YALATA POLICE STATION

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER (15:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question about the Yalata police station.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER: It is well known that the Yalata police station burnt down some years ago. As I understand it, funds were committed in last year's budget for a rebuild of that station and, so far, nothing has happened. Will the minister inform the council as to when or if the construction of the replacement police station will commence, and can he confirm or deny that the funds committed for the building of the station at Yalata have in fact been deployed to the APY lands, as is the belief of local residents?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:31): In relation to the funding of police stations in our indigenous lands, we have been the recipient of some generosity on behalf of the commonwealth government, both the previous commonwealth government and the current federal government, which will significantly enable us to upgrade police facilities, particularly in the APY lands.

Unfortunately, the Yalata station was burnt down. I will see what progress has been made in relation to reconstructing that particular facility. It does need to be borne in mind by the council that all building works in the remote areas of South Australia take far longer than I think all governments would like them to take. Part of the reason for this is the shortages of labour in remote areas to construct these facilities. While the mining boom is very welcome for the increased wealth it brings to the state, one of the more unfortunate side effects is that it does, of course, compete for construction work within those more remote areas. Also, obviously before construction commences on these sites, there needs to be a very lengthy negotiation process with the Aboriginal communities concerned, and I am not exactly sure of the position relating to the particular facility mentioned by the honourable member. So, I will take the question on notice and bring back a reply.