APY Lands

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation in relation to the Amata swimming pool.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: There are three swimming pools on the APY lands. They are located in the communities of Amata, Mimili and Pipalyatjara. It costs about $180,000 a year to run and maintain each pool. This cost is covered by an annual allocation of the APY task force, a source of funding administered by the Department of State Development's Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation program.

On the APY lands, the swimming pool season lasts for six months, from the first week in October through to the last week of the term 1 school holidays the following year. In early November, The Australian newspaper reported that the swimming pool at Amata remained closed more than a month after the APY swimming season started. My questions for the minister are:

1. When does the minister expect that the Amata swimming pool will reopen?

2. If the Amata swimming pool is still not open when the school year finishes later this week, what will happen to the funding that the APY task force allocated to run the facility?

3. Will the minister ensure that a significant proportion of any unexpended funding is redirected to the cost of running additional holiday programs and other programs for children in Amata?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in these matters. There are a number of swimming pools that are attached to schools in the APY lands. A number of weeks ago, I was able to witness the benefit that is provided at Pipalyatjara by the swimming pool there and how much the students look forward to going to the swimming pool after school.

I know that there have been difficulties in recruiting people to swimming pools that are attached to the schools in the APY lands from time to time. I am not sure of the exact status of the Amata pool. If there is a problem, I assume, as it is from time to time, to do with the difficulty in recruiting people to manage those swimming pools, but if there is another reason, I will bring back an answer as to what that reason is. In terms of the expenditure of funds in relation to a pool, I will double-check but I assume that there still will be funds expended to maintain a swimming pool even if it is not open at the time. In terms of the funds that are used, again, I will seek that information and bring an answer back for the member.