AceBreakingNews – More than 100 candidates will contest South Australia’s inaugural First Nations Voice to Parliament election, with early voting to get underway in just over a week.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Feb.26: 2024: ABC First Nations News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

The state’s electoral commission formally revealed the candidates, and their positions on the ballot papers, at the Adelaide Convention Centre this afternoon.

The SA government said it was pleased by the “strong response” and by the fact that a majority of the candidates were women.

Electoral Commissioner Mick Sherry said there were enough candidates to ensure that no-one would be elected unopposed — an “encouraging result” which means voting can begin across the state from March 6.

“I can confirm that 113 people have nominated for this particular election,” Mr Sherry said.

“What it means is, there’ll be an election for every one of the regions here in South Australia, so it’s a terrific result.”

All up, 46 candidates will fill seats across six local Voice regions, with 12 of those (six women and six men) to form the state Voice, which will be tasked with providing direct advice to the SA government on issues which affect First Nations people.

“In essence what we have is a two-tier system,” the Commissioner for First Nations Voice Dale Agius said.

“What that does is create a direct line of sight between the on-ground representatives, the local Voices, and the state members who connect with those high-level decision-makers.”

Mr Agius said Indigenous communities were too often left feeling “dislocated or fractured” and that the SA Voice was intended to help address that.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here in South Australia really think it’s very important to engage with the parliament and with government officials,” he said.

“What they know is that the information coming up from the ground to high-level decision-makers isn’t authentic or honest or true from the community’s perspective.”

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher said more than 40 people had nominated in the Adelaide area alone.

“Really pleasingly, 55 per cent of the nominations, so the majority of nominations, are from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women,” he said.

“We’ll have elections in every single region and that just shows the strong support there is amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the First Nations Voice.

“There’s been a really strong response.”

Multiple ways to vote

The SA Voice will be an advisory body comprised of First Nations community members, elected by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander South Australians.

Only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voters enrolled in South Australia can vote in the election, but voting is not compulsory.

“After today, our focus moves to election day, and ensuring that every eligible elector is aware of the election and has the opportunity to vote in a number of ways,” the Electoral Commissioner said.

Those ways include at 13 early voting centres which will be open from March 6 to 15, at 32 polling places on election day on March 16, and by postal ballots which can be obtained via the commission’s website or post offices.

“We are very encouraged by the amount of interest to nominate and we hope that transfers across to voting as well,” Mr Sherry said.

“This is the first ever South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament election, so as with anything new, there’s been some challenges.

“The main challenge is that we have to get out to the remote areas to make sure that every eligible Aboriginal-Torres Strait Islander [South Australian] is aware of their opportunity to enrol.”

Unlike the failed federal Voice proposal, the SA First Nations Voice was established through legislation last year.

While voting ends on March 16, the electoral commission will not begin counting until March 25.

“We have to wait until every vote is back for us to determine the amount of formal votes, which goes to the quota required for this proportional representation count system,” Mr Sherry said.

“It’ll be at least a week after polling day before we can commence the count.”

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