House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-14 Daily Xml

Contents

APY LANDS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): My question is again to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Will the minister confirm that she wanted to spend up to $4.8 million of that federal funding, earmarked for responding to the Mullighan inquiry, on an administration centre for bureaucrats?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion) (14:35): I think you will discover that at the time of the original project proposal I was not minister. I have been minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: No, the question was to me about my views.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Norwood, you are warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: The question was to me about what I intended to do with that money. What we are doing with that money is exactly what we should be doing, and that is spending it on the lands. The fact is I would rather that we take a bit longer to get the service delivery model right.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: I would rather, Madam Speaker, that we spent a bit more time getting the service delivery model right, because we cannot do this without communities. We need to deliver what will work for communities, and that takes time. By the way, we believe—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: By the way, we believe that workers should actually be housed in decent facilities.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition! Behave. The member for Reynell.