House of Assembly: Thursday, September 15, 2011

Contents

APY LANDS, SUBSTANCE MISUSE FACILITY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Is it the case that the minister has had an independent federally-funded report costing the taxpayers of Australia $47,000 sitting on her desk since August of last year, highlighting the underutilisation of the Amata substance misuse service, and yet has continued to put $1 million a year from her department's budget of around about $5 million (the APY task force's budget) into this underutilised facility? Does her department conduct any evaluation of the effectiveness of programs funded by the APY task force fund?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order, Madam Speaker: I would so much love to hear this answer but enlivened as I am—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —by the arguments on the other side, I note that there is a motion in the other place concerning this minister's dealings with the APY lands. I would ask you to rule that these terrible people are trying to pre-empt the debate in another place.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! As I said before, if everything that is happening in the other house is referred to, and we are not allowed to refer to anything, we would not have anything to do in question time—and wouldn't that be lovely! Now, can we have some sense back into this? We have six minutes of question time left. Can we get back to some semblance of order? Does the minister wish to answer that last question?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion) (15:03): Yes, I would be very happy to answer this question. Of course I am aware of the report into the substance misuse facility that the Minister for Health referred to earlier. Clearly, my agency and his agency are working together; clearly, we are working with communities. That is the only way to go forward on this issue.