Dale Agius appointed commissioner in 2022 in South Australian move towards first nations voice to parliament
South Australia’s inaugural commissioner for first nations voice Dale Agius (left) and commissioner for Aboriginal engagement since 2018, Dr Roger Thomas.
Dale Agius was appointed South Australia’s inaugural commissioner for first nations voice in 2022, ahead of the state government’s pledge to introduce a voice to parliament as early as the next year.
Agius, a well-connected Kaurna, Narungga, Ngadjuri and Ngarrindjeri man, would help lead the government’s consultation with Aboriginal groups and lay the foundations for state-based implementing of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He would also liaise with the new Labor federal government, committed to bringing in the Uluru statement at a national level.
Agius had extensive experience working with Aboriginal community services and initiatives across government and non-government sectors. His previous roles included director of Aboriginal practice and partnerships within the state human services department, manager of the human services department’s metropolitan Aboriginal youth and family services, and as executive officer in the office of the commissioner for Aboriginal engagement.
South Australian Aboriginal affairs minister Kyam Mayer, also of Aboriginal descent, said he had been looking at different models from around the world for first nations representation and voices to governments and parliaments: “This is the most exciting, most optimistic time I can certainly remember in my lifetime in Aboriginal affairs, for Aboriginal people.”
The Labor state government in 2022 also extended the appointment of Dr Roger Thomas as commissioner for Aboriginal engagement for another six months. Dr Thomas, a senior Kokatha man and respected elder, held senior government positions, first as commissioner for treaty from February 2017 to July 2018, and then as commissioner for Aboriginal engagement. He was the inaugural professor of Indigenous engagement and adjunct professor of education at the University of Adelaide and the dean of Wilto Yerlo, the centre for Australian Indigenous research and studies.
