Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ah, the South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament. The body that South Australians democratically rejected, but got lumped with anyway.
According to the government’s official website, the Voice is described as “a representative, legislatively created elected body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Which brings us to our very first question: what on earth do the Torres Strait Islands—an island chain sitting off the tropical, far-north coast of Queensland—have to do with the state of South Australia? We are talking about a geographic disconnect of at least 1,800 kilometres, and that’s only if you fly as the crow flies to the most isolated corner of the state.
If you look at the most recent results of the 2026 state Voice election, you can see that there are six regions that voted. Looking at the electoral map, these regions are huge. Keeping in mind South Australia is comparable in geographic area to the combined areas of France and Germany.
If we take a look at Region 5, shown in grey here, West and West Coast, the results are quite telling. In that massive geographical region, there were only 296 formal ballot papers.
If you look at the actual breakdown of the votes, out of the five candidates, only four got elected.
“But the West Coast region has seven seats!,” I hear you ask, as if we all knew that. But for some reason, Mr. Keenan Smith missed out.
Why? Because he had the wrong biological sex.
According to the Electoral Commission, in the name of equality, the West Coast region must have three male, three female, and one any gender. Sorry Keenan, as there were already four blokes who got more votes than you, you miss out.
“But hang on, what about the remaining three seats?”, I hear you ask.
Well, if you scroll down, you’ll see “ELECTED UNOPPOSED”. As only three female candidates were accepted for Region 5, the three ladies got in with exactly zero votes needed.
Poor Keenan worked so hard to get those 29 first preference votes, but as his sexual biology doesn’t match the required quota slot, he gets booted. Although he got voted in in the inaugural Voice elections two years ago, he has now been erased due to legalised sexism.
It’s tough being progressive.
In a previous video, referencing data published by the ABC, I mentioned that fewer than 10% of eligible Aboriginal voters cast their ballot in the first South Australian Voice election back in 2024.
Well, the 2026 results are now locked in. As pointed out by the National Indigenous Times, “only 3,308 votes were cast from more than 30,000 eligible Indigenous voters—less than 11 per cent.”
But hey, look on the bright side. It is technically an improvement! We went from a sub-10% turnout two years ago to just over 10.9% this year. In fact, South Australia’s Attorney-General proudly described this very result as a “significant jump of about 25 per cent in turnout.”
Mathematically, he is technically correct. But contextually? It means roughly 89% of eligible Indigenous South Australians completely ignored the election.
But why? Why did they choose not to vote in this historic, racialised experiment?
Don’t worry, the ABC has the answer, publishing an article last week headlined: “Poor advertising, confused voters, and underfunded candidates: SA Voice’s problems revealed.”
Yes, as we all know, Aboriginal programs in Australia are notoriously underfunded. If only there was more money being thrown at Indigenous affairs.
To be fair, South Australia is an enormous jurisdiction, and having roughly 30,000 eligible Indigenous voters spread across a landmass that size means that, logistically, trying to run a statewide ballot is an absolute nightmare that costs a fortune.
And for what? What does it actually achieve? Some bloke living out in the middle of the sticks casts a ballot for some other person hundreds of kilometres away whom he’s probably never even met, in the vague hope that his perspective magically gets passed up the bureaucratic food chain.
In the article, the ABC found that the election was hampered by “advertising failures that left some First Nations voters unaware an election was taking place.”
I’d hazard a guess that most of them didn’t know there was an election taking place.
The fact is, two years into this experiment, when roughly 89% of eligible Aboriginal voters are either completely unable to vote or are simply choosing not to participate, this so-called First Nations Voice is anything but representative.
As there is already a state Parliament designed to represent every single South Australian citizen regardless of their heritage, this bureaucratic “Voice” is not only entirely ineffective, it is a complete waste of public money and institutional manpower.
There is really only one logical solution left on the table. It’s time to get rid of it.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
Ah, the South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament. The body that South Australians democratically rejected, but got lumped with anyway.
According to the government’s official website, the Voice is described as “a representative, legislatively created elected body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Which brings us to our very first question: what on earth do the Torres Strait Islands—an island chain sitting off the tropical, far-north coast of Queensland—have to do with the state of South Australia? We are talking about a geographic disconnect of at least 1,800 kilometres, and that’s only if you fly as the crow flies to the most isolated corner of the state.
If you look at the most recent results of the 2026 state Voice election, you can see that there are six regions that voted. Looking at the electoral map, these regions are huge. Keeping in mind South Australia is comparable in geographic area to the combined areas of France and Germany.
If we take a look at Region 5, shown in grey here, West and West Coast, the results are quite telling. In that massive geographical region, there were only 296 formal ballot papers.
If you look at the actual breakdown of the votes, out of the five candidates, only four got elected.
“But the West Coast region has seven seats!,” I hear you ask, as if we all knew that. But for some reason, Mr. Keenan Smith missed out.
Why? Because he had the wrong biological sex.
According to the Electoral Commission, in the name of equality, the West Coast region must have three male, three female, and one any gender. Sorry Keenan, as there were already four blokes who got more votes than you, you miss out.
“But hang on, what about the remaining three seats?”, I hear you ask.
Well, if you scroll down, you’ll see “ELECTED UNOPPOSED”. As only three female candidates were accepted for Region 5, the three ladies got in with exactly zero votes needed.
Poor Keenan worked so hard to get those 29 first preference votes, but as his sexual biology doesn’t match the required quota slot, he gets booted. Although he got voted in in the inaugural Voice elections two years ago, he has now been erased due to legalised sexism.
It’s tough being progressive.
In a previous video, referencing data published by the ABC, I mentioned that fewer than 10% of eligible Aboriginal voters cast their ballot in the first South Australian Voice election back in 2024.
Well, the 2026 results are now locked in. As pointed out by the National Indigenous Times, “only 3,308 votes were cast from more than 30,000 eligible Indigenous voters—less than 11 per cent.”
But hey, look on the bright side. It is technically an improvement! We went from a sub-10% turnout two years ago to just over 10.9% this year. In fact, South Australia’s Attorney-General proudly described this very result as a “significant jump of about 25 per cent in turnout.”
Mathematically, he is technically correct. But contextually? It means roughly 89% of eligible Indigenous South Australians completely ignored the election.
But why? Why did they choose not to vote in this historic, racialised experiment?
Don’t worry, the ABC has the answer, publishing an article last week headlined: “Poor advertising, confused voters, and underfunded candidates: SA Voice’s problems revealed.”
Yes, as we all know, Aboriginal programs in Australia are notoriously underfunded. If only there was more money being thrown at Indigenous affairs.
To be fair, South Australia is an enormous jurisdiction, and having roughly 30,000 eligible Indigenous voters spread across a landmass that size means that, logistically, trying to run a statewide ballot is an absolute nightmare that costs a fortune.
And for what? What does it actually achieve? Some bloke living out in the middle of the sticks casts a ballot for some other person hundreds of kilometres away whom he’s probably never even met, in the vague hope that his perspective magically gets passed up the bureaucratic food chain.
In the article, the ABC found that the election was hampered by “advertising failures that left some First Nations voters unaware an election was taking place.”
I’d hazard a guess that most of them didn’t know there was an election taking place.
The fact is, two years into this experiment, when roughly 89% of eligible Aboriginal voters are either completely unable to vote or are simply choosing not to participate, this so-called First Nations Voice is anything but representative.
As there is already a state Parliament designed to represent every single South Australian citizen regardless of their heritage, this bureaucratic “Voice” is not only entirely ineffective, it is a complete waste of public money and institutional manpower.
There is really only one logical solution left on the table. It’s time to get rid of it.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
