Yitpi Yartapuultiku Aboriginal Cultural Centre

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:23): I seek leave to make a very brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs a question about the opening of Yitpi Yartapuultiku.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: On Sunday I joined not just hundreds but well over a thousand other South Australians at the launch of the 'soul of Port Adelaide', Adelaide's newest Aboriginal cultural centre. Can the minister share with this council and the community of South Australia how that will contribute to reconciliation and benefit the community, as well as any other details he may wish to share?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:24): I thank the honourable member for her question. I, too, was very privileged on Sunday afternoon to be at the opening of Yitpi Yartapuultiku—roughly translated to 'the soul of Port Adelaide' in the Kaurna language—which is a new, purpose-built facility right in the heart of Port Adelaide on Old Port Road that has a whole range of functions as a tourism venue and education venue. It has meeting rooms, nature playgrounds, and I think it will become a major meeting space for not just the Aboriginal community but non-Aboriginal community in the Port Adelaide area in years to come.

I have heard estimates for the entirety of the afternoon of somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people attending the opening. I think it far exceeded the expectations of all the organisers and anyone who was there. I have been asked a number of times about what the facilities looked like, and I have to say I think they look awesome, but I could not see a lot of it because there were so many people there, so I look forward to returning time and time again. I am sure, having held the Aboriginal affairs portfolio for the Labor Party for over 10 years now—and I hope to hold it for some time into the future—that I will be returning time and time again to this quite remarkable facility.

Not just is the facility itself quite stunning and will contribute, I think, to reconciliation in a very meaningful way in the future, but the opening was pretty special as well. Contributing was Kaurna elder Lewis O'Brien, who at now 95 years old is certainly one of the most remarkable Aboriginal elders in South Australia. If you consider that at 95 Uncle Lewis has been around contributing for more than half the time the state and the colony that preceded it has been here, it is a remarkable legacy of contribution and it is carried on by other members of his family. A number of his children were there at the opening ceremony for Yitpi Yartapuultiku, who had contributed a lot in the design as well.

Pat Waria-Read gave a very inspiring speech with a lot of call and responses from the audience that was infectious in the way that was done, and then performances from people like Jamie Goldsmith and Uncle Moogy Sumner in the huge sand area that I am sure will be used a lot in the future. I think everyone who was there couldn't help but be affected in some way by the joyous and solemn nature of the opening, and I am absolutely certain in the years to come it will become a staple in the reconciliation journey, not just for the Port Adelaide area but for South Australia.