APY LANDS, ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation questions about the poor upkeep of electricity infrastructure on the Centre Bore homeland.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: On 31 October last year I asked a question of the then minister for communities and social inclusion who was representing the then minister for Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation on behalf of a Centre Bore resident about a community constable who had had no access to electricity in his home since June 2012. As you know, community constables provide an invaluable service to our remote communities and are in the front line of keeping order and harmony in the same. I still have not received an answer and given that the minister is now the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation himself, I seek an answer directly from him to the following:

1. Why has the council not received an answer to this question, which was of serious urgency?

2. Does the minister believe it is satisfactory that this gentlemen has been without electricity now for almost nine months?

3. Will the minister make a commitment to remedy this as soon as possible?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:13): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. I suppose the Liberal remedy for such a thing would be to go back to what they did previously and simply fix this problem by not having police on the homelands or the Aboriginal lands at all?