House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Pika Wiya Health Service PIKA WIYA HEALTH SERVICE Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN House of Assembly Stuart PIKA WIYA HEALTH SERVICE Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (14:51): My question this time is to the Minister for Health. Why have staff at Country Health SA in the Pika Wiya Health Service, who are about to become redeployees in the transfer of this health service to Aboriginal community control, not been offered TVSPs? The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister for the Southern Suburbs Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts PIKA WIYA HEALTH SERVICE The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:51): This is a very complex circumstance and I am not entirely sure which members of staff the member is referring to. Pika Wiya is a state government service which provides services to Aboriginal people in the Port Augusta area and beyond. As part of our Health Care Plan we are turning that service into an Aboriginal controlled service, which is the wish of the community which is served by it and the wish of the board that looks after it, and we are doing it in a sensible way. There are issues of transition for the staff associated with that. My understanding is that nobody is being terminated. Nobody is being asked to resign, so I am not sure of exactly the input of the question. What we are trying to do is transfer the management and control of the service into Aboriginal hands. The reason for doing that is the evidence that Aboriginal controlled services have better health outcomes for the citizens they look after and that is our general policy. There have been some staff issues. I was not aware that was one of them. They are not related to the transfer from the state to Aboriginal control: they are related to other issues. I am happy to have it further investigated and advise the member if I can. To my knowledge, the process to transfer is happening appropriately.