Parliamentary Committees

ABORIGINAL LANDS PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE: ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens:

That the annual report of the committee, 2011-12, be noted.

(Continued from 31 October 2012.)

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:46): I rise to note the report of the Aboriginal Lands Standing Committee and, in doing so, observe that, in fact for the first time in my term here, the report has been tabled within the timeframe required by its establishment. I commend the current minister (Hon. Paul Caica) on his work with the committee, and his attendance at the meetings of this committee. This stands in stark contrast to the previous minister's attendance rate, which I think extended to simply one meeting, the initial meeting at which she became the presiding member of the committee, and then she did not attend another single meeting of that committee.

I note that there has been an ongoing issue with this committee in that it is difficult for ministers to participate, so I doubly applaud the work of minister Paul Caica in making the effort to be an active member of this committee. However, this committee is unique in South Australian parliamentary committees in that the minister is a member. It has a historical basis in that there was a particular minister (Hon. Terry Roberts) who had a particular commitment to ensuring that this was an effective committee of this parliament.

Over a period of time, perhaps the priorities of this place have changed, and three incarnations of this committee have now resolved that the minister should probably not be on this committee. It is proving to be unworkable where a minister, as the presiding member of the committee, would be writing to himself or herself about the issues raised by the committee in their work.

I certainly thank you, Mr President, for often stepping in as acting presiding member of this committee many times, and the other members of the committee for their dedication to the terms of reference of this committee. It is a hardworking committee. It is a committee that does in fact have an extensive travelling agenda, and the reasoning for that is that the committee tries to get out and meet with people in their communities, in an across-party, bipartisan way—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Tripartisan.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: —'Tripartisan', the Hon. Terry Stephen points out to me—to ensure that the voices, the issues, needs and concerns of Aboriginal people are at the forefront. Interestingly, in this past period of reporting, as a committee we have also undertaken and initiated an inquiry into the Stolen Generations Reparations Tribunal Bill, which I brought to this place. I thank the opposition for their support for that referral. In the process of that inquiry, I am hoping that by the time this committee reports again we have made some progress on that particular issue.

In short, it is a proactive committee. It certainly presides over the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act and the Aboriginal Heritage Act as a stated part of its terms of reference. In that, I do note with some disappointment that we have yet to see final drafts of bills in reforms to either the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act or the Aboriginal Heritage Act. I would dearly hope that the next time we see this report before this place both of those issues will have been resolved by this government. With that, I commend the report to the council.

Motion carried.