APY Lands, Sport

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation in relation to sport on the APY lands.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Earlier this month, state cabinet held a country cabinet meeting on the APY lands. Cabinet's visit to the lands commenced on Sunday 1 May. On the previous day, Saturday 30 April, the first round of the SANFL's Far North West Sports League competition for 2017 was held on the APY lands. That first round of games was marred by violence. In response, the SANFL suspended the 2017 competition on the APY lands until it had obtained from each participating community a commitment 'to support and commit to eliminating violence on and off the field of play'. My questions to the minister are:

1. Was the minister briefed on the instances of violence that occurred in the APY communities on the day before the country cabinet commenced?

2. In which communities did these incidents of violence occur?

3. Which specific APY communities did he and his cabinet colleagues visit during their time on the APY lands?

4. What is the government doing to support communities on the APY lands to address violence on and off the field of play?

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) (14:31): I thank the honourable member for his very genuine questions and his ongoing interest in matters to do with the APY lands.

I can inform him that I was there a few days earlier. I was in Pipalyatjara on the Saturday and went to the season opener double-header. Pipalyatjara got up by a few goals over Murputja. I think there was a forfeit from the Pukatja Magpies, who were due to play the central Bombers. That game did not occur. I understand it might have been in Indulkana that there was another double-header game, which makes the eight teams that make up the Far North West SANFL league.

Certainly in the game that I was at in Pipalyatjara and had a great opportunity to spend most of the match talking to the newly elected chair and deputy chair of the APY executive, there was an argument amongst a few people at the end of the game. It was nothing more intense than I have seen at AFL or local SANFL matches. I suspect the Hon. Rob Lucas probably gets as animated when West Adelaide frequently lose SANFL matches.

I understand there was an incident at the other location where games occurred and that the games for this next round, which is this weekend, have been cancelled. I am informed that there are consultations that occurred yesterday and are ongoing today in a number of the communities to discuss making sure that when football occurs, it is done safely so that the whole community can enjoy games safely.

I have seen a number of games of football over quite a number of years in the APY lands, and I do know that it is one of the things that much of the community looks forward to. You see a huge turnout for football games on the APY lands. Certainly, the representative game that is played in Adelaide each year when APY play a combined NT team is something that is worked towards for the whole year. I applaud the work the SANFL does. They have people from the SANFL that are up there at each game and employ local people to manage the league. I think it is a good thing that they are making sure that games are conducted safely.

I think the next part of the question was what communities were visited by ministers. For myself, I visited Pipalyatjara and stayed in Kalka. I think that was the Friday night. I took part in the community patrol with a couple of locals in the community who are engaged in the community patrol in Pipalyatjara and Kalka. From memory, Umuwa, Kaltjiti, Pukatja and Kenmore Park were the communities I personally visited. I know other ministers split up into various groups to cover more communities. I think Amata, Mimili and Indulkana were amongst other communities that were visited by ministers while they were up in the APY lands.

It was very pleasing to see that ministers went to many different communities while we were up in the APY lands. I know that safety is something we all need, no matter what community we are in, and I have to say that, every time I am in the APY lands, one thing I am exceptionally impressed with is the work that the police do. I am constantly amazed by the police who are based on the APY lands and the relationships they have with Anangu. I have witnessed it quite a number of times myself when a local will come up and talk to police and they will take pre-emptive action and diffuse things before incidents occur.

It has been about 15 years since I first visited the APY lands and in those 15 years I have certainly seen a change. With the advent of Opal fuel and the significant reduction and almost elimination of petrol sniffing, violence is much less than it used to be. It certainly has much improved over the 15 years that I have been travelling to the APY lands, but there is still more work that can and should be done.