South Australia’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister says the state will enter negotiations to create treaties that will recognise separate Indigenous groups throughout South Australia.

The state government is expected to spend $4.5mn over five years creating the treaties – and Minister Kyam Maher says he expects the first to be negotiated within one year.

 

Minister Maher says initial negotiations will be conducted with the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association, Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation and the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority.

It will be the first time a state has committed to negotiations with separate Indigenous nations.

The move goes against claims by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier in the year that a focus on treaties would risk destabilisation of the proposed referendum on constitutional recognition.