Parliamentary Committees

Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee: Report 2014-15

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (11:02): I move:

That the 2014-15 annual report of the committee be noted.

This is the 11^th annual report of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee. The committee is responsible for reviewing the operation of the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 2013, the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984 and the Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981. The committee has the responsibility of reviewing the operation of the new Aboriginal Lands Trust Act three years after its commencement.

The committee discharges its responsibilities in part by visiting Aboriginal lands, Aboriginal communities, by maintaining strong relationships with the Aboriginal landholding statutory authorities and by inviting representatives from those statutory authorities to appear before the committee to give evidence. During the past year, the committee visited the APY communities of Pipalyatjara, Kalka, Nyapari, Murputja, Kanpi, Umuwa and Amata, as well as the Aboriginal Lands Trust holdings in Port Lincoln, Ceduna, the Far West Coast and Coober Pedy.

The committee was pleased to see that the prices of fresh food supplied by Mai Wiru stores throughout the APY lands was significantly less than in previous visits. The initial funding support of Mai Wiru by the state and commonwealth government has led to better coordination of purchasing and lower transport costs, which has resulted in quality food being delivered to the APY lands at an affordable price, so that is a very significant improvement. The committee commends the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation and Mai Wiru for the initiative, which is now fully self-funded.

The committee was also pleased to hear of the progress on the APY lands main access road upgrade, with the state government and commonwealth governments contributing $106 million to the upgrade of 210 kilometres of the main access road between the Stuart Highway and Pukatja, as well as 21 kilometres of community and airstrip access roads in various communities.

The committee will continue to advocate that at least 30 per cent of the jobs in the road upgrade project bring meaningful employment opportunities for Anangu as specified in the tendering requirements. On that note, the committee is intending to continue to look at just how effective those local employment participation rates are going to be, so we will be revisiting that subject on a regular basis.

The committee also heard evidence from a number of witnesses, including representatives of the APY Executive at the time and the interim APY General Manager, the Chief Executive of the Aboriginal Lands Trust, the Executive Director of the Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division and the Department of State Development and others.

As a result of these visits and evidence received, the committee was able to raise a number of important issues with the relevant state and federal ministers and government agencies responsible for service provision for Aboriginal communities. The committee also showed its support for Aboriginal Australians by attending a number of different events, including the National Sorry Day breakfast, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flag-raising ceremony at the Adelaide Town Hall and the South Australian and national NAIDOC award ceremonies.

Congratulations to Tauto Sansbury who was awarded the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award. Tauto was a respected advocate for social justice and has fought to improve the conditions of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system over many years. I congratulate all of the deserving 2015 national and South Australian NAIDOC award winners.

The committee is also a strong supporter of recognition for Aboriginal people in Australia's constitution and also acknowledges the importance of reconciliation for all Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. As members will know, South Australia changed its constitution in March 2013 to recognise Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of our state's lands and waters and to acknowledge the continuing significance of Aboriginal heritage and culture.

I think that this is a positive step and sends a message to the commonwealth to take the necessary steps to ensure Indigenous recognition to the national constitution. To all the committee members, past and present, I thank you for your time, dedication and for your invaluable contribution towards the important work of this committee.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank the individuals and organisations that presented evidence to the committee. Through their evidence the committee was able to gain a clearer picture of a range of important issues, and one of those important issues was the importance of working towards community-based dialysis in the APY lands.

It was our pleasure to visit Alice Springs and to meet with the people who run Purple House just to look at how well that organisation has undertaken the role of providing community-based dialysis. It just shows what can be done with the necessary commitment. We need to work with the commonwealth so that we can put in place on the APY lands community-based dialysis.

When I first came into this chamber it was at the tail end of some of the debate about community-based dialysis as opposed to the mobile dialysis service which was introduced. In my view as the local member covering the APY lands, I do not see it as a question of 'either/or', that we have on the one hand a mobile dialysis service as opposed to community-based services.

Both services are complementary and as a government we should, as I say, work in cooperation with the commonwealth to ensure that we address all the issues that need to be addressed so that we get community-based dialysis.

Thank you to all of the Aboriginal communities, organisations and representatives that the committee has met over the past year. The committee continues to learn from Aboriginal people, and I wish to respectfully pay tribute to their culture, their strength and resilience and honour the memory of those who have passed away.

Amidst a rejuvenated spirit of national reconciliation, whilst recognising that many and varied challenges in the area of Aboriginal affairs lie ahead, the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee continues to commit and apply itself to further developing positive relationships with Aboriginal South Australians and to work in partnership to achieve better outcomes for all Indigenous people.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (11:10): I rise to speak on the annual report of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee 2014-15, and I thank the member for Giles for his comprehensive summary of the report and the activities of the committee. With that, can I say that I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this committee for the many, many years that I have been on it and working with the many different members from all parties of all persuasions in this place and the other place.

It is an unusual committee in that it is an upper house/lower house committee where members deal with issues involving the lives of some of the most interesting and challenging people in South Australia, but also some of the most wonderful people you could ever meet; that is, our Aboriginal communities and individuals. They are a very proud part of South Australia, and I am very pleased to have developed relationships with not only them but also, as I have said, members of the committee. The member for Giles and the member for Napier are new to the committee and relatively new to this place, but I thank them for their contribution and for being part of a committee that has worked 99.9 per cent of the time in a completely cooperative way. We have focused on what we are supposed to be doing, and that is serving the people of South Australia—in this case, our Aboriginal citizens.

The committee has had some changes in my time. We have had five ministers for Aboriginal Affairs and there have been changes in the legislation for Maralinga Tjarutja, APY, native heritage, and Aboriginal Lands Trust legislation, yet we still see many challenges in Aboriginal communities around South Australia. I hope that this committee continues on with the work that it has been doing, but it is often two steps forward and one step back. I remember speaking to premier Rann about this because he shared my frustration that there is so much to do and it just seems to just move along at such a slow, incremental pace. However, it is going forward, it is moving forward, and that is part of the role of this committee, and I am very pleased to say that they are doing a terrific job.

As the member for Giles said, we have travelled a lot with this committee and I would encourage any member in this place to keep in touch with members of the committee because there is usually a spare seat on the plane to go and visit parts of South Australia that you would never, ever normally see—some of the most beautiful country that this fantastic state of ours has. There is Mount Woodroffe, the highest point in South Australia and up on the APY lands, right across to Scotdesco on the West Coast, Yalata and Maralinga Tjarutja.

To fly into Maralinga Tjarutja, the runway is as big, if not bigger, than Adelaide Airport, and the thing you have to watch out for are tourists on camels who are going across to see the relics and remnants of the atomic testing. I was pleased to hear in recent media reports that the tourism venture that the Maralinga Tjarutja people are setting up there is making progress. It is a huge opportunity. We know that tourism is a big industry for South Australia and this niche tourism, particularly Maralinga Tjarutja, is something that I think the Aboriginal people are making the very best of. Of course, the Maralinga Tjarutja people have the other big thing and that is the Head of Bight with the whale watching; another fantastic tourism opportunity for them there.

But it is not just APY lands which we hear so much about and Maralinga Tjarutja, it is Raukkan down in the Coorong, Point Pearce on Yorke Peninsula, Gerard in the Riverland, Yalata over on the West Coast, Nepabunna by Leigh Creek, Coober Pedy and Port Lincoln—all over this state. As I say, I would strongly encourage members in this place to jump on board one of these charter flights, which is the way we normally travel because it is such a vast area. Just to remind members and anyone who may read this, driving from Adelaide to Pipalyatjara is further than driving from Adelaide to Sydney, but the last 600 ks are very rough roads. Jump on board, come with the committee, come to see parts of South Australia you may never have seen before and will not get the chance to see very often, and speak to some of the people who are facing some challenges but have lots of opportunities and are making the best of those opportunities.

We heard about Mai Wiru stores in the APY lands. I first went up there with the late Hon. Terry Roberts, an absolute champion of Aboriginal Affairs, and looked at the stores. There was full strength Coke, full strength soft drinks, black and yellow tinned fruit and packaged food that was exorbitantly expensive. There was a real need to change things. I remember walking into the Pukatja Ernabella store, and the first thing I came across was a big bain-marie full of fast food, Chiko Rolls, and fried chicken. How things have changed. It is just so much better up there now. People are far more conscious of their welfare.

There are still challenges, but right across the state this committee is doing its best to communicate, to participate, to sit down and talk face-to-face with people in these Aboriginal communities and make sure that we are listening to them. We are listening to them, we are hearing what they are saying, and we are trying to communicate it back to this place. I encourage members to read our report. It is not a terribly long report of 31 pages. There is a lovely photograph on page 30 of me with World War II veteran Ray Boland from Coober Pedy. I was very pleased to be at the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II with Ray. Ray Boland, an Aboriginal digger, served in World War II, and never claimed his medals. We were able to present the medals to Ray at the RSL, and it was great.

They are the sorts of contacts you make on this committee. It is a unique committee. If the changes mooted to the committee system in this place do take place, I would do this job. I do not care about the money. It is a job that I think needs to be done. I love doing it, and I would encourage every other member to consider this committee as something in which they should be involved in some way, whether it is just coming as a passenger with us on a trip or coming onto the committee. It is a very good committee.

The report highlights the things that we have done. Have a read of it, talk to the members of the committee about what we are doing; but please make sure that we do advance Aboriginal affairs in South Australia and give every South Australian, particularly our Aboriginal citizens, the opportunities they deserve in 2015. Congratulations to members of the committee on the perseverance and persistence in what they have done. I hope that members read this report. I look forward to participating in Aboriginal affairs, particularly on this committee, for many years to come.

Motion carried.