overhaul 'defective' First Nations Voice if elected

The Liberal Party has vowed to overhaul South Australia's Indigenous Voice to parliament if elected in 2026, calling the nation's first legislated voice “defective”.

The Liberal Party will “reform” South Australia’s First Nations Voice to parliament if elected to government in 2026.

SA has the first legislated voice to parliament in Australia, being a key election promise of Peter Malinauskas’ government, but Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said it was a “defective model”.

“A Liberal state government would reform the current version of the First Nations Voice to be one of genuine engagement and accountability,” Mr Tarzia said.

“We have struggled to find a single piece of legislation that has had meaningful engagement with the current voice under Labor, proving it is a defective model that won’t achieve practical outcomes.”

Mr Tarzia said the Liberals would re-establish the Aboriginal Affairs Committee and pursue a more “representative and accountable model of engagement”, including direct dialogue between Indigenous leaders and the parliament.

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia says the Liberals will repeal the Indigenous Voice to parliament if elected in March. Picture: Russell Millard

He said it was “more nuanced” than simply repealing the legislation.

“We consider the current model defective and we have always said that. That’s why we didn’t support it,” he said.

“For us it’s about ensuring what is there works rather than scrapping it.”

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher said the Opposition was “all over the shop” on the issue.

“We’ve heard they want to repeal it, and then not repeal but keep the body and add another layer of bureaucracy and expense by reporting to a Parliamentary Committee,” he said.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Mr Maher said the voice allowed Aboriginal community members to have a say in decisions that affect them, and had already made contributions to legislation as well as to the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.

“Rather than a committee of politicians, the Government seeks advice from Aboriginal leaders elected by their communities,” he said.

“The voice is an advisory body and governments can decide what to do with this advice.

“The voice was established after we conducted the most comprehensive consultation that has ever been conducted by a South Australian government with Aboriginal South Australians.”

SA’s Voice to parliament will cost taxpayers around $2.5 million over the next four years.

Much of that cost comes from elections for the regional representatives that make up the state voice.

The voice has two levels: The local First Nations voices, which represent the six regions of South Australia, and the state voice, which consists of two members from each local voice.

The first election in 2024 saw just 2583 formal ballots cast out of 30,000 eligible voters.

The next elections are due to take place alongside the 2026 state election.

The Liberals did not support the Voice to parliament bill when it was introduced in 2023, with Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Josh Teague saying at the time that the legislation was “rushed”.

Originally published as SA Liberals vow to overhaul 'defective' First Nations Voice if elected