Leigh Creek

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation. I refer to the minister's ministerial statement in this house on Tuesday regarding the future of Leigh Creek. Will the minister advise what additional resources will be provided to the Outback Communities Authority (OCA) to manage the Leigh Creek community, and what level of local OCA staffing will be based in Leigh Creek?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for his question. Of new funding over the next four years, there will be $18 million towards Leigh Creek and continuing not just the town services that Alinta has previously provided, the maintenance of things like the swimming pool, the parks, the sporting facilities, but also for refurbishment of housing for Leigh Creek. As I mentioned earlier in the week, part of the housing will be refurbished and part of it will be kept for potential future use. There will be a three-year program to demolish housing that is no longer required, but there will be a review after each year to see what the future needs are. The Outback Communities Authority, which I met with at Leigh Creek when I was there on Monday, will be provided similar funding to what it cost Alinta to run those town services.

We want to make sure that we give Leigh Creek every opportunity to prosper. We recognise that it is relied on, as I said earlier in the week, not just by those 200 or so who are still living in the town of Leigh Creek but about another 500 from surrounding communities: Copley, Lyndhurst, Nepabunna and Iga Warta areas. One thing we wanted to avoid as best as possible are services running down and people leaving and then more services running down, and that just spiralling and not giving it a chance to be the most that the community possibly can be.

Last year, we made a decision that we would guarantee the government services—that is the ones the government provided—that is, the police, the hospital and the school services until 2018, which is when Alinta had responsibilities to keep providing the town services. As I outlined earlier this week, we are in negotiations with Alinta looking to take over that earlier than mid-2018, and have the OCA run those services. They will be provided with funding to do that. We recognise that there are, I think, somewhere above 30 localities that the OCA has responsibility for; they do a good job in areas where it is difficult to provide these sorts of municipal services.

We recognise that there is that need for funding to keep those services going in Leigh Creek, to make sure that in the medium term Leigh Creek has every opportunity to continue to look to some of the opportunities that are there: education opportunities, opportunities to use the airstrip, tourism opportunities in those months that tourism occurs and, of course, the opportunities that are there as a regional service centre.