Question Time

Watarru Community

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:56): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs a question regarding the Watarru community.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Members may recall that I have asked a number of questions in this place regarding the status of the Watarru community on the APY lands. It has been reported to me that the school, which I have visited a number of times and which I thought was a very good facility, apparently has been totally trashed. My questions are: what is the status of the Watarru community and what is the damage bill to date of the school?

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) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for his question. I know he has a very deep and longstanding interest in matters affecting remote Aboriginal communities. We discuss these issues often. The population in many communities on the APY lands changes quite significantly from year to year and within years. I know the Watarru community has at times been a substantial community. There are six main larger communities on the APY lands: Pipilyatjatjara, Amata, Fregon, the Kanpi Nyapari Murputja area, Pukatja, Mimili and Indulkana. Then there are a series of smaller communities, and certainly Watarru has at times been one of those bigger/smaller communities, and in recent times it has certainly been a much, much smaller community.

From the last time I had information about Watarru, and this is some months ago, it was described to me that, in the way that particularly assets like electricity generation have been set up, it is in a modular form so that parts of it can be decommissioned or re-engaged, depending on the size of the community, and certainly parts of that had been decommissioned. In relation to the Watarru school, I don't have information about the condition, or otherwise, of the school. I will seek an update from the Minister for Education, who is responsible for schools on the APY lands, and bring back an answer to the question very specifically asked about the Watarru school.