APY Lands

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:56): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs a question about the APY lands.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: The APY lands general manager's position was recently advertised and a selection process is currently underway to shortlist a number of candidates. The position is currently held by controversial figure Mr Richard King, who is paid around $200,000 a year plus other benefits.

Mr King's tenure as the APY lands general manager has been shrouded in controversy since his appointment by the minister in 2015. He was sacked by the APY lands board in 2018 before being reappointed the following year by former Premier Steven Marshall. The same year, Mr King lost the first of a series of Supreme Court bids to halt an Ombudsman's investigation into the conduct that led to his sacking. The following year, Mr King lost a Supreme Court bid to hold a second Ombudsman's investigation into his conduct. In 2020, his Supreme Court bid to overturn the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation, which was critical of his conduct, was also quashed.

Despite all this, Mr King managed to keep his job, even receiving a 12-month contract extension last year from the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, which expired on 31 March 2024. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the minister aware of the current selection process taking place on the APY lands for the general manager's position?

2. Is the minister confident all APY lands board members are fully involved in the selection process?

3. Will the minister ensure all APY lands board members are given full access to all applicants for the position, who I believe number 18?

4. If that is not the current case, will the minister intervene and make sure the selection process is free, open and fair?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:58): I thank the honourable member for his question. I might just point out something that I think is important. In the question, the honourable member talked about the general manager of the APY Executive being appointed either by the minister or, previously, by the Premier. That is not the case.

The legislation is very clear: it is the APY Executive Board, the elected Anangu who make up the board themselves, who make the appointment under the legislation. The minister of the day approves the conditions under which a person is appointed, but it is the APY board themselves who make the appointment, not a minister of the day nor the Premier.

Much of the rest of the factual scenario that the honourable member has set out I believe to be substantially correct—that is, that the current general manager is not going on after the recruitment process that occurs has been finalised. I understand that is well underway—that there have been quite a number of persons that have applied for the position.

In my experience, members of the APY Executive Board are exceptionally interested in these matters and exceptionally well informed, probably more so than many other boards that make similar appointments right around Australia, and I am quite sure that they will, as they have in the past, involve themselves very substantially, very heavily and very well informed in the process that is underway at the moment.