APY LANDS, INCOME MANAGEMENT

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (14:26): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Is the minister embarrassed that her federal government counterpart, the Hon. Jenny Macklin, has had to step in and force the South Australian government's hand to respond to numerous requests relating to income management dating back as far as 2009, all rejected by her and the previous minister, the Hon. Jay Weatherill; and can the minister now outline to the house what the scope, budget and legislative time frame for the implementation of this long-awaited program will be?

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) (14:26): I thank the honourable member for this very important question. Absolutely not. I welcome—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall: Last week you didn't know what it was.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Well, I disagree with the premise of your question, which is that we are now heading down this path of income management. No, we are not, and that is because you fail to understand, as you do with so many things, what income management actually means.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Bragg.

Ms CHAPMAN: With the minister continuing to reflect on you, Madam Speaker, in reference to 'you'—

The SPEAKER: Thank you. I do not uphold your point of order, but I understand what you are getting at. But, minister, back to your question.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: But I am very happy, again for the benefit of the member for Norwood, to go through the various understandings that people have about income management. In fact, today minister Macklin and I held a press conference where we talked about these various issues. What are some of the facts in relation to this matter? Fact No. 1: income management is a federal government initiative.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You have asked your question, member for Norwood; you will listen in silence to the response.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Income management is a federal government initiative and I have always maintained that, if the APY executive and communities on the lands and the commonwealth want to go down this path, then I am very happy to work with them, because they will need the state's assistance in going down that path, but this is a federal government initiative. The other fact is this: what we are doing with communities and with the commonwealth is supporting families and communities on the ground with programs, advice and information about how to better manage their money, because what we know is that we have stores full of food and products, for instance. People do have—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Norwood.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —an income—and this is not particular to the APY communities. Wherever you have a community that is going to struggle with disadvantage, that is experiencing poverty and poor levels of education, you are going to get from time to time people who use their income (however limited that might be) unwisely. So, we are working. We are working very hard, and we have been for a very, very long time in relation to this matter. There is no question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: There is—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley, you are warned.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: There is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley, you are warned for the second time.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: It is interesting, Madam Speaker: we had the member for Norwood heading up to APY lands last week hoping to uncover—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Have the courage to say your own. He does not want people out there to know that he did is very best to stop me from going. He did not have the courage to say that on Sunday night at a very big Italian community event. We had the member for Norwood coming—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order: the minister is clearly debating the matter and not answering the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: I think the minister is responding to interjections from across the floor. I ask the minister to get back to the question; however, stop interjecting.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: What I can say is that there is no question on any measure, on any indicator, that under this government, under the leadership of our Premier, with the good work continued by the late Terry Roberts and then minister Weatherill when he was minister for Aboriginal affairs, we have police officers, child protection workers, record investment in infrastructure that never existed when they were in government. I am very proud of that.

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order: relevance. My question specifically was: can the minister outline the scope, budget and legislative time frame for the implementation of this long-awaited program? She has not gone near that topic so far.

The SPEAKER: Thank you; you do not need to explain yourself. I do not uphold that point of order. The minister is answering the question, and what she's talking about is related to the question.

The SPEAKER: Madam Speaker, I was asked if I agreed, and I said, 'Absolutely not.'