South Australia’s Voice to Parliament plagued by raft of resignations amid accusations members are ‘gagged’ from speaking out

South Australia’s Voice to Parliament has seen a wave of resignations, including that of its leader, amid claims its members are being “gagged” for not speaking out.

Narungga, Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri woman Tahlia Wanganeen was elected to the Central Adelaide Voice in March and appointed chair of the State Voice in June.

Just a few months later, in September, she left both advisory bodies.

Ms Wanganeen claimed the organization’s current model was “unsustainable” because members have “day jobs”, she said. ABC News.

She was one of four elected members who had already resigned from the Voice – the others were Central Voice member Cheryl Axelby, South East Voice member Darryle Barnes, and Yorke and Mid North Voice member Joy Makepeace.

Voice secretariat director Andrea Mason also resigned to move to the Northern Territory, reportedly for family reasons.

Ms Wanganeen’s comments followed a confrontation between SA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher and Independent MP Frank Pangallo in Parliament on Thursday.

The pair fell out after uncle Charles Jackson, voted Voice member and SA’s Senior Australian of the Year, revealed he was considering leaving the body.

The Adnyamathanha elder claimed that “barriers were put in front of me” to be part of the Voice that “do not give me any freedom to be able to say what I want to say to represent my people in region three.”

“I’m thinking about staying on The Voice,” he said.

“I just thought…what’s the point of being a voice for my people?”

Mr. Pangallo accused the Voice of gagging Uncle Charles and said he was “deeply concerned” by the resignation of four other Voice members.

“Why are members of the State Voice prevented from speaking to the media about issues that affect their people?” Mr. Pangallo asked Mr. Maher.

Mr Maher claimed he was unaware of any attempts to silence Voice members.

“Having known Uncle Charlie for many, many years, I don’t think this kind of effort would be successful at all,” he said.

“I think Uncle Charlie has been and will continue to be a fierce advocate for his people.”

Two Voice vacancies will be filled by additional elections next year, while the other two will be filled by the next in line to fill the seats in the March election.

Responding to Voice’s wider concerns, Mr Maher said: ‘I know there were a number of reasons for the people who resigned, including, I think, moving interstate to taking on a new job that didn’t offer flexibility offers to do that, and for other personal reasons.

“It’s not necessarily my place to go into people’s personal information.”

A recruitment process is underway to find replacements for members.

Two vacancies will be filled by additional elections next year, while the other two will be filled by those next in line to fill the seats in the March election.

However, Mr. Pangallo believes that the only way to prevent future resignations is to address the concerns of the four former Voice members.

“For the sake of transparency and accountability, the minister has a responsibility to release the details of why each member has resigned,” he said.

“My concern is that these people were all nominated to join the historic Voice only a few months ago, but suddenly changed their minds – for whatever reason – and pulled the plug.

‘It doesn’t look good and raises a number of questions. Although it is still early days, serious cracks are appearing in the State Voice. It seems we don’t have a voice yet to be heard.’

Prominent Voice member Uncle Charles (pictured) said he is considering leaving the body because of “barriers that are being put in front of me” that “do not give me any freedom to say what I want to say to help my people in Region Three represent’

Uncle Charles has also expressed concern about potentially biased members of the Voice holding jobs in government agencies.

“How can they… speak out against any government policy when the government actually pays their wages?” he said.

Mr Maher addressed the complaint in Parliament by referring to the training Voice members underwent on dealing with conflicts of interest.

“I do not agree that having a career or job in the state or federal public sector… should prevent you from representing your community and being part of our voice in South Australia,” he said.

The SA Voice was previously expected to make its maiden speech to Parliament this year.