Sam Telfer, the Member for Flinders in South Australia, appeared on Flow's Country Viewpoint this week and stated his views on the legislated South Australian Voice to parliament.
Telfer flagged his position after South Australia followed all other Australian states in voting against the Federal Voice to parliament proposal on the weekend in Australia's first referendum this century.
"It really is offensive to try and put another layer of Indigenous leadership on top of what is already the natural structure of our Indigenous communities, there are elders in place for each of our people's groups around the state," Telfer said.
"But what the state voice actually does is try and say, 'well, for the whole Western half of South Australia, we'll have one or two people and they can speak on behalf of all Aboriginal people across there', we don't differentiate between different people and different lands."
Telfer expressed that in his view, South Australia's legislated Voice to parliament ultimately won't deliver favourable outcomes for disadvantaged Indigenous communities.
"For mine that's [South Australian legislated voice] adding extra layers in and disrespecting the structure that already is there and in the end, like the federal voice would do, I believe it's going to add another level of bureaucracy and won't actually drive better outcomes for communities," Telfer said.
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