APY Lands

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:24): A supplementary arising from the answer: the minister mentioned that the 30 per cent Anangu employment target was being met and exceeded. Can the minister outline what the FTE of that employment target is over the period of the project?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:25): I will certainly take that part on notice. I do not have in front of me what it is over the whole life of the project. The project is in many stages. It is in the initial stages, and the first stage that we saw was from the Pukatja town to the Pukatja air strip, and they have well and truly met those targets. As to the 30 per cent employment target, I am very optimistic that that will continue to be met. No-one had any thoughts, other than it will be met, and some of the other facets of the project are very impressive and well on track.

Most of the metals and rocks that are used for the upgrades of the roads are being mined and crushed on site, and in a lot of those areas there is a lot of rehabilitation that is occurring. In areas where water is needed to be extracted, they are looking at ways that water cannot just be used for the mines project but where new bores are sunk whether there are any other benefits that sinking the bores might have.

As I have said, one of the exceptionally impressive aspects of the projects was the respect being given to culture. I spent a morning in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier with a number of elders and an anthropologist driving it and what struck me was how much the anthropologist was listening to the elders. They showed me a number of areas where the layout and the design of the road is specifically being altered or moved to take into account the wishes of what some of the elders wanted and what they did not want.

It was interesting, too, to note in areas where there were trees that were stopping the road, as it is currently aligned, from being straight. Some of the elders did point out that that is not a significant area, or that tree is not significant and it would be better to straighten the road than to leave that there, or that tree is a dangerous tree, but in other areas it was pointed out that this is a site of significance and that was being respected.

So, I will certainly take on notice and find out. If it is known, which I am not entirely sure it will necessarily be known exactly what the full FTEs will be over the whole life of the project, given that not all of it has been tendered or come back. If it is known, to the extent that it is known, I will bring back an answer for the honourable member.