<!--The Official Report of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia are covered by parliamentary privilege. Republication by others is not afforded the same protection and may result in exposure to legal liability if the material is defamatory. You may copy and make use of excerpts of proceedings where (1) you attribute the Parliament as the source, (2) you assume the risk of liability if the manner of your use is defamatory, (3) you do not use the material for the purpose of advertising, satire or ridicule, or to misrepresent members of Parliament, and (4) your use of the extracts is fair, accurate and not misleading. Copyright in the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates is held by the Attorney-General of South Australia.-->
<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="4.0" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
  <name>Legislative Council</name>
  <date date="2023-05-17T14:15:00+09:30" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>55</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>1</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>Legislative Council</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="2685" />
  <endPage num="2736" />
  <dateModified time="2023-07-06T10:06:29+09:30" />
  <proceeding continued="true">
    <name>Question Time</name>
    <subject>
      <name>Witton Bluff Base Trail Project</name>
      <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000116">
        <heading>Witton Bluff Base Trail Project</heading>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="4362" referenceid="9196416ed01f41d0801ce030b03cd39a" kind="question">
        <name>The Hon. J.S. LEE</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Deputy Leader of the Opposition</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <questions>
          <question date="2023-05-17T04:45:00+09:30">
            <name>Witton Bluff Base Trail Project</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <startTime time="2023-05-17T14:40:25+09:30" />
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000117">
          <timeStamp time="2023-05-17T14:40:25+09:30" />
          <by role="member" id="4362" referenceid="9196416ed01f41d0801ce030b03cd39a">The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:40):</by>  I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs about the Witton Bluff Base Trail project.</text>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000118">Leave granted.</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4362" referenceid="9196416ed01f41d0801ce030b03cd39a" kind="question" continued="true">
        <name>The Hon. J.S. LEE</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Deputy Leader of the Opposition</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000119">
          <by role="member" id="4362" referenceid="9196416ed01f41d0801ce030b03cd39a">The Hon. J.S. LEE:</by>  On Tuesday 2 May, the minister advised this place that upon further advice on the matter of the Witton Bluff Base Trail project, he had decided that there was a possibility for a conflict of interest, perceived or otherwise, in relation to an application made under section 23 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act. The minister for environment and heritage has accepted the decision-making responsibility in relation to this application. On Thursday 4 May, when asked whether there were any briefings from the department during this time, the minister advised this place, and I quote:</text>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000120">
          <inserted>I regularly get updates on all heritage matters—well, regular updates on heritage matters from the department; those that are under consultation or those that are looking at consultation.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000121">My questions to the minister are:</text>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000122">1.&amp;#x9;Can the minister advise how many briefings he or his staff had prior to the minister for environment and heritage accepting the decision-making responsibility in relation to this application?</text>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000123">2.&amp;#x9;What advice was given to the minister at those briefings?</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" kind="answer">
        <name>The Hon. K.J. MAHER</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Aboriginal Affairs</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Attorney-General</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <startTime time="2023-05-17T14:42:01+09:30" />
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000124">
          <timeStamp time="2023-05-17T14:42:01+09:30" />
          <by role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010">The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:42):</by>  I thank the minister for her question and for repeating, I think for the fourth time, exactly the same question. I am happy to answer it once more, and I am even more happy if the Liberal opposition want to ask the same question in different ways. It does make the government's job very easy but is probably not the best use of their time. Again, I am very happy to answer questions over and over again.</text>
        <text id="20230517b1b88cb24a6347c2b0000125">As I had previously outlined when this question was asked the first two or three times, this is a matter where I took advice. I handed it to another decision-maker, who is the Deputy Premier. The Deputy Premier will consider the information and make a decision in due course. As I have said previously, I regularly, at regular scheduled meetings, have updates on Aboriginal heritage matters.</text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>