Tahlia Wanganeen and Leeroy Bilney elected presiding members of South Australian First Nations Voice in 2024

South Australian First Nations Voice presiding members Tahlia Wanganeen and Leeroy Bilney (insets at right) were elected by regional presiding members, pictured on the steps of South Australia's parliament house in June 2024.

Tahlia Wanganeen, representing metropolitan Adelaide Aboriginal communities, and Leeroy Bilney from the far west coast were elected in 2024 as the presiding members of the South Australian First Nations Voice.

The presiding members would speak for the Voice to the South Australian parliament on matters affecting Aboriginal people.

After the March 2024 South Australian First Nations Voice election,113 candidates competed for 46 seats across six local Voice regions. Of those 46 positions, these 12 representatives were elected presiding members for their region:
         * Central: Douglas Clinch, Tahlia Wanganeen
         * Far North: Mark Campbell, Melissa Thompson
         * Flinders and Upper North: Rob Singleton, Candace Champion
         * Riverland and South East: Danni Smith, Rob Wright
         * West and West Coast: Cecelia Cox, Leeroy Bilney
         * Yorke and Mid-North: Raymond Wanganeen, Joy Makepeace

Tahlia Wanganeen, a Narungga, Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri woman, elected to the Voice with 46 first preference votes, was a senior policy adviser within the federal government’s Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, a statutory body headquartered in Adelaide that helped Indigenous people acquire and manage land and water. She was also chair of NAIDOC (National Aborigines' and Islanders' Day Observance Committee) South Australia and a former senior project officer in the South Australian government's premier and cabinet department. 

Leeroy Bilney was elected to the West and West Coast Voice region (from Cowell on the eastern Eyre Peninsula  to the Western Australian border, capturing the Aboriginal communities of Koonibba, Yalata and Oak Valley) with 36 first preference votes. He was chief executive of the Yadu Health Corporation, an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation servicing Ceduna and surrounding communities including Koonibba and Scotdesco in the state’s west. Bilney, a Marlinyu Ghoorlie, Wirangu, Kokatha, Mirning, Noongar and Barngala man, had previously pushed the state government to fix Yadu Health clinic in Ceduna. The SA Health building was riddled with asbestos, mould and water damage before the state and federal  governments committed $15.85 million to repair and upgrade it. 

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher said the first meeting of Voice memebers meeting was historic: "This is the first time we've seen a body like this created anywhere in Australia and so yesterday to have the statewide Voice to come together for the first time." 

The South Australian Voice election was four months after more than 64% of South Australians voted No at the October 2023 referendum to enshrine a federal Voice in the constitution. The South Australian Voice wasn't in the state's constitution but created by passing legislation through parliament in 2023. The South Australian Labor government rebuffed calls to disband the state Voice after the federal referendum’s failure.