Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor wants a change to the City of Adelaide Act to ensure a Kaurna representative sits on the Adelaide City Council.

“There’s an opportunity for us as a leader in this space,” City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor told the Reconciliation Committee at a meeting yesterday at Adelaide Town Hall.

“Through Reconciliation Committee, with our Stretch RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan), for years [we’ve wanted to] work through a change to the [City of Adelaide] Act, which would have to be legislated to allow, in the first instance, Kaurna representation on our council,” she said.

“We want the Kaurna voice at the table.

“We want to have that representation because we need that voice with our decision-making.

“That should show the way for every other of those 24 councils, in terms of Native Title, to make sure there is proper representation.”

Reconciliation Committee members were asked to offer feedback on how the City of Adelaide could achieve greater Indigenous representation and participation in the upcoming Adelaide City Council election.

City of Adelaide manager of governance Mick Petrovski said he had been personally assigned by the Lord Mayor to investigate options for legislating a Kaurna voice on the council, and to propose a policy position to the next State Government.

“Something that we’re thinking about… [is] what it looks like and what the arguments or the case for it is, and that’s something that we’ll be working through the Lord Mayor,” he said.

Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch

Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation committee representative – and former chairperson – Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch told CityMag he welcomed the move, as legislating a First Nations voice to government had been attempted at state and federal levels but not on a local government level.

“It would give the position back to us, to the Kaurna Aboriginal community. We’d be treated fairly,” he said.

“It gives us a fair and just position now when we don’t have a position.”

Verschoor said she would bring back developments to later Reconciliation Meetings for discussion.

The Lord Mayor did not respond to CityMag’s questions before deadline about what changes could be made to the City of Adelaide Act and when she wanted them to be rolled out.

Local government elections will take place in November.