APY Lands Visit

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:23): Supplementary, Mr Speaker: can the Premier advise if the conditions of the women's art room at Mimili have improved and whether the accommodation for fly-in staff has improved on the lands?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:23): I thank the member for Florey for her question. Unfortunately, although Mimili was on the agenda for this visit, it was not possible to visit the arts centre this time because there was sorry business in the Mimili community following a death that had occurred the night before. I did take the opportunity to meet with the Chairperson of the Mimili Community Council, Rex Tjami, and paid my respects to him and his community on their loss on behalf of the people of South Australia.

I was informed on that visit, by members of other arts centres, that there has been an upgrade at Mimili, which is long overdue. Mimili of course is a very, very important community on the APY lands and, like so many others, has incredible artists, including Robert Fielding.

I was very pleased to meet Robert's son, who was there at Mimili. He is now working for Nganampa Health as one of the people driving the ambulance on the APY lands. You might recall that Mr Fielding was the one who decided to raise some money for his community and set out on a very long run between Indulkana and Mimili. I think it's 63 kilometres. I'm not sure whether the member for Florey would like to do that run with me next year. No, I think not.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: You could be supported. We might need Mr Fielding back there with his ambulance standing on-side. Mimili is a very important community. I am sorry that I didn't get a chance for an in-depth visit this time. I was pleased to meet with them at the Sorry Camp, both on my way north and then on my way back because I was very pleased to visit Kenmore Park, which is an incredible orchard in the middle of the APY lands. We were able to pick a lot of fruit, collect it up and take it to the sorry camp at Mimili. They were very grateful for that.

Rex Tjami is not only the Chairperson of the Mimili Community Council, but he is also an admin director for APY. I think the position that he holds favourite amongst all is the coach of the Mimili football team, who play in the Carlton colours.