Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Can the minister advise the chamber about the recent announcement regarding the Australian Army working with the Yalata community?

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) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in the area of Aboriginal affairs. The Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program (AACAP) is a joint initiative of the commonwealth Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Australian Army, which aims to improve primary and environmental health and living conditions within remote Aboriginal communities.

The year 2016 is the 20^th anniversary of the Australian Army providing support under this program to Aboriginal communities through the AACAP program. Since 1996, AACAP has successfully provided infrastructure, health and training benefits to 42 remote Aboriginal communities, I am advised. One project is delivered per year to a selected Aboriginal community across Australia and focuses on the provision of infrastructure, health services and vocational training.

Along with my federal counterpart, minister Nigel Scullion, I was pleased to have some say in the selection of the locations for this year. In December 2015, minister Scullion wrote to the South Australian government, inviting them to make suggestions and bids for the AACAP program to occur in one of South Australia's remote Aboriginal communities. I will take the opportunity to criticise the federal Liberal government when it is warranted, but I will also pay tribute when it is warranted. I congratulate the federal government. This is the first time they have proactively sought priorities from states and territories. It was very welcome to be engaged at the very early stages of the process and given the ability to identify what project would take place and how the state could also contribute to these projects.

I was excited to hear that the bid for Yalata was one of the sites for 2018 for the AACAP program. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to visit the Far West Coast of our state with the Prime Minister, minister Scullion, minister Tudge and the local federal member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, to share the great news with the community. The nearly $8 million investment from the commonwealth and state governments was very warmly received by local Anangu in the Yalata area, and they look forward to welcoming the Australian Army to their community in 2018 to roll out the project. The AACAP project is delivered by a construction squadron and an engineering regiment comprising, I am informed, 150 to 200 personnel, who will be deployed to Yalata for about six months in 2018.

I am advised that during the six-month period they will work across three main areas, the first one being infrastructure: the building of a new child and family centre, redevelopment of the old Yalata roadhouse, building new staff housing, upgrading local roads, developing a new rubbish management system, building new water bores and constructing fencing for the airstrip. The second main area is health, which will include visiting communities and providing first aid training and lessons on healthy living, evaluating current community health procedures and equipment, conducting physical training and education programs, providing dental work to community members and providing veterinary training and support for pets in the community.

The third area is vocational training. Army personnel will deliver both accredited and non-accredited training in the following areas: general construction, building maintenance, plumbing, vehicle and small engine maintenance, welding and concreting. All of these things will deliver immediate benefits to the community, but also, perhaps more importantly, long-term benefits. We can never underestimate the importance of early childhood development or the value of having the possibility of economic development and employment. AACAP will be delivering both of these through all the programs they are doing, from the new family and childcare centre to upgrading the roadhouse as a site for tourism purposes, employment and economic development.

I have seen the results, and people still talk about the work that AACAP has done in previous sites in South Australia in Oak Valley in 1998, in Pukatja in 2010 and in Kaltjiti in 2013. In Kaltjiti the community received substantial infrastructure improvements including a service provider's accommodation facility, children and family centres and four houses. Work was also undertaken to upgrade the community's water supply and refurbish the community church.

A number of years on, I still hear from people in these communities very fondly remembering the work that the Army has done and the legacy that the Army has left behind both in infrastructure and also in some of the training areas. I look forward to keeping the chamber updated about this AACAP program in the Yalata Aboriginal community as it rolls out.