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  • 2 days ago
There is a call to better fund South Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament with claims it is under resourced. While opponents of the representative body continue calling for it to be repealed the government hailing the model a success.

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00:02Mother of seven Tralina Tucker has gone through labour with both mainstream and Aboriginal birthing services.
00:09One stood out.
00:10It's just that cultural understanding when you go through an Aboriginal birthing program.
00:14They just seem to know. You don't have to continuously tell your story.
00:19It's a model the First Nations voice wants rolled out state-wide,
00:22so Aboriginal mothers can give birth closer to country.
00:26If we can get it right even through birth, it means that we're building a generation that is thriving.
00:31You've been so quiet and polite.
00:33The government says the voice is also contributing to positive changes in police recruitment and bail accommodation.
00:40Real, practical things. They might not light up the sky in terms of newsworthiness,
00:45but my word, little things can make a difference.
00:48So can funding. Some voice elected members are paid less than $100 a week for the part-time role,
00:54supported by an agency with around half a dozen staff.
00:57It's not resourced properly or accordingly to what I suppose is the expectation,
01:02and so these are continued discussions that we have with government.
01:05The voice has done exceptionally well on the funding that they've had,
01:08but as it's been relayed to us, it is difficult for members of the voice to do that interaction with
01:14their local communities.
01:15The government created the voice before the defeat of the national referendum.
01:19Since then, the models experienced a number of teething problems, including member resignations and low voter turnout.
01:25A Liberal Party push to repeal the voice was voted down last week by Labor and the Greens.
01:30But the model faces an uncertain future if power were to change hands.
01:35We are all foreseeing some practical action to really close the gap for Indigenous Australians,
01:39but we don't believe that the voice of parliament is the model for that.
01:43There will be a mandatory review later this year.
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