South Australia Labor government ‘ignoring the pleas of South Australians’

We've also seen this in Victoria. Now, Victoria had less than 10% turnout as well, 7% and just under 10% for the last First Peoples Assembly, they call it in Victoria. But there seems to be no appetite to do a U-turn here. What will the Liberals, the Coalition do if they are elected? Do you have a firm policy to roll this back or are we waiting and seeing what happens? Look, it's a great question, Rita. And look, I've personally been against the federal vote and of course the state vote as well. And as long as I'm in the party room of the state Liberals, I'll be advocating for a repeal policy to be brought to 2026. But at the end of the day, we have a repeal bill being brought before the Legislative Council by the Honourable Sarah Game. I congratulate her on that. But it hasn't been brought to a vote because we don't have the numbers quite simply. So it is up to Peter Mallinowskis to pull the leaders of government to undo what has essentially been a failed ideological experiment on behalf of Labor and put a line through this voice. Only yesterday, the Premier and Attorney-General Clive Marr equated this vote, this successful vote in their terms to ATSI. And we know exactly how ATSI turned out. It was abolished because of corruption and nepotism. And I'm really worried, as a majority of South Australians, I think, that that's exactly where this state voice is going to go as well. James. Well, Ben, tell me about... You've got a petition, don'tdivideSA.com.au. Tell me how that's going, what that's calling for. And is it true that you've had more signatories to that petition than people actually cast their vote in this election? Well, James, that's exactly right. The Don't Divide SA petition that I spun up last November, to date, we've had over 7,000 votes, or signs, a signatory on that petition. So that's about, well, I'm not very good at maths, but that's 171% more than the people that actually voted in this state voice. And I think that that outlines the issue here, that the Labor government in South Australia are ignoring the pleas of everyday South Australians. They're not focused on cost of living. They're not focused on dealing with the energy crisis. They're not focused on small business and backing the family, but chasing down every ideological rabbit hole with their pet pauses. And unfortunately, they're the ones that have to undo this. And Ben, sorry, just one more question for you. How much will this voice cost to operate, run, implement, and what actual authority does it have, if any, to influence legislation? Or is this just simply an expensive advisory body that has no power, or that it will have power and have real teeth, despite having representatives voted onto it with tiny, tiny, less than a handful of votes? Look, it's a great question, James. At the end of the day, Labor would have you believe both, that it's this powerful voice for Aboriginal Australians, or it's actually not anything really that terrible. What it is, is the voice can come onto the floor of Parliament and speak to any bill. The clerks of both houses have to advise the voice of any legislation, any bill that comes before Parliament. Now, they can't hold it up, but as we know with the federal voice, and this was the argument, that when the voice will go against the bill from any government, essentially, any government that will go against the voice will probably be deemed inherently racist, and they will play it out in the media. It is going to be a handbrake on our democracy. And at the end of the day, we should not delineate our democracy on race. It is simple as that. But, Ben, it's not... It's not... I'm sorry. It's not a handbrake on your democracy. It's the death of your democracy. You do not have democracy in South Australia. If some person with six votes or 11 votes, or whatever it is, can go onto the floor of Parliament and their opinion can sway legislation that the democratically elected, and overrule, if you like, or influence the democratically elected body, it is the death of democracy. There is absolutely no place in a democracy for this sort of cronyism and it must be repealed. And, Peter Malinowskis, what you have done is shown that Labor's entire Indigenous First Nations voice program is a complete farce. It's a complete joke. You do not represent the Indigenous people of this country. They voted against you, Labor. Learn the lesson. Ben Hood, thanks so much for coming on. Outsiders, have a great Easter. And please, get rid of this ridiculous thing out of the South Australian Parliament as soon as you get into power.