South Australia is beginning to raise its voice

“I hope that the liberal opposition will support this. They didn’t show any resistance to it, which I think is a good thing,” he said.

The Government has provided $10 million to the body to inform the policy-making process to create better living standards for the 2.5 per cent of South Australians who identify as Indigenous.

Its members are entitled to the same remuneration and allowances as members of other SA advisory bodies.

The state government hopes to enact the Voice in the first quarter of the year and have it operational before the federal referendum, which is expected to be held in September or October.

Labor has a clear majority in the lower house of South Australia’s parliament but needs the support of the Greens or other independents to pass legislation in the upper house.

Victoria is also on her way to having a voice. The elected First People’s Assembly, currently tasked with negotiating a treaty with the Victorian government, is set to morph into a voice body in the coming years.

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The landmark report on the Indigenous Voice co-design process underpinning the national voice suggests it will exist at both national and regional levels. Local bodies are likely to be involved in electing the members of a national vote. How the Victorian and SA institutions would interact with a national voice remains unclear.

Key Voice activist Megan Davis said Sunday regional bodies would play an important role.

“The Voice to Parliament will not be a top-down mechanism. It’s going to come from the communities, whether they call themselves grassroots communities,” she said on ABC insider Program.

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