APY Lands, Governance

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking some questions of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Come on! We are now onto Mr Wade; he has the floor. Allow him to ask his question in silence. The Hon. Mr Wade.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking some questions of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation in relation to the reporting requirements of both APY and the Aboriginal Lands Trust.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Yesterday I asked the minister some questions about the accountability of the APY Executive Board. Notwithstanding his statements to the contrary, none of the four specific documents I referred to was or is on the APY website. All four are documents the minister had stipulated APY would be required to place on its website as a condition of the first quarter funding agreement.

The minister's response did, however, reveal that APY is currently in breach of section 13A of the APY Land Rights Act, having failed to prepare and provide him by the end of last year with a copy of its 2013-14 annual report.

Under section 23 of the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 2013, the Aboriginal Lands Trust is also required to provide the minister with an annual report, which he must then lay before the council within 12 sitting days. Under that statutory time frame, the trust's 2013-14 annual report should have been laid before this council by 19 March 2015. This did not occur. Worse still, this council is still yet to see the trust's 2012-13 annual report, now 14 months overdue. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the Aboriginal Lands Trust provided the minister with its annual report for 2013 and/or 2013-14 financial years?

2. Why haven't these reports been provided to the council within the statutory time frame and when does he expect to provide them?

3. Has he delayed the release of funding to the Aboriginal Lands Trust for this breach of the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act in a way comparable to the way he has treated APY?

4. Considering the minister decided to release the second quarter funding to APY even though APY had failed to meet the conditions attached to the first quarter funding, why should this council have any confidence that he has the commitment or firmness required to deliver sustainable and significant improvements in the operation and transparency of the APY Executive Board?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:29): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in these matters. I am not sure that what he says is actually the case in terms of some of the things that were required being on the website. I am happy—

The Hon. S.G. Wade: I will go through with you piece by piece.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Wade, allow Mr—

The Hon. S.G. Wade interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Allow Mr Maher to finish his answer.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I am very happy to sit down with the Hon. Stephen Wade, as I do with other members, and maybe go through just to see if there is any misunderstanding. I am very keen to continue the bipartisanship on the matters of APY and Aboriginal affairs in general that's been shown. I accept that the Hon. Stephen Wade is, without doubt, well-intentioned but may just be misinformed on some of these matters, and I am very happy—

The Hon. S.G. Wade: Excuse me, you went off half-cocked and you were wrong.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I am very happy, in the coming weeks—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Allow him to finish his answer.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —over the next couple of weeks, to sit down with the Hon. Stephen Wade, as I do with others, just to go through these matters and have a good discussion about how some of these things work and what is done. I am pleased with much of the progress that's already been made and the progress that is being made by the APY Executive Board and the management. It would probably be worth outlining some of the improvements that Mr King, as the new interim general manager, has made in the short time he has been general manager.

I have been informed he has enforced a stringent delegation schedule where all purchases must be approved by him as general manager. He has requested that all purchase order books be properly reconciled and coded immediately. He has collated all service agreements to get an accurate picture of the entire APY budget. He has started work to update APY policies and procedures, and he is developing relations and capacity within staff.

Mr King has informed me that, over the coming weeks, amongst other things, he intends to engage the NT Chamber of Commerce for industrial relations advice, make sure all HR policies and procedures are up to date, review current timesheet pro forma and commence a process of improvement there, continue work on a current and accurate assets register, and review insurance policies.

I am pleased with the progress that has been made and progress that is being made in relation to accountability and transparency. Things have improved, and I have confidence that things will continue to improve. As I have said, I am happy to sit down with the honourable member or any other honourable members to go through some of these and other matters that are occurring.

The other point is that I am exceptionally pleased with the bipartisan nature in which I have been able to work with my federal colleagues, particularly Senator Nigel Scullion, the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, with whom I have had numerous conversations about APY and about improvements in APY generally but particularly in accountability and transparency. I am pleased that the federal government has joined with us in some of what we are trying to achieve and how we provide funding.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Wade has a supplementary.